A familiar pattern emerges as the wife of Socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, is indicted on corruption charges and remanded to give up her passport and return to court for check-in every 15 days until trial.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A judge on Saturday ordered the wife of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to face trial on charges of influence peddling and corruption, and to surrender her passport.

Investigative judge Juan Carlos Peinado issued the ruling, arguing that Begoña Gómez represented a flight risk. In addition to surrendering her passport, she must also appear before a court every two weeks. A trial date hasn’t been set.

The decision touched off a heated political confrontation, with calls from the opposition for Sanchez’s Socialist government to resign.

Gómez is accused of using her position to influence government contracts given to a group of technology companies. The judge also accused her of the misuse of public funds in the hiring of a consultant, and the inappropriate use of software while she was a professor at a public university.

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On the heels of the G7 in France, U.S. President Trump and Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni have been engaged in a geopolitical spat.

The core of the issue centers on Italy’s refusal to allow the U.S. military to conduct flight operations for the conflict against Iran from U.S. airbases in Italy.   President Trump, Vice-President Vance, Secretary of State Rubio and Secretary Hegseth have all remarked on their disappointment with Italy and Spain that has led to a full review of U.S. NATO operations in Europe.

The issue became personal at the G7 when President Trump ignored Meloni’s repeated attempts to repair the friction. President Trump was no longer tolerating the two-faced approach. Actions speak louder than words.

Understanding, a very specific image sensitivity Prime Minister Meloni carries, President Trump stated, “Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni asked, over and over, for a picture with me during the G-7 meeting in France. She is doing poorly in Italy with her level of popularity, possibly because she turned down the United States of America, a Country that truly loves and protects Italy, when it came to denying Iran from obtaining or developing a Nuclear Weapon (But so did NATO, for that matter!). She wouldn’t even let us use Italy’s landing strips or runways, a great logistical inconvenience, and this despite the fact the U.S. contributes hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year to protect Italy, and other “so-called” NATO Allies. Now, after the United States defeated Iran militarily, she wants to be friends again in order to get her “numbers up.” No thanks!!! ~ President DJT

Meloni then hit back with: “these constant, unprovoked attacks are senseless.  As for my popularity, being your friend certainly has not helped it, nor does it depend on my relationship with you. My popularity depends on my ability to defend Italy’s national interest, and that is exactly what I have always done,” Meloni said in a post on Instagram. She added that “in any case, my popularity is none of your concern. I suggest you focus on yours.” {source}

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With Acting DNI Bill Pulte coming into office, several people have requested my simple guide to identifying media leaks.

This reference resource is based on historic patterns and generally has an 80/20 accuracy rate.  While there are some leaks that cross through the data pattern, in the aggregate this basic outline has shown to be correct.

The leak source identification can help interested political observers understand the motives and objectives.

When you see the term “exclusive” in the originating media report, this guide increases in accuracy:

• The State Department leaks to CNN
• The CIA leaks to The Washington Post
• The DOJ/FBI leaks to The New York Times and Politico
• DHS domestically leaks to the Wall Street Journal
• The National Security Council leaks primarily to Axios and Politico, NYT secondary
• The Pentagon leaks to Fox News and the Wall Street Journal (Axios more recent)
• Kash Patel leaks to John Solomon – Just The News
• ¹DNI leaks to the Wall Street Journal, however:

¹The ODNI gets a little complicated due to the structure of the ODNI.  Each intelligence agency has a liaison office inside the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.  Generally, the topline guide above overlays with the desk assignment.

Example 1: CNN gets an ‘exclusive’ leak related to the DNI; the leak sourcing is therefore most likely to be the State Dept Desk inside the DNI office. (State Dept leaks to CNN)

Example 2: Washington Post gets an ‘exclusive’ leak related to the DNI.  The leak sourcing is directly from the CIA liaison desk inside DNI.  (CIA leaks to WaPo)

This is the consistent pattern that established itself over the past 20 years.  It is generally accurate on an 80/20 basis. Meaning 80% of the time the origin of the leak can be identified this way with accuracy; 20% of the time it is not.

Hope that helps.

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  Please share any prayer requests you may have for friends or loved ones here….

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

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Team Algae and Filth has been busy at work, supported by CNN, ABC and various leftist media, in an attempt to grow algae back in the DC reflection pool, and cut out the newly installed lining.  A few arrests have been made by DC park police.

Yes, these folks are that unstable.  Liberalism is a mental disorder.

President Trump responds to the effort via Truth Social:

“We’ve cleaned, renovated, and beautified over 45 Monuments and Memorials, 28 Statues, and 22 Fountains in Washington, D.C. Things are really looking good in our Nation’s Capital, and add to that the fact that when I became President, Crime was rampant, and now, Washington, D.C., is one of the Safest Cities anywhere in the United States. However, we’ve had some real problems with Vandalism at the beautiful Reflecting Pool, which sits between The Washington Monument and The Lincoln Memorial.

Just like three days ago, they destroyed the grass outside of the Pool, they’ve also done everything possible to hurt the inside surface that was just installed. No different than the chemicals that were used on the National Mall, they used something similar in the Reflecting Pool to try to destroy and demean our beautiful work. Lightweight ABC Reporter, Jonathan Karl, was seen sticking his hand into the Pool, and trying to rip the rubber off of the surface. The algae is 75% gone, and the condition will soon be completely remedied, and the area that was vandalized, fortunately, is just a small area of damage, and will be fixed early next week. It’s a shame that the Radical Left Lunatics, most likely Dumocats, who have spent their lives trying to ruin our Country, are free to do so. Law Enforcement is actively investigating this situation and will hopefully have it resolved soon. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

~ DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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President Donald Trump unveils the new Air Force One airliner which will carry all U.S. Presidents around the globe.

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President Donald Trump gives an extensive interview to Axios on current events, the comparison between Term 1 and Term 2, and the issues surrounding the ceasefire agreement with Iran.

The conversation centers on Iran, where Trump defends the military campaign, the deal that followed and his decision to stop short of further escalation. He also discusses the Strait of Hormuz, Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, Cuba, Venezuela, artificial intelligence, Anthropic, China’s AI race and how he thinks about maintaining power in the final stretch of his presidency.

CHAPTERS:

0:00 – Welcome to The Axios Show
0:11 – The one big thing: power
1:37 – “I’m the boss” and the G7
3:36 – What Trump sees in world leaders
4:05 – Trump on Xi Jinping and China
6:11 – Venezuela, military power and oil
7:19 – Trump on Modi, Pakistan and global leadership

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A lot might be said, but little of it will be grounded in reality.  Here’s a general outline that may provide context for the next few weeks.

First, contrary to popular opinion, leaks from inside the IC related to activity within the ODNI will likely come as an outcome from bad actors in the FBI and the attached liaison office. {EXAMPLE HERE} As you may or may not be aware, every intelligence community silo has a liaison attached to the office of the Director of National Intelligence.

What that means is that every IC agency has a person(s) inside the ODNI that can then be the source of information within the larger parent silo. The most frequent leaking child from within the parent agency is the FBI liaison.  Understand this reality and you begin to understand frustration around Kash Patel’s inability to control his agency.

Second, contrary to popular opinion, CIA Director John Ratcliffe will not be able to partner with Acting DNI Pulte in the same direct manner he was with fully confirmed DNI Tulsi Gabbard.  Despite the ODNI technically sitting atop the CIA within the construct of the overall Intelligence Community, there are rules about information flows to non-confirmed “acting” positions.  Deputy DNI Aaron Lukas will have more intelligence capabilities than Pulte.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe will likely not be the source of conversation about this standard, the information to Pulte will likely come from the DNI Legal Counsel Jack Dever, and/or Deputy CIA Director Michael Ellis who also carries the role of General Counsel for the Central Intelligence Agency.

When SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner says he is in communication with IC leadership about isolating Acting DNI Bill Pulte from national security information, he is likely outlining contact with the general counsel of the DNI or CIA, or with the Intelligence Community Inspector General’s office. That said, the National Security Advisor, Marco Rubio, could mitigate some of that isolation by requesting IC information Pulte may desire to review.

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