Maduro’s bagman, Alex Saab, has reached a plea deal with the Dept of Justice paving the way for a cooperating key witness to provide evidence against the former Venezuela dictator.

Former Venezuela President Nicholas Maduro’s case just got a lot more complicated for his defense lawyers. Saab will cooperate with U.S. federal investigations, potentially aiding cases against four unnamed co-defendants, with prosecutors recommending a reduced sentence.

Alex Saab, left, and Nicholas Maduro, right

MIAMI (AP) — A close ally of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro long described by U.S. officials as the ousted leader’s frontman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single count of money laundering tied to an alleged bribery conspiracy to win lucrative government contracts in the South American country.

As part of the plea deal, Alex Saab agreed to cooperate in continuing federal investigations, paving the way for his eventual cooperation against his former protector. He also agreed to forfeit $195 million in criminal proceeds from the corruption scheme.

Saab, 54, was deported in May by Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez to the U.S., which has been targeting the Colombian-born businessman for more than a decade.

The money laundering offense carries a maximum 20-year penalty but prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence at the low end of the recommended range and seek additional reductions should his cooperation prove substantial.

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Following the previous discussion with leaders from South Africa, President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio have now announced visa restrictions for the nation of South Africa.

Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, authorizes the Secretary of State to render inadmissible any alien whose entry into the Unites States “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

STATE DEPT – As stated in President Trump’s Executive Order (EO) 14204, “Addressing Egregious Actions of the Republic of South Africa,” the United States remains gravely concerned about racially motivated crime and government-sponsored discrimination occurring against the Afrikaners and other minority populations in South Africa, including race-based discriminatory legislation, threats of land expropriation without compensation, and incitement of racial violence through dehumanizing chants and slogans.

The South African government has not adequately addressed the previously laid out concerns and so today, I am announcing a new visa restriction policy under Section 212(a)(3)(C) of the Immigration and Nationality Act targeting foreign nationals who are responsible for, or complicit in, the enactment or implementation of laws or policies that enable uncompensated land seizures, race-based discrimination, and/or the incitement of imminent violence against members of minority ethnic or racial groups in South Africa. The United States will not allow such behavior to go unchecked. These actions directly undermine peace, economic stability, and the rule of law, and they are incompatible with the pillars of America’s foreign policy.

We once again strongly urge the South African government to quickly address these egregious actions. {Source}

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Today there will be a Rose Garden white house press briefing with U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.  The anticipated start time for the briefing is 2:00pm ET with livestream links below:

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President Trump expresses the frustration many Americans are feeling with the Lawfare tactics to block sovereign national policy, and the Supreme Court acquiescence.

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Republicans just got another bad decision from the United States Supreme Court, one that the Court System took forever to give, and then blamed it, in part, on no time left to implement a solution to our totally CORRUPT and out of control Mail-In voting “disaster,” which is a laughing stock all over the World, and where we are the only country that has to endure such a Nation Destroying SCAM.

Justices Alito and Thomas, legends both, strongly disagreed with this horrible, highly political, ruling. It is a big loss for Republicans, and America itself, and makes cheating by the Radical Left “Dumocrats,” on Mail-In Ballots, a much easier thing to do – And now they have an open field to do so!

The Supreme Court has really let our Country down! Certain Justices are petrified of these crazed and depraved Democrats and are totally unable to show the courage necessary to save our America.

Their horrible decision on Tariffs will be costing the U.S.A., for many years to come, Trillions and Trillions of Dollars. They didn’t even state, “money paid does not have to be paid back,” much to the benefit of entities that truly hate our Country, and have been RIPPING IT OFF FOR YEARS, unnecessarily costing us, immediately, Billions of Dollars.

Likewise, the Supreme Court’s Decision on Birthright Citizenship is a complete and total disaster for America, and has already led to massive corruption with respect to “citizenship” in our Country. The damage done to America is incalculable, and they know this, just as everyone else does – It is an irreparable and unrecoverable harm! The Court’s inability and unwillingness to do the right thing for our Country will go down, in a very negative way, in the annals of History.

This Supreme Court is bullied and cajoled by the Radical Left into making decisions that have set America back at least a hundred years. These are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court, they are merely a shell of their original selves, a Court that is costing the United States Trillions of Dollars with shockingly bad rulings that are of such magnitude that it won’t be easily possible for our Country to recover or heal.

It is a Court that will go down as having rendered some of the most destructive, hurtful, and damaging decisions in our Country’s history. It is not easy for me to write this criticism of the United States Supreme Court – it will likely cost me dearly for years to come – but I feel it my obligation and duty, as President, to do so for the America we love! Thank you for your attention to this very important matter. God bless the U.S.A.”

~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

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Today, FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee who are conducting oversight of the bureau.  The testimony comes as FBI Director Patel is under scrutiny for his personal indulgences as the FBI leader while individuals inside the institution seemingly retain a rogue internal outlook.

The testimony begins at 9:30am ET, with Livestream Links Below:

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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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Everyone knew exactly what the Lawfare approach entailed.  Lower court judges delayed rulings, then rejected the arguments citing insufficient time for the states to comply with U.S Postal Service rule changes for mail-in ballots.  By the time the Supreme Court could weigh in, the clock had generally expired.  The 2026 midterm election mail-in ballot fraud will proceed as before without impediment.

The Trump administration argued the measures were to prevent fraud, but lawfare and state officials claimed that introducing a new ballot-matching system mid-election would create chaos. The Supreme Court ruling [SEE HERE] comes as many states are beginning to send out ballots for the upcoming midterm elections, making last-minute changes particularly risky.

WASHINGTON DC – The Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s attempt to force states to take part in a new system to control the delivery of mail-in ballots in the looming midterm elections.

In a ruling Monday, the justices left in place a lower-court ruling that blocked the Postal Service from implementing the new requirements in the coming weeks due to the potential that millions of voters could be disenfranchised by not having their ballots delivered.

The Trump administration said the new measures were needed to combat fraud, but many election officials say the federal government was inviting chaos by trying to deploy a new ballot-matching system just as officials in many states began sending out ballots to voters in advance of the midterms. (read more)

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American entrepreneur and businessman; founder and CEO of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, is on stage discussing “The Doomer Hoax” and how superintelligence is already here – the future of AI, when President Trump calls Haung to discuss his Truth Social posts from moments before. The conversation is excellent.  WATCH (prompted):

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The Western intelligence operatives who control Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukraine military effort, previously thought they could destroy the Russian economy by targeting online retail warehouses. That didn’t work out too well.  Russia then began destroying Kiev warehouses, and that created a major problem.

Ukraine-NATO then moved to targeting Russian diesel fuel refineries, and with a heavily exported output targeted that creates a global shortage. [There’s a lot of diesel refineries in Russia because the process is dirty industry, and EU-NATO doesn’t like those dirty carbon jobs.] That said, the disruption created a global price spike which led to President Trump asking Zelenskyy to avoid the diesel plants.

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Sensing he has the upper hand, the vertically challenged unelected leader of Ukraine now says he will stop the targeting of diesel refineries if Russia stops destroying his electricity grid and food supply.  Somewhere in this hot mess there might be an opening for a ceasefire.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY – Ukraine has proposed that its partners secure an agreement with Russia that would stop the destruction of critical infrastructure. Food, energy, and other basics that sustain life must be protected, and Russian strikes are directed primarily against them. Every day, Ukrainian energy facilities, port infrastructure, logistics, and even warehouses storing food and pharmaceuticals are targeted. Ukraine is not convinced that Russia is willing to abide by any agreement.

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