Sarah Huckabee Sanders was joined by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for today’s White House press briefing.   WH Link

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CTH is working on attempts to confirm an absolutely stunning development in the ongoing saga of how the DOJ/FBI surveillance operation against Donald Trump was constructed in 2016 using illegal FISA “About Searches”….

CTH has been provided a key insider tip…. What CTH hopes to successfully outline will connect ALL THE BIG DOTS…

BEYOND BIGLY…

Mary Jacoby and Glenn Simpson – Fusion GPS

 

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.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45

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 †

It can be difficult to see through the wording to understand the accurate story.  Sara Carter and Fox News are both confirming the DOJ and FBI used the Steele Dossier to get FISA-702 Data Surveillance Authority allowing them to spy on Trump campaign officials.
In the latest developments, as reported by Sara Carter and Fox News, the DOJ and FBI used the sketchy ‘Steele Dossier’ as the foundation for their FISA application. WATCH:

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Both Carter and Hannity use the term “FISA Warrants”, however in the interest of understanding, and accurately portraying what took place, it was not technically a “warrant” as we traditionally think about it.
A warrant implies advanced judicial approval to begin surveillance and collecting emails and phone calls etc.  Like a traditional Title III DOJ / law enforcement search warrant. But that’s not how FISA-702 works.
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Oh, go figure.  They re-cog-o-nized that all by themselves…
Yesterday CTH noted Princess Rainbow Sparkles was in Washington DC lobbying Washington State Representative Dave Reichert, Senator Jeff Flake, Senator Lindsey Graham, et al. Isn’t it funny how Canadian officials lobby U.S. representatives for their unique economic interests, but if a U.S. official stepped into Canada to lobby one of their members of Parliament,… yikes, heaven forbid. Foreign election conspiracy. I digress.

Reuters is reporting today that Canadian trade officials are increasingly convinced that President Trump is going to pull out of NAFTA.  The next round of negotiations is scheduled for the end of this month.  Half of the Canadian contingent thinks Trump will exit, the other half think the appearance of a pull-out is simply a negotiating strategy.
An official WH source “close to Trump” is attributing a statement to POTUS: “I want out”.
Ya think?  Scott Minerd, Global Chief Investment Officer at Guggenheim Partners, said “if Trump were to announce a NAFTA exit, the stock market would probably pull back by 5 percent or so, before advancing to new highs.”  He’s correct.
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Appearing earlier today on Harris Faulkner’s show Out Front, Ohio Representative Jim Jordan discusses the Steele Dossier and the Glenn Simpson testimony. House Judicial Committee member Jim Jordan is one of the few who seem to have their arms around the big picture.  (Twitter Video Link)

.@Jim_Jordan: “Top people at the FBI look like they had a plan to undermine the Trump campaign.” pic.twitter.com/b5YwY1fYnr

— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 10, 2018

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
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This outline is intended to clear up some confusion and answer common questions about the 2016 DOJ and FBI Counterintelligence Operation against candidate Trump.  ie. “The Trump Operation”.

Deep Background #1 HERE – Deep Background #2 HERE

Today Byron York attempts to clear up some details about what congressional intelligence committee members have seen regarding the DOJ/FBI FISA-702 surveillance of Donald Trump.  However, the FISA information is commonly, and inaccurately, conflated with “Wiretap Warrants”.

As we have explained there were no Title III wiretap warrants against the Trump campaign. Title III warrants are the historic reference to the DOJ or FBI wiretapping a suspect to gather information.  Former DNI James Clapper has denied there were any Title III wiretap warrants issued.  James Clapper is correct.
♦Here’s where the verbiage used by media doesn’t match with what was occurring. The DOJ and FBI didn’t use Title III wiretaps, because the current system of NSA intercepting and collecting all electronic data is already one big global wiretap.
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President Donald Trump is holding a joint press conference today with Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway.  Anticipated start time 3:15pm.
UPDATE: Video Added

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Earlier today President Trump held the first cabinet meeting of 2018.  [The cabinet met four times in December.]

[Transcript] 12:00 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Welcome back to the studio. Nice to have you. (Laughter.) Good morning, and welcome to our first Cabinet meeting of the New Year. 2017 was a year of tremendous achievement — monumental achievement, actually. I don’t think any administration has ever done — has done what we’ve done and what we’ve accomplished in its first year, which isn’t quite finished yet. You never know what’s going to happen over the next few days. And the achievements for our country, our people, and for our standing in the world have been very monumental.
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