Michael Flynn’s defense counsel, Sidney Powell, appears on Lou Dobbs tonight to discuss the defense victory in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals; and the next steps in the case.
Ms. Powell still has legal business in front of Judge Emmet Sullivan, so she obviously needs to be a little tempered at this inflection point. That said, what an incredible job Ms. Powell has done on behalf of her client. Remarkable legal counsel. WATCH:
In a court filing yesterday [pdf here] the DOJ provided -initially under seal- the Flynn defense team with more exculpatory evidence. The filing includes hand-written notes taken by FBI agent Peter Strzok in/around key dates in early January 2017.
The filing was unsealed today, and the Peter Strzok notes are released.
One of the reasons CTH has been slow on discussing this release is specifically because I am trying to accurately determine the provenance of the notes (as below). USAO Jeff Jensen is unsure of the exact date of the notes. Either January 3rd, 4th, or 5th… and there’s a good reason for that confusing ambiguity; which I am attempting to filter.
The notes are written by Peter Strzok during a conversation with former FBI Director James Comey; that context is important. What the notes contain are Peter Strzok writing down what Comey relays to him from conversations with White House officials.
Repeat: The notes are Strzok writing down what Comey relays to him from conversations with the White House. Comey is communicating to Strzok the status of opinion from various officials; those officials may include President Obama and Vice-President Biden.
President Trump and President Andrzej Duda of the Republic of Poland are scheduled to hold a joint press conference today following their bilateral meetings. Both leaders have a warm personal friendship. Anticipated start time 3:30pm ET.
The three judges on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals have approved a writ of mandamus ordering Judge Emmet Sullivan to dismiss the case against Michael Flynn. [pdf here]
The panel ruled 2-1, that U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan overstepped his authority in not accepting the unopposed motion and questioning prosecutors’ decision. This is a big victory for the Flynn defense team. Not sure what Sullivan will do now.
Judges Karen Henderson and Neomi Rao supported the writ, judge Robert Wilkins did not. Henderson was the surprise vote.
Writing the majority opinion Judge Neomi Rao noted, “in this case, the district court’s actions will result in specific harms to the exercise of the Executive Branch’s exclusive prosecutorial power.” “If evidence comes to light calling into question the integrity or purpose of an underlying criminal investigation, the Executive Branch must have the authority to decide that further prosecution is not in the interest of justice,” Rao added.
Earlier today President Trump commemorated the 200th mile of border wall being built along the U.S-Mexico border. [Video and Transcript]
.
[Transcript] – Q Can I ask question on the wall: How’s it looking?
THE PRESIDENT: I think it’s great. It’s great. It’s going to be — it’s really foolproof. It’s solid steel. It’s rebar and concrete inside the steel. So we have a very heavy concrete inside the steel. And inside the concrete, we have rebar. So you have everything you could have. It’s what they wanted, and that’s what we did.
Earlier today President Trump attended a border security briefing in Arizona during an event to thank border enforcement and review the border wall. [Video and Transcript]
.
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. Great to be here. Beautiful runway. A little warmer than I’m used to, but that’s okay, Doug, right? We have a — I was just given a beautiful picture of the wall. That’s before and after. And that’s quite a difference: one area you walk over, you drive over, you do whatever you want, and other one you say, “Well, I guess we don’t get in.” Here’s another one — just given. That’s great. That’s a different section. Pretty amazing.
In the economic balancing act toward China Larry Kudlow represents the good cop, Peter Navarro represents the bad cop and President Trump navigates the market responses. Neither person is factually in conflict with the other; the nuance is in the expression and each person has a role to play. Sometimes teeth, sometimes not. It depends on need.
Last night trade advisor Peter Navarro noted the U.S. position with China and trade is still in a state of serious conflict. This is accurate, and a more confrontational posture has been expressed by President Trump. Today Larry Kudlow moderates the Navarro position to lessen the Wall St. concern over a looming decoupling. It’s all a dance.
The need for nuance becomes clear as we watch Stuart Varney pushing the Wall Street concern angle on behalf of U.S. multinationals. The administration does not want to spook the stock market while they deal with a China confrontation. WATCH:
.
Kudlow represents the panda mask. Navarro represents the eagles claw. President Trump advances or retracts each position as he controls the market response. The objective is a slow, steady, smiling decoupling that doesn’t unnerve anyone… but the direction is always toward the decoupling.
President Trump is delivering the proverbial economic death by a thousand paper cuts.
Walid Phares was the fifth [redacted] target of Robert Mueller’s expanded investigation as authorized by former Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein on August 2nd, 2017.
As Mr. Phares notes, the Mueller investigation was used by Obama-era politicians and officials as a mechanism to block President Trump from executing a divergent foreign policy. The primary policy to protect was the Iran deal.
There is increased speculation, based on a pattern in other international activities and U.S. participants, the Iranian deal included return payments to U.S. officials for the release of billions in funds and the loosening of sanctions. It is possible the return payments to the Obama team held a timing mechanism and the payments were stopped after President Trump withdrew from the deal and re-instituted sanctions. Thus the severity of opposition from western politicians who were scheduled to remain wealthy via Iran.
.
U.S. senators write foreign aid policy, rules and regulations thereby creating the financing mechanisms to transmit U.S. funds. Those same senators then received a portion of the laundered funds back through their various “institutes” and business connections to the foreign government offices. Example Ukraine [Burisma to Biden]
House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes appears on Lou Dobbs to discuss the latest developments in the ‘Spygate’ investigation, John Durham, AG Bill Barr and ultimately the SDNY moves involving Geoffrey Berman.
Lou Dobbs gets the big picture; if the political left is allowed to manipulate the 2020 election, and steal a presidential contest, the ramifications will be so serious the potential for the fabric of our nation to completely tear is quite possible. On a positive note, AG Bill Barr has made similar points in his conversation.
The DOJ in Boston have announced the arrest of a Winchester resident, Elijah Majak Buoi, 38, for seeking more than $13 million in PPP loans from the COVID rescue package.
BOSTON – A Winchester man was arrested today and charged with allegedly filing fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $13 million in forgivable loans guaranteed by the Small Business Administration (SBA) for COVID-19 relief through the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
Elijah Majak Buoi, 38, was charged in a criminal complaint with wire fraud, and will appear in federal court in Boston this afternoon.
