Earlier today President Trump hosted New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy in the Oval Office to discuss the latest COVID-19 mitigation efforts.  President Trump and Governor Murphy take questions from the press pool:

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The Department of Labor released their weekly report showing first-time filings for unemployment insurance hit 3.84 million last week. Though the worst appears to be in the past, the total number of claims in the past six weeks now exceeds 30 million.

The surge in unemployment claims is an outcome of decisions to shut-down the U.S. economy to control the coronavirus spread. Some states and local regions have recently started to bring their respective economies back online; however, most of the key U.S. infrastructure remains on lockdown.

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Jim Jordan appears on Fox News to discuss the unsealed documents released yesterday showing the FBI “small group” framing a case against former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn.

Rep. Jordan rightly puts the recent release into context by asking why Robert Mueller and Chris Wray did not bring out this exculpatory information.  Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team knew Flynn was framed.  Rod Rosenstein knew Flynn was framed. Chris Wray and Dana Boente knew Flynn was framed.  Yet no-one did anything. WATCH:

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Michael Flynn’s defense attorney appears for a brief interview with Sean Hannity to discuss the recently unsealed documents showing FBI strategic planning to target Lt. Gen Flynn prior to their interview on January 24, 2017.  WATCH:

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A few notes of caution.  Don’t fall into the outrage trap; the DOJ will certainly justify the FBI notes as a valid discussion on investigative strategy, nothing more.

Second, Bill Barr did not appoint Missouri Attorney Jensen in an effort to support General Flynn.  AG Barr was ordered by the FISA court to review every case and all evidence that touched upon the fraudulent Carter Page FISA application.  Be careful about projecting a motive onto Bill Barr around these revelations.  Without the FISC sequestration review order; the DOJ/FBI may not have moved to re-review the Flynn files.

Lastly, despite the known corruption within the existing FBI leadership {outlined here}; and we can now add the FBI hiding these documents for 3 years; AG Bill Barr continues to pour effusive praise upon current FBI leadership.  That reality of Barr’s very public praise doesn’t reconcile Bill Barr having a good intent around these corruption matters.

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Many people forget that Senator Chuck Grassley has skin in this investigation.  Grassley has always suspected Flynn was framed.  Back in June of 2018, Senator Grassley was very suspicious of what Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was doing to facilitate the targeting of Michael Flynn when he said:

…”If the facts are inconsistent with the plea agreement, that would be an entirely different kettle of fish.”… (more)

Earlier today Grassley reacted to the previously hidden FBI documents showing that Michael Flynn was targeted for removal by the FBI “small group”.  WATCH:

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NOTE: Just before this was published the court has released the notes.  More will follow…

It appears U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen from Missouri, who was brought in to review all of the DOJ case files surrounding Michael Flynn, has provided an additional eleven pages of exculpatory FBI notes.  Michael Flynn’s defense counsel Sidney Powell describes the latest notes as: “even more appalling than the Friday production“.

The Flynn defense and the DOJ (likely Jensen) have filed a joint motion with the court asking for the documents to be unsealed after a classification review.  However, as Techno Fog noted looking at the cover letter, it appears these notes were already in the custody of the Special Counsels Office (“DOJSCO”)

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President Trump participates in a roundtable discussion with various industry executives on the plan for reopening the American economy. Anticipated start time 4:00pm ET.

White House Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream – RSBN Livestream

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National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow argues the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is over and the U.S. economy is getting ready to reopen. Kudlow outlines the scale of the current economic relief package how any further discussion should focus on policies to launch the economic recovery.

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The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released the first quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) advanced estimate and the result is a 4.8% decline in economic activity. [BEA Here]

The revised fourth quarter GDP shows the economy was growing at 2.1 percent prior to the COVID-19 shutdown.  The severity of the change in GDP reflects a severe drop in consumer spending, essentially bringing the economy to a halt in March as the entire nation went into lock-down.  As the BEA explains:

The decline in first quarter GDP was, in part, due to the response to the spread of COVID-19, as governments issued “stay-at-home” orders in March. This led to rapid changes in demand, as businesses and schools switched to remote work or canceled operations, and consumers canceled, restricted, or redirected their spending.

The full economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic cannot be quantified in the GDP estimate for the first quarter of 2020 because the impacts are generally embedded in source data and cannot be separately identified. (more)

Digging down into the details the data shows what we all have seen.  There is some specific data that is noteworthy in the tables.

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Sometimes a special message needs a special messenger.  Today, amid the anxiety and stress created by the coronavirus pandemic, a very special messenger named Michael visited the White House and delivered a very important message to everyone:

…”At Bitty and Beaus we like to use the phrase ‘not broken’. That means me and all my important co-workers are not broken, and we have lots to offer. I know the great country of the United States isn’t broken either.”…   ~ Michael

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Indeed, this too shall pass.

Thank you Michael; thank you.

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With congress saying they will not be returning to work next week, it appears Kentucky representative Thomas Massie has decided to use the opportunity to expose Washington DC’s biggest secret.  Something 99% of American voters do not understand:

Oh dear, he’s telling secrets.  You see, congress doesn’t actually write legislation.  The last item of legislation written by congress was sometime around the mid 1990’s.  Modern legislation is sub-contracted to K-Street.  Lobbyists write the laws; congress sells the laws; lobbyists then pay congress commissions for passing their laws.  That’s the modern legislative business in DC.

CTH often describes the background DC motives with the phrase: “There are Trillions at Stake.” The process of creating legislation is behind that phrase.  DC politics is not quite based on the ideas that frame most voter’s reference points.

With people taking notice of DC politics for the first time; and with people not as familiar with the purpose of DC politics; perhaps it is valuable to provide clarity.

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