President Trump traveled overnight to Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, to attend the World Economic Forum.  [Livestream Links and Daily Schedule Below] I found it very interesting that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was not on the Dec. delegation list.
The U.S. Delegation includes: Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin; Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross; Labor Secretary, Eugene Scalia; Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao; U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer; Under Secretary for Growth, Energy and Environment (DoS), Keith Krach; Asst to the President, Ivanka Trump; Asst. to the President, Jared Kushner; and Asst. to the President / Deputy for Policy Coordination, Christopher Liddell.
The 2020 Davos economic conference will be a little more important to watch this year (as it was in 2017) due to the completed U.S. Trade Agreements (S Korea, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and China) and the predicted focus for the Trump administration to pivot from Asia to the EU and U.K. for the next critical phase of the ‘America-First’ global trade reset.
There will likely be a great deal of attention upon the opening remarks by President Trump scheduled to be delivered at 5:30am ET / 11:30am Switzerland.
UPDATE: Video Added

(more…)

President Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani says he was ‘misled’ by Lev Parnas who Giuliani identifies as an egregious liar.  During the interview on Fox News and Laura Ingraham Rudy Giuliani says Mr. Parnas motive to tell false statements is identical to the reason for Michael Cohen to lie; he is trying to get a plea deal with New York prosecutors.

(more…)

Earlier today Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell presented a “draft resolution” for Senate impeachment rules to be debated and voted tomorrow on Day One of the impeachment trial.  Day #1 will likely be filled as the Senate creates rules via resolution.
The draft resolution tracks closely with previous expectations: 24 hours of presentation by House Impeachment Managers; 24 hours of presentation by Defense team; 16 hours of Senate questioning; 4 hours of closing arguments; and then a Senate debate/vote on further motions to include witnesses.
(more…)

The gang is getting back together again.  Representatives Jim Jordan, John Ratcliffe, Mark Meadows, Debbie Lesko, Elise Stefanik, Lee Zeldin and Doug Collins have been selected as additions to President Trump’s impeachment defense team. UPDATE: and Mike Johnson

The MAGAnificent Seven

WHITE HOUSE – Today, President Donald J. Trump announced that the following Members of the House of Representatives will serve as part of his team working to combat this hyper-partisan and baseless impeachment. This initial list includes the following Members:

♦ Congressman Doug Collins
♦ Congressman Jim Jordan
♦ Congresswoman Debbie Lesko
♦ Congressman Mark Meadows
♦ Congressman John Ratcliffe
♦ Congresswoman Elise Stefanik
♦ Congressman Lee Zeldin
♦ ¹Congressman Mike Johnson

Throughout this process, these Members of Congress have provided guidance to the White House team, which was prohibited from participating in the proceedings concocted by Democrats in the House of Representatives. The President looks forward to their continued participation and is confident that the Members will help expeditiously end this brazen political vendetta on behalf of the American people. (link)

UPDATE – Oh man, they messed up my “MAGAnificent Seven” slogan by unexpectedly having eight. LOL.  Oh well, “Elite Eight” (pictured below) because it makes sense to include an actual constitutional attorney ¹Mike Johnson.  This is a big honor.  These names will appear in history books generations from now.

…And not Matt Gaetz LOL

(more…)

Earlier today President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron had a phone call about the pending French digital services tax on U.S. companies, and USTR Lighthizer’s pending $2.4 billion 100% countervailing duty against high-end French products:

WHITE HOUSE – Today, President Donald J. Trump spoke with President Emmanuel Macron of France. The two leaders agreed it is important to complete successful negotiations on the digital services tax, and they also discussed other bilateral issues. (link)

Where “avoid tariff escalation” means Macron just took a knee.  He really has no choice.
United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer calculated a $2.4 billion pending tariff, at a rate of 100%, against select high-end French products as a result of France’s desperation for tax revenue and deciding to tax U.S. digital services.
The WTO already handed the U.S. legal authority against the EU for $2.5 billion in annual tariffs as a result of the Boeing case. Legally the EU cannot retaliate.
With Britain leaving the EU; and with Germany, France and Italy already suffering from a lack of investment and shrinking sales of industrial products – the EU economy is a sitting duck for President Trump to target.  There is no-way France can lead the charge in a tariff battle against the United States….  The conversation goes something like this:
(more…)

Wow, this is quite a contrast. The number one policy initiative that helped President Trump win election in 2016 was his promise to build a southern border wall. Several hundred miles of the new border security barrier have been completed with several hundred more in various stages of construction.
During the VICE News Brown & Black Democrat Presidential Forum today, 2020 candidate Bernie Sanders said he would “look at” tearing it all down. WATCH:

(more…)

Approximately 22,000 second amendment supporters rallied at the Richmond, Virginia capitol today to petition state government not to infringe on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.

Appearing to cheer for some confrontation or violent outcome, the national media had hyped the event as a massive assembly of “right wing militia groups”; further attempting to inject a racial element around the MLK holiday by proclaiming “white separatists” would be squaring-off against Virginia law enforcement. It was all fake news.
Curtis Houck from the Media Research Center assembled a montage of CNN and MSNBC media reports from this morning to highlight how the national media attempted to set the narrative.
(more…)

Moments ago President Trump and Vice President Pence made an unscheduled stop to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington DC to pay their holiday respects.

.

The President is scheduled to depart the White House at 6:15pm ET, for a trip to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The White House has announced the schedule for several bilateral discussions including:

• Dr. Barham Salih, President of the Republic of Iraq
• Imran Khan of Pakistan, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
• Simonetta Sommaruga, President of the Swiss Confederation
• Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
• Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Regional Government
• World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab

(more…)

The lawyers representing President Trump and lawyers representing the Office of the Presidency collectively file a response briefing, a trial memorandum, to the Senate (full pdf below).  The 170-page rebuttal to the House articles is HERE and embedded below:
[scribd id=443635181 key=key-aNR0dOONH5PrvmDt1r3u mode=scroll]
(more…)

Sunday evening President Donald Trump delivered a key-note speech during the American Farm Bureau National Convention.  [Video and Transcript Below]

.
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, I want to thank you very much. And thank you to our great Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue. Thank you, Sonny, very much. You’ve done a fantastic job. (Applause.) Sit down, everybody. Let’s stay for a while. Come on.
We did it. We did it. Remember? (Applause.)
(more…)