Earlier today President Trump and First Lady Melania welcomed Guatemala President Jimmy Morales and his wife to the White House.  Prior to their bilateral meeting the two leaders held a press availability in the Oval Office. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It’s a great honor to have President Jimmy Morales and Mrs. Morales —
MRS. MORALES: Thank you.
PRESIDENT TRUMP: — of Guatemala with us. We’ve had a tremendous relationship over the last two years, on the border. We’ve signed agreements with Guatemala that have been tremendous in terms of really both countries, but our country, with respect to illegals coming into our country. We just can’t have it. And it’s been very much slowed up. Guatemala has been terrific. Honduras, El Salvador, likewise, have been excellent.
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Great interview with United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer as he described the goals, objectives and outcomes of the USMCA and U.S-China Phase One agreements.
While answering a question about Wall St. journal criticism of the USMCA, Lighthizer discussed the dynamic of Wall Street -vs- Main Street as part of the bigger picture objective in the revised deal. He avoids the words “globalism” -vs- “nationalism” but the sentiment as described is there.
On China Lighthizer emphasizes the “phase one” deal is really a test to see if it is even possible to have an enforceable trade agreement between a communist state-run economy (China) and a free-market economy (U.S).

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The House Rules Committee is constructing the rules that will govern the House of Representatives’ vote on the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump tomorrow. The House Rules Committee is led by Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern.
The rules and procedures debate is following along party lines.
PBS Livestream Link – Fox News Livestream Link

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Decide for yourself why this was needed.  On the eve of Trump’s impeachment the Trusty Planners join with the Tick Tockers on Fox News.  We know Bill Barr will appear on Fox tomorrow to justify his lack of action.   CTH has a pretty good grasp of what’s going on.  Millions of battered conservatives still don’t see it.  Codependent no more.
At a key point in the interview Ms. Bartiromo says:

…”the lies are real, people will be prosecuted, and you are looking at crimes; not only against Carter Page, but against a sitting president”…

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How incredibly tragic is it with all the documents and communications that Barr & Durham can see today, that they have not taken action BEFORE the House can brand President Trump with the words “Impeached President” for the rest of eternity.
Amid all the shameful conduct from Washington DC over decades, the purposeful inaction by a lying U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr will forever cement his place in history.
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At the same time Beijing is reportedly promising internal reforms to retain access to a vital and necessary U.S. market for Chinese goods, Beijing is threatening Germany if they block Huawei technology from their 5G network China will announce German autos are unsafe for import…. Chancellor Angela Merkel is in a pickle.

According to Bloomberg analysis, German automakers sold approximately seven million cars to China in 2018.  The Chinese Ambassador to Germany said this weekend: ” “If Germany were to take a decision that leads to Huawei’s exclusion from the German market, there will be consequences. The Chinese government will not stand idly by.”

(SCMP) […] The Chinese ambassador in Berlin has stirred up a fresh controversy over the tech giant Huawei after he threatened “consequences” if it was excluded from Germany.

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Earlier today President Trump held a round-table meeting with several governors to discuss the ongoing regulatory reform initiative. [Video and Transcript Below]

[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, everybody. We’ve had a very big day in the stock market today, as you know. That will be 133 days where we set a new record. And that’s fantastic. Our jobs numbers have come in fantastically well — really well. And we’re with some of our great governors and other leaders of areas of our country that are doing incredible things.
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Regardless of whether you would support or not support the vigorous defense of Michael Flynn, I would hope we would all agree a fulsome discovery of all relevant background material is a cornerstone of justice appropriately applied.
With that in mind it is concerning how Attorney General Bill Barr would prefer to keep DOJ conduct against Flynn hidden from public review.  Consider…
♦Would it be valuable for Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan to know the FBI was discussing how to “lock in” charges against [Flynn] in a “formal chargeable way”?

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♦Would it be valuable for Federal Judge Emmet Sullivan to consider how Special Counsel Robert Mueller requested DAG Rod Rosenstein to provide leverage against [Mike Flynn Jr] to coerce a plea against Michael Flynn in the second scope memo?
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USTR Robert Lighthizer made a rare appearance in the media to discuss the “big picture”, and some specifics, around the U.S-China phase-one agreement.
Ambassador Lighthizer notes the principle challenge is generating an enforceable set of standards -within a written agreement- between a totally controlled communist economic system (China) and a free-market system (USA).  No other nation has ever tried, and there is no preexisting trade agreement to facilitate a mapping.  What Lighthizer is constructing will be what all nations will start to use going forward.  This is historic stuff.
Arguably, next to President Trump, USTR Lighthizer is one of the most consequential members of the administration. What he is constructing, with the guidance of President Trump, is going to influence generations of Americans.

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[Transcript] MARGARET BRENNAN: This week, the U.S. and China agreed on the first phase of a trade deal that would roll back some American tariffs. It’s expected to be signed in early January. We’re joined now by the U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, the top negotiator in those talks with Chinese officials. Good to have you here.
U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE ROBERT LIGHTHIZER: Thank you for having me, MARGARET.
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Interesting:  Tuesday budget vote. Wednesday Impeachment vote. Thursday USMCA vote.
National Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ratification of the USMCA and the U.S-China “phase one” trade deal.

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USTR Lighthizer appeared on CBS to discuss the China agreement, he goes into more detail. That conversation is coming next.
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Representative John Ratcliffe is one of only three republican members of congress [the only one remaining (Gowdy, Goodlate gone)] who has seen all of the classified material evidence behind the FISA application and the intelligence abuses in 2016.
In this interview Ratcliffe outlines the scale and scope of the abuses as well as what they mean in the context of corrupt and illegal DOJ and FBI activity. WATCH:

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The takeaway from this interview with Bartiromo is exactly why senators who participated with the intelligence operation to remove and eliminate President Trump blocked Ratcliffe’s nomination to the position of Director of National Intelligence.
The SSCI controls who is allowed to be CIA Director, NSA Director and Director of National Intelligence.  The nominees must pass through this committee.  Senator Burr and Senator Warner are the Chairman and Vice-Chair respectively.  Both blocked Ratcliffe.
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