A new John Solomon article today, based on an interview with Russian Billionaire Oleg Deripaska, is essentially confirming a May 2018 article where it was presumed that Oleg had hired Christopher Steele at the same time Steele was working with Nellie Ohr and Fusion GPS to write the Trump dossier.  Here’s the interview:

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The report on the FBI contacting Oleg Deripaska in September 2016 for help to structure a narrative of Russian involvement in the Trump Campaign via Paul Manafort has some ramifications.
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Portland, Oregon, is located in the Northwestern United States. Portland is considered the cultural mecca for the most refined vision of Democratic Socialism. Known as a Marxist hub for modern cultural and political violence, all tourists are eligible for complimentary helmets as they travel to and from various points of interest.
In addition to teaching your kids new words, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler welcomes each visiting family.  Together, he and his leadership team are committed to maximum excitement during your stay. Welcome to Portland – You’ll fight like hell to enjoy it, or else:
[wpvideo lrghtxKh]
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As anticipated the media script via democrat presidential polling narratives are now showing ‘Crazy’ and ‘Creepy’ dropping while ‘Spank-Me’ and ‘How’ gain significant positions.   CNN is now calling Biden, Harris, Warren and Sanders the ‘Top Tier’.

In a heavily promoted poll of Iowa voters, pushed hard by CNN, Creepy has dropped to 24%, Spank-Me jumps to 16%, How gains ground to 13% and Crazy drops to 9%.  All others seemingly irrelevant now.
There’s something very Big Club and Clintonesque about the DNC framework surrounding Kamala Harris.  An argument can made that she checks all the boxes for controlled candidacy.  The DNC club move to re-position California in the 2020 primary could very well be the same club motive that moved Florida in the 2016 cycle for the GOP club.
Unlike the GOP in 2016, in the DNC 2020 race there are no ‘outsiders‘; so the club rules mean more control.  [The DNC 2020 is akin to the RNC in 2012.]
Those who watched the Kamala Harris launch January 21st; then the Jussie Smollett fake MAGA lynching on January 29th; then the Feb 14th lynch legislation, and then connected the seemingly pushed narrative (all bearing the familiar sniff of Clinton Politcal-Ops) are undoubtedly noting how Harris’s campaign hired Marc Elias, who heads Perkins Coie’s political law group and was Hillary’s campaign lawyer in 2016.
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An interesting discussion between Representative John Ratcliffe, former congressman Trey Gowdy and Fox News Host Jason Chaffetz surrounding: the pending Inspector General Report into FISA abuse; the upcoming Mueller testimony; and the activity of U.S. Attorney John Durham.
Within the interview Ratcliffe notes he has recently spoken to Inspector General Horowitz about the timing of his upcoming report where Ratcliffe says the “investigative work is complete”. WATCH:

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If previous reports of Christopher Steele being willing to speak to U.S. authorities about his dossier work in 2016 are accurate; and if Horowitz has completed his investigative work; then it’s likely Horowitz has already interviewed Steele.
The IG FISA investigation began in May of 2018, approximately 14 months ago. The assembly of the investigative details into a draft report should be expected to take about four to six weeks depending on the OIG referencer team and the scale of the summary documentation assembled.
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Well, this will not come as a surprise to CTH readers, but it affirms prior suspicion of Chairman Xi Jinping’s motives and intents in the pre-G20 trip to North Korea.  There is also an aspect to this propaganda highlighting that Beijing actually had this narrative written prior to the outcome, I’ll explain below.

As predicted, China’s state media are proclaiming that Chairman Xi Jinping, playing the role of magnanimous panda, is responsible for the success and restart of the discussions between President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong-un of North Korea:

CHINA – […] Ten days before the Kim-Trump meeting, President Xi Jinping made a historic visit to North Korea, with one of the key aims being to show political support and help North Korea and the US to break the deadlock in their negotiations, Zheng said.
Xi also met Trump in Osaka on the sidelines of the G20 Summit on Saturday, when they also discussed the peninsula issue. Xi has encouraged both Kim and Trump to push forward negotiations and reach an agreement eventually.
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Fox News host Tucker Carlson traveled to Osaka Japan for the G20 meeting between President Trump and China’s Chairman Xi Jinping.  After the summit meeting Carlson interviews President Trump and broadcast the interview this evening:

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Additionally, Tucker Carlson traveled with President Trump to South Korea for the DMZ visit with Kim Jong-un.
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President Trump has completely reset the pre-existing hostile dynamic that existed between the U.S. and North Korea.  By focusing on the root cause of the issue, Beijing China, Trump has been able to reach a position with Kim Jong-un that seemed impossible two years ago.
All over southeast Asia the media reports are optimistic, positive and upbeat with the possibility of a generational crisis finally coming to an end.   President Trump is being called a hero bringing peace to Korea.

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The North Korean state-run media has broadcast the video below.
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In the synergy between the U.S. intelligence apparatus and their media agents, the CIA, DOJ and State Department have specific outlets assigned to public relations.
A long tracked history and pattern reflects the DOJ and FBI leak their needs to the New York Times.  The preferred outlet for the U.S. State Department is CNN; and the Washington Post generally comes out first in defense of the CIA agenda.   This pattern has been remarkably consistent for years.

So against a backdrop of looming revelations about the intelligence community and their activity in the 2016 election; and suddenly The Washington Post, seemingly out of nowhere, pushes an article intended to diffuse the issues around western intelligence asset Joseph Mifsud; we can reasonably assume something is happening in the background that has officials in the CIA worried about exposure and their image.
From the WaPo introduction we can see what part of “spygate” the CIA is concerned about:

(Wa Po) […] The Maltese-born academichas not surfacedpublicly since that October 2017 interview, days after Trump campaign aide GeorgePapadopoulos pleaded guilty tolying to the FBI about details of theirinteractions. Among them, Papadopoulos told investigators, was an April 2016 meeting in which Mifsud alerted him that the Russians had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton in the form of “thousands of emails.”

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It would appear that congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, in a thirst for media exposure, has officially decided to remove any remaining semblance of credibility.
After a series of political stunts intended to generate a far-left narrative for open borders, the loon from New York has officially gone bananas:

In addition to migrants having to drink from toilets, Ms. Cortez claims she was threatened to be raped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials conducting a tour for a congressional delegation.  However, according to Homeland Security journalist Anna Giaritelli none of this happened.
Factually, as reported, AOC began screaming during a U.S. Customs and Border Protection briefing and refused to tour the facilities.  Even AOC’s most staunch supporters are having a difficult time defending their moonbat lightbringer on this one.
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Today, July 1st, is the first day of the third quarter 2019.  As typical some of the earliest economic reporting from June is released.  One of the first reports comes from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) as they compile the manufacturing sector.

As noted in the ISM review, manufacturing growth remains strong with an overall index of 51.7 (anything above 50 is growth), and the results are stronger than initially predicted by the financial media (Wall Street).
The manufacturing production index for June is 54.1 versus last month’s 51.3 (May); generally this means manufacturing outputs are growing, order backlogs are being reduced, orders are being fulfilled faster.  This is an indication that new production investment is now coming on-line and delivering actual products from orders.
In the past CTH had noted the heavy Main Street investment which began in 2017 would start to come on-line in Q2 2019, it generally takes about two years for a new manufacturing facility to start producing, and then increases in production efficiency follow.  The ISM result shows we were pretty close with that forecast.
Within the review there are particular notes for additional interest.  First, the June manufacturing employment index is 54.5, very strong; (last month 53.7).  In essence manufacturers are hiring at a fast rate.  One cause is better weather (seasonal), and the majority cause is filling the jobs from new production facilities coming on-line.
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