It has become somewhat of a tradition for the President to sit down for a wide-ranging interview with a member of the U.S. media on Superbowl Sunday.
This year President Trump sits down with Margaret Brennan of CBS’s “Face the Nation” for a wide-ranging interview where he point-by-point deconstructs the left-wing talking points. Topics include foreign policy, cabinet changes, the economy, the Mueller investigation, the 2020 Democrat candidates and football.  [Transcript included]

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MARGARET BRENNAN: Would you shut down the government again?
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Well, we’re going to have to see what happens on February 15th and I- I think–
MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re not taking it off the table?
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President Trump tweets about the controversy surrounding Virginia Democrat Governor Ralph “Coonman” Northam.  Immediately thereafter Hillary Clinton weighs-in.
Three tweets tell the story (notice the timing):

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One of the reasons we highlight the full transcripts of President Trump’s comments, when available, is because within any back-and-forth you can often notice a signal.  This past week was no different.
The day after President Trump hosted a meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials in the Oval Office, he answered a question during an unrelated White House meeting on human trafficking.
Here’s the off-topic transcript:

Q Mr. President, are you thinking of adding on a meeting with Xi Jinping on the back end or the front end of the meeting with Kim?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I’m thinking about it.
Q How close are you —
THE PRESIDENT: I mean, some of you were there yesterday. We had an incredible meeting yesterday with the Vice Premier of China — a very powerful man, highly respected. Very strong. Very respected, also, by the President — President Xi. And we had an amazing meeting on trade — mostly on trade. Actually, also on fentanyl. China has agreed to criminalize fentanyl. That’s going to have a huge impact on fentanyl coming into the country.
There is a possibility we’ll meet somewhere, whether it’s there — I’m over in a certain location. I’ll be over in a certain location there, as you know.
Q So you might do —

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces the suspension of the United States from the INF missile treaty, based upon ongoing violations from Russia.  [Video and Transcript]

…make no mistake about President Trump’s mission set. President Trump’s mission set is to make sure that any agreement that we entered into has America’s best interest – that is, it protects the American people, protects our allies around the world as well, and has provisions that other countries are both capable and willing to comply with, and allow us to verify that they have complied with those agreements.

[Transcript] SECRETARY POMPEO: Good morning, everyone. At the core of President Trump’s foreign policy are a few very, very simple truths. The security of the American people must be our greatest consideration, the agreements into which we enter must serve American interests, and countries must be held accountable when they break the rules.
For years, Russia has violated the terms of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty without remorse. To this day, Russia remains in material breach of its treaty obligations not to produce, possess, or flight-test a ground-launched intermediate-range cruise missile system with a range between 500 and 5,500 kilometers.
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After a round of trade discussions with the Trump administration, China has decided to emphasize the panda face.  It must be noted, as we review this decision, the second largest exporter of soybeans is Brazil…. that would be the same Brazil that just elected another economic nationalist, Jair Bolsonaro.
The U.S. is the #1 exporter with harvests exceeding 108 million metric tons. Brazil just happens to be the worlds #2 exporter, with harvests exceeding 86 million metric tons.
Imagine what could happen if nationalist President Trump and nationalist Jair Bolsonaro had a phone call and actually coordinated a unified and nationalist trade position toward China?  {{{nudge, nudge – wink, wink – say no more, say no more}}}  Wait… wha?

According to multiple media reports, Beijing is agreeing to an initial purchase of 5 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans as a show of good faith:

WASHINGTON – China has agreed to resume purchases of U.S. soybeans following talks Thursday between President Trump and Beijing’s top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He. It will start off by purchasing 5 million metric tons.

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Earlier today President Trump delivered extensive remarks on a variety of issues during a White House meeting to discuss border security and human trafficking.
The Trump administration sets the bar on government transparency by allowing media to review these ongoing policy discussions.  Additionally, President Trump answers all of the media questions on current events and issues of public interest.  WATCH:

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[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much, everybody. We appreciate it. The jobs numbers just came out and we added 304,000 jobs, which was a shocker to a lot of people. It wasn’t a shocker to me. The country is doing really well. We have the strongest economy anywhere in the world, by far. And we’re the strongest nation in the world. So that was really good. But those numbers were very, very impressive.
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It would appear that U.S. Senator Elizabeth “I’ma-git-me-a-beer” Warren must have finally accepted the smoke signal polling provided by her political advisers.  In an attempt to regain credibility (won’t happen) Liawatha comes clean:

(Tweet Link – Story Link)

The interesting dynamic here is actually beyond Liwawatha.  CNN, a media entity strongly connected to the DNC machine, is ‘out-front’, off the reservation, and cutting off Warren’s campaign effort at the wounded knees.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) published the report on the January job growth and the financial media sat jaw agape as the economy gained a whopping 304,000 jobs despite the government shutdown. The doomsayer pundits are choking on a triple-scoop of winnamins.
Adding to the financial media apoplexy the wage growth in blue-collar workers far exceeded expectations, and the ISM data on manufacturing blew all consensus predictions out of the water… leading to the following ‘scorching’ headline from CNBC:

(Link to article)

Too funny.  Enjoy the following:

(Via CNBC) January’s super strong jobs report and a solid manufacturing survey on Friday showed that recession worries may be overblown and slowdown fears are not impacting corporate hiring or dampening manufacturers’ sentiment.
The economy added a surprising 304,000 new jobs in January, well above the 165,000 expected by economists. Wages grew by an annual 3.2 percent, and were even higher for nonmanagerial workers with a 0.4 percent monthly gain.

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Another unsourced leak of a congressional hearing transcript to The Epoch Times highlights the testimony of former FBI Director of Counterintelligence, Bill Priestap.
Unfortunately, the transcript is not provided, and there is no explanation as to why the transcript is not provided; however, one quote seems interesting.
The question surrounds why congressional leadership, including the Gang-of-Eight, were not briefed about the opening of a counterintelligence operation into a presidential campaign.  The investigation began on July 31st, 2016. Congress was not notified until early March 2017.

Rep. Jordan: I guess what I’m asking, Mr. Priestap, is who made the decision not to brief Congress in this particular instance?
Mr. Priestap: Mr. Comey.

This answer seems to be directly contradicting the March 20, 2017, testimony of FBI Director James Comey. Watch that first 3:00 minutes, ending with: ”because of the sensitivity of the matter.”

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So in open testimony Comey said congress was not notified upon the advice of the Director of Counterintelligence, Bill Priestap.  However, in closed testimony Bill Priestap says congress was not notified because of a decision by FBI Director James Comey.
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President Trump delivers a video message in concert with a series of public tweets surrounding the ongoing issues with border security funding.

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