Defense Secretary James Mattis wanted us to stay in Paris accord. Trump said no. Mattis wanted us to stay in the Iran deal. Trump said no. Mattis wanted less pressure on NATO. Trump said no. Mattis wanted to keep soldiers in Syria. Trump said no.  Mattis wanted to hang around until February… Trump said no.

…President Donald Trump on Sunday pushed the Pentagon chief out the door two months earlier than planned (read more)

(more…)

Representative John Ratcliffe discusses ongoing congressional appropriations battle and his interview last week of James Comey.
Mr. Ratcliffe points out that congressional investigators have taken the inquiry into the DOJ and FBI corruption as far as possible; it is now up to the DOJ to hold those corrupt officials accountable for weaponizing their offices.

Representative Mark Meadows (R-NC) appears with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the ongoing appropriations battle between President Trump and open-border democrats.

OMB Director and incoming White House Chief-of-Staff Mick Mulvaney appears on Fox News Sunday to debate the insufferable gatekeeper for the swamp, Chris Wallace.  Topics include: border security and the government non-shutdown; exiting Defense Secretary James Mattis and the end of U.S. combat presence in Syria; and the economy.

Against the backdrop of a partial government shutdown (not really) Representative Mark Meadows (NC), Jim Jordan (OH) and Matt Gaetz (FL) discuss the ongoing budget appropriations standoff over border security and their meeting with President Trump.

Paul Sperry has an interesting report posted at RCP-Investigations outlining numerous interviews with DC politicians and would-be witnesses, if any actual DOJ investigation of the FBI and DOJ misconduct was taking place.  What Sperry discovers is the year-long narrative around John Huber and Michael Horowitz is factually false. [SEE HERE]

Just like the false framework surrounding the long-forgotten U.S. Attorney John Lausch; the guy who was supposedly hired to facilitate DOJ record production but actually did nothing of the sort; Sperry discovers the framework around U.S. Attorney John Huber was manufactured by career officials inside the DOJ to tamp down problematic demands for a second special counsel.
Worse still, and absolutely confirming information from our own contacts within the OIG, Paul Sperry outlines how Michael Horowitz has not interviewed key people who would be part of any authentic FISA abuse inquiry.  [READ HERE]
Unfortunately, this information is directly in-line with information received by CTH in September of 2018.  According to people with knowledge of DOJ-OIG operations, and restrictions upon the IG imposed by chain-of-command authority, Horowitz’s investigation has been limited by Mueller’s team.
(more…)

CTH readers will know Brett McGurk; he is the departing U.S. state department envoy in-charge of the U.S./State Dept./Coalition de-ISIS campaign.  We have discussed his presentations at great length [See Here in 2017].

McGurk was scheduled to exit the State Department in less than two months (Feb ’19); as the 27-nation coalition “de-ISIS operation” is now complete, and has shifted into maintenance mode.  However, McGurk has announced he is resigning at the end of this year.  CBS takes this as an opportunity to present a political hit-job against President Trump’s decision to remove U.S. troops from Syria and allow regional allies to take over.

(Via CBS) […] Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, had been planning to exit his post in February 2019. But sources tell CBS News that he informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he will accelerate his departure due to a strong disagreement with President Trump’s snap decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, effectively abandoning U.S. allies in the region.

(more…)

For those who follow the deep weeds of politics, this is brutally transparent.  For the remaining 97% of the voting electorate, they still don’t understand how the UniParty works. Decepticon leader McConnell doesn’t want the American electorate to see purchased senate republicans voting NO on border security.
Mitch McConnell refuses to call up an appropriations vote on the bill that passed the House of Representatives (includes border funding); nor will Mitch McConnell bring up an independent bill that could then be reconciled with the House bill.  The motives here are brutally transparent.

(link)

Think carefully about what Mitch McConnell is doing here.  It’s not President Trump’s job to write legislation.  McConnell is desperately trying to retain a UniParty ruse, by passing the buck to the White House.   McConnell doesn’t want the American people to see republican senators supporting a bill against voter interests.
Wall Street, corporate and special interest lobbyists own the legislative process. Lobbyists actually write the laws.  Lobbyists pay congress to sell laws they write. Lobbyists funding both left and right wings of the UniParty do not want border security. This is ultimately what McConnell is trying to hide.
Look at what he’s doing.  Senate Leader McConnell is telling the executive branch (President Trump) if they want an appropriations bill, the President must write the legislation with his democrat colleagues.   Please – Think About This.
(more…)

Jobs, jobs, jobs.  Stunning jobs data provided today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) [see here] all 50 states had significant job gains through November 2018.  Not a single state had a negative job growth number.
Total 2018 growth in U.S. jobs through November is:  2,617,000 new jobs.
Eighteen states had significant jobless rate decreases from a year earlier; and with the national unemployment rate at 3.7 percent 32 states (and DC) had little or no change.

(Data Link)

(more…)

President Trump delivers remarks during the First Step Act Bill Signing.  The president talks about border security, the border wall and the likelihood of a government shutdown.
The FIRST STEP Act was championed by Jared Kushner, and passed through Congress with bipartisan support. President Trump saluted his allies in the White House and in Congress who fought for the bill, and added a personal thanks to the Senate and House Minority Leaders. “I want to thank Nancy and Chuck, as I say affectionately. I do. I want to thank everybody.”