Byron York is reporting on a possible motive for FBI Director Wray assigning additional FBI staff resources to fulfill Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte’s subpoena request.  According to an email received from inside the DOJ:

Byron York – Late Tuesday, a source who asked to be identified as a “DOJ insider” emailed an update from inside the Justice Department, making clear Sessions has grown impatient with FBI Director Christopher Wray:

“Senior staff on both sides of the street have met on this and the FBI is getting called on the carpet. The Attorney General is angry with how slow the process has moved when it comes to requests from Congress to the FBI. He’s told Wray that the pace is unacceptable and that if the FBI needs to double the number of people working on this, then that’s what they need to do, but he is done seeing the Department criticized for the FBI’s slow walking of requests from Congress like the last administration when these requests should be a top priority.” (link)

Additionally, the DOJ sent the following letter to Chairman Goodlatte in response to his subpoena request:

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A lot of under-the-radar action happening today surrounding the upcoming DOJ Office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz report.

House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte called Inspector General Michael Horowitz earlier today to discuss the content of the subpoena he recently sent to the DOJ demanding investigative records related to the ongoing IG internal review and report.

Simultaneous to this oversight discussion, and related to the content therein, FBI Director Christopher Wray released a public statement announcing additional FBI staff resources committed to fulfillment of Chairman Goodlatte’s request.

FBI – As the Director of the FBI, I am committed to ensuring that the Bureau is being transparent and responsive to legitimate congressional requests.

Up until today, we have dedicated 27 FBI staff to review the records that are potentially responsive to Chairman Goodlatte’s requests. The actual number of documents responsive to this request is likely in the thousands. Regardless, I agree that the current pace of production is too slow.

Accordingly, I am doubling the number of assigned FBI staff, for a total of 54, to cover two shifts per day from 8 a.m. to midnight to expedite completion of this project. (link)

DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz has ‘at least’ 1.2 million documents gathered as part of his fourteen month investigation into the politicization of the FBI and DOJ.

Included within the exhaustive evidence is the total transcript of text messages between FBI Agent Peter Strzok and FBI Attorney Lisa Page extending almost two years. Some of those text messages were previously released to congressional oversight committees and have structured much of the media storyline and investigative pathways for three congressional committees.  However, only a small portion of those texts were actually release so far.

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The passage of the defense spending portion of the Omnibus bill ultimately means there will be increased demand for U.S. steel and aluminum within new defense equipment. The contracts within the procurement process will predictably require the use of U.S. parts.

Add the increase in defense spending with the pending global tariffs on steel imports, and the environment is created for foreign investment in domestic steel and metal manufacturing…. Then add into the mix the geopolitical economic relationship developed between India’s Prime Minister Modi and President Trump… And you discover the backdrop for this announcement from India owned JSW Steel:

(Reuters) – India’s JSW Steel Ltd said on Monday it would spend $500 million to build out its U.S. operations in Texas, amid heightened global trade tensions following U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to pursue steep import tariffs.

The company has signed an agreement with the Texas governor’s office, under which the governor has approved a grant worth $3.4 million to the company’s unit, the steelmaker said in a statement here.

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Senator Lindsey Graham appears on Fox News for an interview with Maria Bartiromo.  99.99% of the interview is country club Senator Graham repeating the same South Carolina white wine spritzer talking points he’s famous for.  That is to say lots of words amounting to nothing. The gastric equivalence of cucumber and mayonnaise triangle sandwiches on crust-less Wonder bread with a side of celery.

However, there is a reminder at 09:50 of a key and important point that tries to surface yet continues to get whacked down by the annoying duplicity of swamp creatures and a media that completely ignores the obvious.  Lindsey Graham claims Christopher Steele lied and told the FBI he never talked to media.

We do not know this to be true, and neither does he.

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It is far more likely the FBI:… #1) Ignored Chris Steele talking to media because they needed his Clinton-Steele dossier for a false FISA application; and #2) the FBI later told congress they didn’t know about Steele talking to media, but they really did; and #3) the FBI falsified FD-302 reports of their interview with Chris Steele to cover their tracks.

Here’s how we know:

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President Trump is no longer planning to utilize the services or representation of the legal husband and wife team of Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, within the ongoing Mueller probe, due to conflicts.

“The President is disappointed that conflicts prevent Joe diGenova and Victoria Toensing from joining the President’s Special Counsel legal team,” his lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement. “However, those conflicts do not prevent them from assisting the President in other legal matters. The President looks forward to working with them.”

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Maria Bartiromo has an interview with Devin Nunes encompassing multiple topics from China and Trade to the FBI/DOJ investigation.

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HPSCI recommendations below:

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The National Security Council is a large intelligence bureaucracy, within the Washington DC intelligence apparatus, consisting of dozens of principles and hundreds of staff.   Many of those staffers are career officials, holdovers from prior administrations.

According to Foreign Policy, incoming National Security Adviser to the President, John Bolton, is planning a significant ‘clean house’ removing a significant number of people within the system.

(Via FP) Incoming National Security Advisor John Bolton and people close to him are expected to launch a massive shake-up at the National Security Council, aiming to remove dozens of current White House officials, starting with holdovers from President Barack Obama’s administration, according to multiple sources.

Those targeted for removal include officials believed to have been disloyal to President Donald Trump, those who have leaked about the president to the media, his predecessor’s team, and those who came in under Obama.

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Author of “The Coming Collapse of China”, Gordon Chang, discusses the effect of President Trump’s tariffs on China and the epic battle ahead.  Last night China announced their feeble retaliatory actions – SEE HERE.  A professionally nervous Maria Bartiromo, frames a series of questions from the perspective of Wall Street.

Fortunately Gordon Chang understands the Red Dragon, and more importantly understands Chinese Chairman Xi Jinping’s geopolitical goals through economic conquest. Mr. Chang is one of the few people who appear regularly in media and know the truth behind the Panda Mask.

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People often talk about the ‘strength’ of China’s economic model; and indeed within a specific part of their economy -manufacturing- they do have economic strength.

However, the underlying critical architecture of the Chinese economic model is structurally flawed and President Trump with his current economic team understand the weakness better than all international adversaries.

China is a central planning economy.  Meaning it never was an outcropping of natural economic conditions.  China was/is controlled as a communist style central-planning government; As such, it is important to reference the basic structural reality that China’s economy was created from the top down.

This construct of government creation is a key big picture distinction that sets the backdrop to understand how weak the economy really is.

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National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro appears on Fox Business News to discuss the “reciprocity” proposals and the ongoing confrontation with China. Despite the honest examples provided, it is transparent from the delivery Navarro is attempting to calms the nerves of Wall Street.  “EC” Economically Correct, presentation – Watch:

Without apology CTH continues to state all opposition to President Trump finds the epicenter of motive behind the economic policy.  There are trillions at stake.

Yes, there are ideological differences, but do not doubt for a moment the existential threat is the core principle behind America-First economics.

Multinational corporations and global financial interests have more than a generation of effort invested within the modern trade and economic constructs that President Trump is challenging head-on.

Politicians do not construct legislation, K-Street lobbyists do. Hundreds of millions have been spent purchasing politicians as a sales force to protect those financial interests. Challenge their financial trade schemes and you are threatening the livelihood and financial systems that generate massive wealth for very powerful people.  Additionally, the downstream effect threatens the affluence of the professional political class.

That said, there are American interests who will benefit, it’s just not popular within the cocktail party circuit to admit it:

(Bloomberg)  China’s plan to counter U.S. import tariffs may throw global aluminum and steel traders into a tizzy, but the net result could be a boon for American primary-metal producers.

The retaliatory plan to slap tariffs on U.S. aluminum scrap and some steel products may boost American supplies, lowering raw-material prices, says Zaner Group LLC’s Peter Thomas. That could coax some metal producers to restart unused capacity in Rust Belt states if infrastructure spending picks up.

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