A win for the Trump administration in the ongoing effort to stem the influx of migrants crossing the U.S-Mexico border seeking asylum.  The ninth circuit federal appeals court ruled (full pdf below) that the Trump administration can continue returning Central American migrants to Mexico while their requests for asylum in the U.S. are adjudicated.

The Ninth Circuit decision is a victory for the administration.  The ruling stays the effect of a decision last month by a judge who blocked the policy while it was being challenged.

(WSJ) […] The policy, officially named the Migrant Protection Protocols, is more commonly known as “Back to Mexico” or “Remain in Mexico.”
While Tuesday’s court action isn’t a final decision on the merits of the case, the appeals court held that several legal factors favored allowing the Trump administration to administer the policy while the litigation continues.

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Smart move by DOJ lawyers.  The letter below informs Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler the previous report content was provided without assertion of executive privilege; however, if Nadler follows-through with impeachment plan, executive privilege is now enforced and the totality of the report is withdrawn from congress.
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On January 22nd, 2018, eleven months prior to the mid-term election, lawyers from the special counsel’s office told Judge Boasberg in a sealed-courtroom why they needed to keep James Comey’s memos from being released.
Special Counsel Attorney Michael Dreeben informed the court the special counsel was charged with investigating an obstruction case against President Trump from the beginning. President Trump was the target of their investigation from the outset.

The previously sealed court transcript was released today – SEE HERE
Despite Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein and Special Counsel Mueller assuring the President and his lawyers he was not the target of the investigation, they were lying.
As soon as the court was told Trump was the target (hearing January 22, 2018) the court agreed to seal everything relating to the journal of James Comey. [BACKGROUND]

This is frustrating, but not surprising.  In the updated DOJ court filing today (pdf link here) the DOJ tells the court they want to keep the Comey Journal (memos) hidden from public review {BACKSTORY HERE}:
Hat Tip Techno-Fog: The release of Mueller’s Report… “does not alter the FBI’s position with regard to the remaining redactions in the Comey Memos.”
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It is worth remembering a recent court filing by the FBI where we discover James Comey documented each “Crossfire Hurricane” intelligence decision. Within the CYA memos  Comey included the ID of code-named spies in a journal of sorts, that remains hidden for now.  I have a hunch the full Comey journal will soon be released.
A court filing originally scheduled for April 15th, to determine the outcome of the multiple memos, and FBI closed-court discussion therein, was delayed until May 7th, tomorrow:

The number of Comey memos is why I now describe them collectively as the Comey “journal”.  {Go Deep} The reason I suspect the “journal” will soon be released is connected to the recent New York Times release admitting to the use of FBI intelligence assets (Stefan Halper and Azra Turk)) in the Trump operation.
Last week’s NYT “spy” admission followed a report a month earlier (everyone forgot) that DOJ Inspector General was investigating the FBI use of Stefan Halper.
CTH notes a conspicuous similarity where all FBI leaks are positioned to present justifications ahead of document/investigative releases adverse to the group’s interests.  These leaks appear to be planned releases from corrupt officials still employed within the FBI, and political allies outside government (Lawfare and MSM).
All of the leaks are justifications.  The Comey’s memos, as described by Weissmann and Mueller’s lead FBI Agent, David Archey, are also based around “justification”.
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The Treasury Department informed congress Monday it will not release President Trump’s tax returns.  This follows a politically motivated request from House Democrats, and potentially sets-up a legal battle to be resolved by the Supreme Court.
Letter from Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin:

(Link to Letter)

CTH shared last week the visibility of a cross-party political and economic horse-trade {Go Deep}.  It would appear some evidence toward that likelihood is gathering:

(Schumer link)

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer want their infrastructure proposal.  President Trump wants a fundamentally realigned geopolitical trade reset.  No doubt Pelosi/Schumer will attempt to get their political win and simultaneously eliminate any Trump win.  However, until the weeds are reached they are each playing their role.
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House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Doug Collins appears on Fox News to respond to the latest political ploy by Speaker Pelosi and Chairman Nadler to hold Attorney General William Barr in contempt of congress.

(Link to statement from Doug Collins)

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House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler has scheduled a markup vote for contempt proceedings for Wednesday May 8th at 10:00am.  The markup vote begins the process for debating the democrat-claimed violations by the Attorney General, and the creation of a report (a contempt resolution) outlining the issues therein.

A full contempt vote normally follows the creation of the contempt resolution; which is an outcome of the debate.  However, to showcase just how ridiculous and political the agenda of Nadler has become, the actual contempt resolution is already written – SEE HERE.
Chairman Nadler and House Democrats are framing the contempt accusations around AG William Barr not publicly releasing a fully unredacted version of the Weissmann-Mueller report, and the underlying evidence.  AG Barr has made the unredacted version available to congressional leadership; however, Barr cannot release the unredacted version publicly because the Mueller-Weissmann report contains grand jury information, and such a release is unlawful.
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More than 600 Iranian-funded Hamas terror missiles have been fired into Israel from Gaza. Four Israeli civilians have been killed.  In retaliation, Israel has carried out military strikes against Hamas leaders in Gaza.  President Trump tweets support for Israel.

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Rockets and missiles from Gaza killed four civilians in Israel while Israeli strikes killed 14 Palestinians, most of them militants, in surging cross-border fighting on Sunday, according to Gazan officials and the Israeli military.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he ordered the military to continue “massive strikes” against Gaza’s ruling Hamas group and Islamic Jihad in the most serious border clashes since a spate of fighting in November.

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