Joint Base Andrews pressers are not as good as Chopper pressers, but they’re close. President Trump impromptu remarks departing Andews AFB. [Video and Transcript]
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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. I’m going to Arizona. We’re going to see Honeywell. They’ve done a fantastic job on many different fronts on the pandemic, and we’re going to pay our respects and also see the great people of Arizona.
Okay. Go ahead.
Q Mr. President, with these new projections, a lot of people do want the country to reopen quickly. Are you willing to accept these new projections that show that many more people will die and — with interaction?
Senator Tom Cotton appears on Fox News to discuss the latest revelations that COVID-19 came out of a laboratory in Wuhan, China. Martha MacCallum attempts to push the Beijing propaganda of wounded panda as a victim; Senator Cotton outlines the importance of accepting that China is a communist totalitarian state.
White House Manufacturing Policy Advisor and lead on execution of the Defense Production Act, Peter Navarro, appears on Fox News to discuss the ongoing initiatives to secure, produce and/or manufacture critical healthcare products in the U.S.
There are multiple reports in media today about the White House assembling a variety of new policies and regulations to go full wolverine on ‘America-First’. USTR Lighthizer, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross are leading the effort.
Additionally, Navarro notes FEMA, HHS and DoD will soon have rules requiring USA manufactured purchases for their government contracts.
Wall Street’s U.S. multinationals moved the majority of U.S. apparel manufacturing to southeast Asia for the past several decades; as a result they virtually wiped out major apparel hubs in the United States. Now those same multinationals are claiming their production shift to making masks and PPE in China means the tariffs on imports should be lifted; and they are sending their corporate lobbyists into DC to pitch that message.
Nonsense.
There are no tariffs on U.S. healthcare products made in the USA. If the apparel industry wants to avoid tariffs, then bring the manufacturing back home. Critical manufacturing in the United States is what U.S. consumers of those and other goods want.
President Trump should not lower tariffs on imported PPE, he should actually raise those tariffs as high as needed to shift that manufacturing back to the U.S.
The time is now to wage battle against the Wall Street manufacturers & K-St lobbyists.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is “turbocharging” an initiative to remove global industrial supply chains from China as it weighs new tariffs to punish Beijing for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, according to officials familiar with U.S. planning.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin appears for a wide-ranging interview with Maria Bartiromo. Topics include international travel, the Paycheck Protection Program progress, small business relief, and overall rebuilding of the U.S. economy amid COVID-19 mitigation.
The first few minutes of the interview are weird because Bartiromo doesn’t seem to recognize the PPP program is essentially a grant to small business to keep their employees on payroll. Ms. Bartiromo appears to want the PPP grants to be shifted to free money to replace business revenue, and she’s pushing hard for her Wall St buddies.
Secretary Mnuchin tries to remind Bartiromo that businesses can apply for bridge loans, but the PPP is actually a grant. Bartiromo argues that all businesses should have free money bailouts to replace revenues; an impossible suggestion.
President Trump will be participating in a Fox News ‘virtual town hall’ today at 7:00pm ET as it is broadcast on Fox News. Unfortunately, as w/previous Fox ‘town hall’ formats, there is no proprietary Fox livestream available for on-line viewing. [Option Here] However, if you are watching the broadcast feel free to add your comments on the event below.
Ms. Maria Bartiromo interviews Senator Lindsey Graham, yet again, about the surveillance coup effort and the recent documents released in the Flynn case. Once again, Senator Graham claims he will use his position as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman to initiate an investigation of those in the DOJ and FBI who have continually lied to the FISA court, the U.S. judicial system (various judges), and the America people.
Bartiromo calls Graham out on his lack of action; however, once again Senator Graham hides behind an “ongoing investigation.” This “I’m not going to interfere in an ongoing criminal matter” is the exact same excuse Graham used previously in: (1) the Mueller investigation; (2) the Horowitz investigation; (3) the IG review of the FBI FISA abuse; (4) the IG review of Andrew McCabe; (4) the IG review of Comey’s memos; and now the Durham investigation into the origins of Obama’s political targeting and Flynn.
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I will keep repeating this until the Hope-Porn sellers catch up. Graham cannot, and will not, take any investigation action within the Senate because senators were involved in the FBI/DOJ and Intelligence Community operations. His own chamber, and the Senators on his own committee, were participants in the schemes.
[John McCain, Richard Burr, Dianne Feinstein, Mark Warner, Lindsey Graham, Chuck Schumer, Mitch McConnell, Marco Rubio, and every person sitting on the SSCI know what happened and who was participating. The SSCI controls who is allowed to be CIA Director, NSA Director, FBI Director, Director of National Intelligence and Intel Community Inspector General. The nominees must pass through this committee. Senator Burr and Senator Warner are the Chairman and Vice-Chair respectively. Both blocked Ratcliffe.]
One of the unfortunate impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic is the elimination of most ceremonial gatherings for the 2020 graduating class. Despite the inability to celebrate with gatherings of families and friends, President Trump and First Lady Melania send their congratulations to the graduates:
WHITE HOUSE – Congratulations on your upcoming graduation! The First Lady and I are very proud of you.
Over the past weeks and months, you, your classmates, teachers and administrators, and our Nation have experienced times of uncertainty and adversity. Much like our country, you have risen to the challenge with remarkable poise and determination, demonstrating the character traits that define the American spirit—resiliency, responsibility, and a stalwart drive to succeed.
White House Advisor to the President Kevin Hassett discusses the importance of using May to get as many states open as possible. The President has asked for data daily to measure the amount of the economy that is reopening. As the economy opens there’s less need for a ‘phase-4’ relief/bailout bill.
The recently unsealed documents in the Flynn case provide some key information to fill in a timeline that shows exactly why incoming National Security Advisor Michael Flynn needed to be removed by the pre-existing Obama intelligence community. WATCH:
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You might note the recent releases from internal FBI documents surround three specific phases of activity, representing individual blocks of time, amid a longer timeline:
(1) The transition period. A set of actions in December 2016 through early January 2017; which includes the FBI deciding to stop the investigation of Flynn (FARA-Russia) January 4th; and the apoplexy of the FBI to continue it.
(2) The immediate days of the Trump administration; and the need for the FBI to target Flynn on January 24, 2017, surrounding a Logan Act violation.
(3) The assembly of an FBI narrative following the January 24th interview; which includes the planning by the FBI for how to write up the Flynn interview notes culminating on February 15th.
