The best laid plans of mice-like men simply collapsed when the shadow of President Trump entered the G7 in Charlevoix, Canada.
It’s one thing to talk about the boss when he’s out of town; it’s another thing entirely when he’s sitting next to you. POTUS Trump sets the standard for the scale of influence. Really, it’s such a basic truth – it becomes self-evident. Watch, it is remarkable:
President Trump has taken the Godzilla Trump meme to levels beyond ordinary imaginings. In advance of the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Canada Prime Minister Trudeau sounded the alarm and called in all like-minded allies to help fend off horrible Trump and his arsenal of tariffs.
L-R: European Council President Donald Tusk, British Prime Minister Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, U.S. President Donald Trump, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and European Commission President Jean-Claude JunckerFrench President Emmanuel Macron responded to Trudeau’s plea and arrived two-days early to coordinate the strategic message. Together they were looking for leverage in advance of Godzilla Trump’s arrival. Germany’s Angela Merkel, and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May even brought non-G7 members European Council President Donald Tusk, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker as back-up.
Apparently the six-against-one plan was considered unfair to the six, so they added two more. Unfortunately for Canada, France, Germany and the U.K., Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte are not foolish enough to take on Godzilla.
As an entirely predictable outcome, President Trump won again. It’s just so darned funny to watch this play out. The era of the titan is back, and deliciously the titan is an American President, Donald J Trump. He’s one guy, and he has them all surrounded; and he’s laughing the entire time. He’s impenetrable, sharp, funny as heck and monolithic in stature making all of his opposition look decidedly less-than.
Oh man, this is too funny. Remember the Bowing Ball metaphor? Well, in order for the G6+1 grand plan of Emmanuel from France and Justin from Canada to work they would need the U.K, Germany, Japan and Italy to agree…. outlook not-so-good.
President Trump sits down for a bilateral meeting with half of the dynamic duo. President Trump starts out the public comments with a joke-not-joke that Justin will drop all current trade tariffs against the U.S. and Trump will happily concur. ROFLMAO. Immediately drawing out the trade hypocrisy at the heart of matter. Must Watch:
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The disconcerted look on Justin’s face is priceless.
It is important not to get so granular we miss the big picture. The indictment of former senior senate intelligence committee staffer James Wolfe is filled with information to highlight a much bigger picture. [Indictment pdf here]
Keeping with custom and a very familiar pattern, you will note the big DOJ/FBI investigative releases are timed to drop when President Trump is outside Washington DC.
Note also, it was the Senate Intelligence Committee where Wolfe worked. CTH has continually stated the SSCI is one of the most corrupt committees in congress. It did not come as a surprise to see the staff from this specific committee leaking secret and top-secret classified information. The committee rots from the head down.
According to the indictment Wolfe was notified by the FBI of a classified intelligence leak investigation on/around October 30th, 2017. From the indictment we see that Wolfe was interviewed and confronted by FBI investigators on December 15th, 2017. After admitting he lied to those FBI investigators Wolfe resigned from his position.
On December 15th, 2017 Wolfe was busted; the FBI had him dead-to-rights. However, the grand jury proceedings didn’t start until May 3rd, 2018; and the indictment was sealed until June 7th, 2018. That means six months of investigative work was taking place between busting Wolfe on Dec. 15th, and indicting Wolfe on June 7th.
On December 15th, according to the indictment, the FBI investigators were aware of four specific journalists, “reporters”, who participated in the leak material. The FBI likely had more to choose from, but selected those four reporters -with specific intents and purposes- during the interview with Mr. Wolfe. The four reporters are not named, but their activity is outlined enough to make it possible to determine who is who.
Earlier today, following discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and U.S. President Donald Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held a press conference to discuss “C-VID”, the Complete, Verifiable and Irreversible Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. WATCH:
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UPDATE: 10:15pm EDT – James A. Wolfe, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s former director of security has been indicted by a Grand Jury.(INFO) Federal law enforcement officials secretly seized years’ worth of a New York Times reporter Ali Watkins phone and email records this year in an investigation of classified information leaks. (INFO)
As suspected last night…. The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating a “former staffer” from the corrupt Senate Intelligence Committee. There’s a possibility the “former staffer” is Dan Jones, the senior staff aide to Senator Dianne Feinstein when she was Vice-Chair of the committee and Gang-of-Eight member.
(VIA CNN) The Justice Department has opened an investigation into a former Senate Intelligence Committee staffer who allegedly disclosed classified information, prompting the Senate panel to share information related to the federal probe.
The identity of the former committee aide under investigation has not been disclosed, but sources say prosecutors appear to be preparing charges soon against the individual.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz has informed the Senate Judiciary Committee (full pdf below) the anticipated final publication date for the IG report on how the Obama DOJ and FBI handled the Clinton investigation will be Thursday June 14th, 2018.
The fact-based draft report to the principals was submitted on May 16th. Following the two week period for input from the principals outlined in the draft report, the IG “referencer” within the DOJ-Office of Inspector General then determines which responses will be added for the final report. The report is anticipated to be 400 to 500 pages.
As customary for Michael Horowitz, his office adds the approved responses and then outlines additional IG replies to those responses in the final report. Apparently, due to the scale of the report, the response and reply phase has been extensive.
Mr. Horowitz informs congress today the final report will be publicly available on Thursday June 14, and he will accommodate oversight with an appearance before congress on Monday June 18, 2018 to discuss the findings.
Here’s the letter from Inspector General Horowitz:
While no-one has yet to see the actual Inspector General Mike Horowitz report outlining how the DOJ and FBI handled the Hillary Clinton email investigation, the media are beginning to shape the narrative.
In a summary of Bill Priestap’s testimony, via The Hill, the narrative begins by focusing on James Comey: “Priestap “completely” backed up everything that Comey said, according to a source familiar with his testimony.” The narrative construct gains clarity with a report from ABC highlight James Comey as “insubordinate”:
(Via ABC) The Justice Department’s internal watchdog has concluded that James Comey defied authority at times during his tenure as FBI director, according to sources familiar with a draft report on the matter.
One source told ABC News that the draft report explicitly used the word “insubordinate” to describe Comey’s behavior. Another source agreed with that characterization but could not confirm the use of the term.
UPDATE: 7:45pm – According to email from congressional staff, participation at the closed hearing was limited to only those selected by Committee Chairman (Gowdy, and Goodlatte). The hearing was not available to all committee members. Only Jordan, Meadows and Krishnamoorth were allowed to participate.
Yesterday FBI Director of Counterintelligence E.W. “Bill” Priestap testified to a joint session of the House Judiciary and House Oversight committees.
The hearing was a matter of strong public interest. Mr. Priestap was questioned for approximately seven hours. However, journalist Olivia Beavers covering for The Hill dropped a detail that most, including myself, might find rather curious:
(The Hill) […] Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), however, said he felt that Priestap didn’t say anything that would indicate there was “political bias that motivated the Hillary Clinton email investigation.”
Priestap “completely” backed up everything that Comey said, according to a source familiar with his testimony.
Only three lawmakers — Jordan, Meadows and Krishnamoorthi — attended the hearing, which took place on the first day after a weeklong recess.
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) discusses FBI agent Peter Strzok’s involvement in the Clinton email probe and the Russia investigation; along with the anticipated DOJ-OIG report: