During brief press remarks following a USMCA speech in Pennsylvania, Vice President Mike Pence outlined the current status of “talks” between the U.S. and Mexican officials.
The vice-president affirms several times that President Trump is “firm in his position” to see Mexico step-up and do more to stop the mass migration of illegal aliens from Central America.  If you think about it, against the context of the USMCA, the Trump position to confront Mexico is absolutely the right approach.
Mexico wants the USMCA trade agreement, and they want to be united with the U.S. and Canada on trade and collaborative economic benefits.  However, simultaneously Mexico has repeatedly said it will not join the “Safe Third Country” agreement held by the United States and Canada, where asylum seekers must apply for refuge in whichever country they first arrive in, as each is considered safe.

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[It’s worth noting that Pence is likely under a lot of pressure from Tom Donohue and his friends within the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Pence deserves credit for standing up to his traditional tribe.]
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Chrystia Freeland has presented the initial procedural process for  the Canadian Parliament to take up a bill to pass the USMCA.  However, the Canadian window is short, if they don’t ratify the trade pact by the end of June, the Canadian parliament will go into legislative recess until after the general elections October 21st, 2019.

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada took a first step toward ratifying the new North American trade agreement on Monday just three days ahead of U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s trip to Ottawa to discuss the passage of the treaty.
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland presented what is known as a “ways and means motion” to the House of Commons, which opens the way for the formal presentation of a bill.

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Can’t make this stuff up folks…. as if on cue.
Vice President Mike Pence responds to Senator Grassley and Senator Johnson’s speculation that FBI agents wanted to use Pence’s chief of staff to infiltrate President-elect Trump’s transition team in 2016:

“I was deeply offended to learn that two disgraced FBI agents considered infiltrating our transition team by sending a counter intelligence agent to one of my very first intelligence briefings only 9 days after the election,” Pence said in a statement to Axios. “This is an outrage and only underscores why we need to get to the bottom of how this investigation started in the first place.”
“The American people have a right to what happened and if these two agents broke the law and ignored long-standing DOJ policies, they must be held accountable.” (more)

Next up: Deep State (IC) deploys Washington Post and New York Times remind everyone how intense the 2016 Russian election interference was…. In 3, 2, 1..

Yesterday Senators Johnson and Grassley opened the door for the DOJ and FBI to justify the post-election investigation of President Donald Trump, based on a premise of a possible FBI counterintelligence operation ran against the office of the Vice-President, Mike Pence. And lickety-split the outrage voices jumped right to work. Predictable.

Discussions, conversations and displays of evidence outlining the efforts of the intelligence community, to defend against the potential of a compromised President, are exactly what the previous administration officials want to see.  This is the conversation President Obama, Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes and Denis McDonough would be happy to discuss.
Think of the worst or most shocking possibility you can imagine for what might have taken place.  Wiretaps on the White House? Enlisted assistance from staffers? Bugs placed in the cufflinks of Donald Trump?  So what?  From their position all of these efforts were undertaken because they were dealing with the possibility of a U.S. President who might be under the control of a foreign government.  This is the conversation they would enjoy.
From their ‘by-the-book‘ perspective the officials who ran the counterintelligence operation against President Trump have no fear of discussions about what they did in their post-election defense of the constitution (that’s how they will sell it). No fear.
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Earlier today President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House to discuss regional issues and the U.S. support for the nation state of Israel.  Included with this visit was an executive proclamation supporting Israel’s right to stable government over the Golan Heights.   [Video of remarks]
As the Democrat party showcases even more antisemitism, without overestimation, the bond between the U.S. and Israel is the strongest it has ever been. Quite remarkable.

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President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence participate in the traditional presentation of the Shamrock Bowl to celebrate the festivities of St. Patrick and the warm relationship between the U.S. and Ireland.

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Earlier in the day President Trump also attended a bipartisan DC luncheon to celebrate the friendship. (see below)
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Earlier today President Donald Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence welcomed Danny Burch and his family to the White House.  Mr. Burch, an American citizen, was held captive for 18 months in Yemen and was recently released. [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] Oval Office – 2:12 P.M. EST – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much for being here. We have a very big moment because we have Danny Burch back home, where he should be.
He was in Yemen, in a very horrible situation — a captive, a prisoner. You can call him whatever you want, but it wasn’t good. He was there for 18 months — even a little more than 18 months — and we got him out. And we had some great help from UAE and all of our friends. But we got Danny out. And he’s just come home, said hello to his family, his beautiful son. Thank you for being here. And it’s nice to see your father back where he belongs.
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Tonight President Donald Trump addressed a reception audience celebrating National African American History Month in the east room of the White House.
Joining President Trump on the stage was First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence, Clarence Henderson, Catherine Toney and Bob Woodson.

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The area around Miami, Florida, is home to the largest group of Venezuela exiles in the U.S.  Today, there are two competing mass demonstrations taking place within Venezuela, supportive of both the pro-Maduro regime and the pro-Guaidó movement.
Yesterday Vice-President Mike Pence delivered a speech to a Doral, FL, audience that supports the ouster of Maduro.

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[FRIDAY] Doral, Florida – THE VICE PRESIDENT: Buenas tardes a todos! (Applause.) Thank you, Governor DeSantis; First Lady Casey DeSantis; members of Congress; Ambassador Trujillo; distinguished guests. Karen and I are so honored to join you here in this beautiful place of worship with our fellow Americans and so many proud sons and daughters of Venezuela. (Applause.)
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The background here is that any unilateral declassification by President Trump will end up putting him in opposition to a variety of corrupt interests. As a direct result he will be facing legal action from the legislative branch. With that accepted, here is the most strategic approach.

In anticipation of litigation:

President Trump informs the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, that he wishes to have a full intelligence briefing on the following documents:

• All versions of the Carter Page FISA applications (DOJ) (FBI) (ODNI).
• All of the Bruce Ohr 302’s filled out by the FBI. (FBI) (ODNI)
• All of Bruce Ohr’s emails (FBI) (DOJ) (CIA) (ODNI)
• All relevant documents pertaining to the supportive material within the FISA application. (FBI) (DOJ-NSD ) (DoS) (CIA) (DNI) (NSA) (ODNI);
• All supportive documents and material provided by Bruce Ohr to the FBI. (FBI)
• All intelligence documents that were presented to the Gang of Eight in 2016 that pertain to the FISA application used against U.S. person Carter Page; including all intelligence documents that may not have been presented to the FISA Court. (CIA) (FBI) (DOJ) (ODNI) (DoS) (NSA)
• All unredacted text messages and email content between Lisa Page and Peter Strzok on all devices. (FBI) (DOJ) (DOJ-NSD) (ODNI)
• The originating CIA “EC” or two-page electronic communication from former CIA Director John Brennan to FBI Director James Comey that started Operation Crossfire Hurricane in July 2016. (CIA) (FBI) (ODNI)
• The full and unredacted April 2017 FISA court 99-page opinion written by Presiding Judge Rosemary Collyer outlining the compliance audit conducted by the NSA in 2016. (NSA) (ODNI) (DOJ) (FBI) (DOJ-NSD)

The President selects a date for this briefing and informs the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, to inform and coordinate with all executive branch lead intelligence officials, who were/are stakeholders in the compartmented intelligence products as described above, of their request be present for the briefing.
Further, all of the compartmented intelligence is to be collectively assembled by the ODNI into one volume of a singular Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB).  There are to be eighteen printed copies of the PDB assembled and secured for the briefing.
Additionally, the office of the president informs the ODNI of the executives’ intent to invite for the briefing each member of the Intelligence Community legislative oversight known as the Gang-of-Eight.
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