To say there are conflicting reports of the U.S-China trade discussion, and possible breakdown therein, would be an understatement.  However, mining through the various U.S. and China news agencies, a more clear picture emerges.

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighizer is quoted today: “We felt we were on track to get somewhere. Over the course of last week we have seen an erosion of commitments by China. That in our view is unacceptable.”  This statement appears to be in line with reports from Beijing about Chinese negotiators: “with sources suggesting that President Xi Jinping vetoed additional concessions proposed by his negotiators.”

(Bloomberg) […] Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told reporters on Monday that the Chinese backsliding became apparent during their visit to Beijing last week, but that they had been reassured by their Chinese interlocutors that everything would turn out.

That changed over the weekend when China sent through a new draft of an agreement that included them pulling back on language in the text on a number of issues, which had the “potential to change the deal very dramatically,” Mnuchin said.

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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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Following the arc of the 2016 election surveillance story, Representative Jim Jordan and Maria Bartiromo discuss the reasons why the administrative state now needs to remove AG Bill Barr with a sense of increased urgency.
Attorney General Bill Barr has vowed to get to the bottom of the surveillance and spy operations conducted against the Trump campaign -and Trump administration- in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Barr is now a threat to the system.

Maria Bartiromo follows up her interview of ‘spygate’ target George Papadopoulos with an interview of HPSCI ranking member Devin Nunes.  Together they expand the background for how Joseph Mifsud connected to George Papadopoulos.

Former FBI Director James Comey gave a radio interview to Los Angeles radio station KNX 1070-AM after the New York Times outlined FBI spies used in the 2016 election. When questioned about the FBI using intelligence assets to engage with Trump campaign official George Papadopoulos, Comey replied:

“Really? What would you have the FBI do? We discover in the middle of June of 2016 that the Russians were engaged in a massive effort to mess with this democracy to interfere in the election. We’re focused on that and at the end of July we learn that a Trump campaign adviser — two months earlier, before any of this was public — had talked to a Russian representative about the fact that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton and wanted to arrange to share it with the Trump campaign.”

(Link to Radio Interview)

What Comey is describing there is “Russian representative” Joseph Mifsud talking to George Papadopoulos. Mifsud allegedly told Trump aide George Papadopoulos in April 2016 that Russia had “thousands” of Hillary Clinton’s emails.
On May 6th, 2016, some unknown intelligence apparatus ran an operation using Australian aide to Ambassador Downer, Erika Thompson, to interview Papadopoulos; and on May 10th, Ambassador Downer interviewed Papadopoulos and recorded their contact.
Later, in July 2016, the May 6th meeting with Thompson was used by FBI Agent Peter Strzok to write an Electronic Communication memo, transferred from CIA Director John Brennan to FBI Director James Comey, opening Crossfire Hurricane on July 31st.
It is worth remembering from a recent court filing by the FBI we are now aware that James Comey documented each intelligence decision in a series of multiple CYA memos that remain hidden. An additional court filing originally scheduled for April 15th, to determine the outcome of those memos, has been delayed until May 7th (next week).
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Rep. Devin Nunes appears on Fox News to discuss his letter raising questions about academic center of origin of Russia probe. Nunes says if Joseph Mifsud is a Russian agent, it would be one of the biggest intelligence scandals in history.

The admissions within the New York Times story today -outlining how President Obama’s intelligence apparatus ran simultaneous intelligence operations against the Trump campaign- are starting to merge the FBI and CIA operations. CTH anticipated this.
With new information about the “U.K. operation” using Stefan Halper (CIA asset and FBI informant); and the details of the contacts by U.S. intelligence operative Azra Turk; we can overlay the timeline and see a clear picture.

On August 15th, 2016, Lisa Page and Peter Strzok discussed the “insurance policy“:

Two weeks later, September 2nd, 2016, CIA operative Stefan Halper reaches out to George Papadopoulos and introduces him to CIA/FBI asset Azra Turk.
This alignment between the CIA and FBI is not a surprise to anyone who has followed the story behind the 2015/2016 political surveillance issues.  However, there’s a specific connection here many are missing.
Remember, everything AFTER March 9th, 2016, is a cover-story.  Everything after March 9th, 2016, are operations from both the CIA and FBI to hide the political surveillance that was going on before March 9th, 2016.  The surveillance was happening through exploitation of the NSA database through unauthorized FISA search queries; and involved both the CIA and FBI.
This is the point that has not been emphasized enough. However, FISA Judge Rosemary Collyer outlined the connection, albeit with mandatory redactions.  The connective evidence is in a footnote on page #87 of Collyer’s report that few are paying attention to:
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A report in the New York Times, transparently timed and placed by officials within the intelligence apparatus trying to get out ahead of internal investigations, outlines how the FBI sent counterintelligence spies to engage with Trump campaign officials in 2016.
In a stunning admission The New York Times describes how the FBI enlisted a female agent to work the “operation” in the U.K. during August-September 2016 posing as an aide for U.S. intelligence asset/FBI informant Stefan Halper.
Halper was an FBI operative and  Cambridge professor who set up meetings with Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos.  The female agent used a fake name, Azra Turk, and presented herself as an assistant to Stefan Halper; however, she was actually an undercover intelligence operative of the FBI.

NYT […] The woman had set up the meeting to discuss foreign policy issues. But she was actually a government investigator posing as a research assistant, according to people familiar with the operation. The F.B.I. sent her to London as part of the counterintelligence inquiry opened that summer to better understand the Trump campaign’s links to Russia.

The American government’s affiliation with the woman, who said her name was Azra Turk, is one previously unreported detail of an operation that has become a political flash point in the face of accusations by President Trump and his allies that American law enforcement and intelligence officials spied on his campaign to undermine his electoral chances. Last year, he called it “Spygate.”

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Representative Doug Collins and Asst. Attorney General Stephen Boyd blast Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler for blatant politicization of the House Judiciary Committee.