The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released the first quarter GDP numbers today and far exceeded all forecasts. The rate of growth in the first quarter was measured at 3.2% far above the anticipated 2.5% range; and the annual rate of inflation remains low at 1.7%.

The economy grew at a surprising rate of 3.2% in the first quarter, well above the consensus forecast of 2.5%. Also reported Friday was the latest PCE inflation data for the first quarter, showing core inflation at 1.7% year over year, down from 1.9% in the fourth quarter. (more)

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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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President Trump gave an extensive interview to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday evening.  The President made several stunning comments about the Mueller investigation, previous wiretaps, the upcoming inspector general report, the deep state, and his firm plans to declassify a significant amount of background documents.
For the first time President Trump used the terms “attempted coup” and “overthrow” to discuss the coordinated effort against his administration by the previous administration including James Clapper (ODNI), John Brennan (CIA), James Comey (FBI), and lower level officials within the intelligence apparatus.

• Ukraine Report from John Solomon 
• Catherine Herridge Story – Grassley/Johnson Letter
• Sara Carter Column. Pence Chief-of-staff/Strzok Staffer

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CTH suspected this was sketchy when notorious Swamp Defender Chris Wallace was used as the point person to push it. FUBAR suspicions confirmed when looking at the construct.
Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson send a letter to AG William Barr questioning post election text messages by Lisa Page and Peter Strzok that outline questions about the FBI counterintelligence operation against the Trump transition team. First the letter:
[scribd id=407638522 key=key-P6WGecNAMQ7aMu9ud4L6 mode=scroll]
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If you’ve followed the DC pattern, you can pick up the purpose of sending a letter that walks directly, and purposefully, into the President Obama and Susan Rice justification trap, CTH warned about a few months ago.
Asking questions about the motives of Lisa Page, Peter Strzok and the FBI counterintelligence unit in the post election period is ridiculous; all it does is open the door for justification. The FBI has admitted on-the-record the operation picked up by Special Counsel Robert Mueller was an extension of an ongoing FBI investigation.
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Well, here it is.  Awkward, weird, structurally odd, and trying to gain momentum using a well-worn club manual with tattered binding that will likely fall flat in the digital era, Joe Biden has officially entered the race.  This is going to be interesting.
This launch is the important part to watch.  The launch helps us quantify how many of the DNC Club’s board of directors, donors and Corinthian seat-holders are supportive of this effort.
So far, the institutional support looks rather tepid; likely because Biden’s brand will be akin to selling new licenses for Blockbuster Video store franchises.
Skepticism abounds.

DELAWARE – His long-awaited answer to the biggest political question in the country and Delaware came in a video posted to social media Thursday morning.

In announcing that he will vie for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, Biden framed his candidacy around opposition to President Donald Trump.

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Everything after March 9th, 2016, is a function of two intelligence units, the CIA and FBI, operating together to coverup prior political surveillance and spy operations.
Prior to March 9th, 2016, the surveillance and spy operation was using the NSA database to track and monitor their political opposition.  However, once the NSA compliance officer began initiating an internal review of who was accessing the system, the CIA and FBI moved to create ex post facto justification for their endeavors. [Full Backstory]
The evidence for this is found in the documents attached to both operations; and bolsters the original statements by Congressman Devin Nunes as highlighted below.

♦The CIA track took place between March and July 2016, and consisted of using foreign intelligence allies in Italy, the U.K and Australia to create a background illusion of Russian involvement with the Trump campaign.  This operation was based on earlier -more innocuous- contacts from various countries, weaponized and redeployed in what everyone calls “spygate”.  This track successfully culminated in Operation Crossfire Hurricane.
♦The FBI track was domestic-centric, albeit sub-contracted to Fusion GPS and later a former British intelligence officer, and took place between April and October 2016; also to create the illusion of Russian involvement.  This operation is best known around the Steele Dossier and FISA warrant against U.S. person Carter Page.  The FBI track continued with the Mueller investigation into 2017, 2018 and 2019.
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A great panel segment delivered by Mike Huckabee tonight as Rudy Giuliani, Robert Ray and particularly Joe diGenova discuss the origin of the 2016 Russia conspiracy narrative, the FISA court and specifically the abuses of the NSA database. [Background]
Mr. diGenova outlines the nature of how the FISA-702(16)(17) database searches were weaponized for political spy operations.  Quite good:
[The panel segment starts at 10:09 prompted, just hit play]
https://youtu.be/4_yMcVq6-ak?t=10m9s
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Director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow, discusses the booming U.S. economy, the future outlook and why he supports the USMCA deal.

A tale of two contrasting sets of economic priorities. The U.S. economy continues to outpace all economic forecasts.  Recently U.S. retail sales, wage growth and housing starts have exceeded all expectations.  Tomorrows announced U.S. GDP growth is positioned to exceed all previous doomsayer predictions from the professional financial back-bench.
However, the economic results in Canada are going in the opposite direction.  The Bank of Canada cut their GDP forecast from 1.7% to 1.2% today.  A forecast drop of half a percent is a massive drop considering the prior rate of growth was meager at best.

Two full years into the advancement of America-First priorities, the international community is now admitting they can only find growth and value in U.S. investments.

(Via Reuters) […] The [Canadian] central bank now expects economic growth in the first half of 2019 to be lower than anticipated in January, when it released its last monetary policy report, due to a slowdown in Canada’s oil sector, the negative impact of global trade policies and a weaker-than-expected housing sector.

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Responding to criticisms made by Hillary Clinton, President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani discusses the political landscape after the Weissmann/Mueller report; including the sketchy Ukrainian connections to the origin of the fiasco.