White House Press Briefing by National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Matthew Pottinger. Today’s briefing is happening during a Presidential summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Kudlow is discussing the trade and economic issues; Pottinger is discussing national security issues surrounding negotiations with North Korea.  As Secretary Ross has stated frequently: “Economic Security is National Security.”

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[Transcript] West Palm Beach, Florida – 12:20 P.M. EDT – MR. KUDLOW: I’ll just say to start, before we take some questions, this is a very important meeting. A lot of really key issues are on the line. You obviously know about the foreign policy side regarding North Korea, which is a major, major issue for Japan and for the United States.

On the economic and trade side, there will also be very important issues. Japan is a great friend and ally. We have certain disagreements with respect to some of the trading issues. We’ll iron those out, hopefully.

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Come back to this video if you don’t have the time to watch the whole thing.  As most readers are aware Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has a massive portfolio of big issue responsibilities within President Trump’s administration.

The reason Secretary Ross has such a large influence is due to President Trump’s unique strategy of leveraging economic power as a geopolitical tool to achieve national security and economic security outcomes.  No prior president ever used ‘commerce’ and ‘economics’ as successfully as President Trump.

Today, our favorite Commerce Secretary was given another key strategic initiative and responsibility – “manage Space”; like, all of it. Seriously, MUST WATCH:

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Yes, Wilbur “Wilburine” Ross is now “Master of The Universe”.  How cool is that?

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Too funny.  The one constant in an ever-changing financial universe has been Donald Trump’s three-decade-long position on U.S. trade and Main Street economic policy.  However, despite this reality the Wall Street purchased politicians continue to think their opposition to Trump will create leverage to influence his economic views.

Last week’s example was Senator Ben Sasse and the purchased clan of BIG-AG, who demanded President Trump re-enter the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

POTUS Trump, in a transparently familiar response, told Larry Kudlow to “take a look at it.”  The GOPe immediately began backslapping, the corporate media went joyfully bananas and Lou Dobbs was mad.  CTH said relax:

Well, here’s Kudlow today:

(Bloomberg) White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow downplayed the possibility the U.S. would enter into negotiations to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact, calling it more of a “thought than a policy” for now.

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“We’ve also started talking with North Korea directly. We have had direct talks at very high levels, extremely high levels, with North Korea. I really believe there’s a lot of good will. Well see what happens, as I always say. Because ultimately its the end result that counts.”  ~ President Donald Trump

The formal bilateral meeting began shortly before 4 p.m.  POTUS Trump and PM Abe together with translators and delegations.  The U.S. side: Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan, Chief of Staff John Kelly, National Security Adviser John Bolton, US Ambassador to Japan William Hagerty and National Security Council  Asia director Matthew Pottinger.

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said their one-on-one meeting was productive. On North Korea, “for the first time in the history of the world there will be a summit meeting between the United States and North Korea”, Abe said. Prime Minister Abe said “Trump has applied maximum pressure on the North and credited it for leading to the direct talks.”

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President Donald Trump welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a summit at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.  The President and PM Abe have a long-standing friendship.

Among the topics for the summit will be ongoing U.S./Japan trade initiatives, and important discussions about security for Japan as talks continue between South Korea (Moon Jae-in) and North Korea (Kim Jong-un).

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There was a possibility widely discussed and debated a year ago, where President Trump’s geopolitical doctrine of using economic leverage for national security would create the “leverage” for a denuclearized North Korea.  And eventually the “economic” value for a unified Korean peninsula.

Seven months ago we wrote:  “Turning rockets into ploughshares is a good strategy.”

Stunningly today, a significant step in that direction is being outlined.

(Via CNBC) North and South Korea are in talks to announce a permanent end to the officially declared military conflict between the two countries, daily newspaper Munhwa Ilbo reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed South Korean official.

Ahead of a summit next week between North Korean premier Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, lawmakers from the neighboring states were thought to be negotiating the details of a joint statement that could outline an end to the confrontation.

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Interesting radio interview earlier this morning with Joe diGenova on WMAL.  Mr. diGenova discusses his review of the James Comey interview and at 12:30 of the audio he enlarges the discussion of Scooter Libby with an interesting perspective of Trey Gowdy.

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Don’t forget the Office of Inspector General Horowitz, 39-page report on Andrew McCabe, is only the first of multiple OIG reports that will soon be released. The main report will cover the overall politicization of the Clinton investigation(s) by the DOJ and FBI; and the FISA court abuse by those same officials will follow thereafter.

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The Federal Judge, Kimba Wood, who is making decisions in the case against President Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen, is the same person who officiated George Soros wedding. Go figure.

Today Judge Kimba Wood demanded, in open court, that attorney Michael Cohen state -on the record- the names of his clients….. Then, moments later, in a decision about the seized records taken by the FBI during their raid last week, Judge Wood demanded all of the Cohen records be transferred into a federal database so they could be searched, reviewed, categorized and then leaked more efficiently to the media.

Explain to me again how the Mueller investigation is NOT political opposition research?

New York – […] U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood said in hearings Friday and Monday that if Cohen wanted the court to declare that some of his files were protected because of attorney confidentiality rules, he would have to divulge the names of the clients he’s worked with since the 2016 election.

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House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy has requested the appearance of DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz on May 8th, 2018:

(Committee Link – pdf LINK HERE)

Hopefully, this is not cause for alarm.  However, given the history of such activity; and specifically given the history of the engagements and motives of the participants involved in this request; it is a troubling development.

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A very good overall review of the Office of Inspector General report into the conduct of former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe is provided by Twitter writer NameRedacted7.

CTH is sharing the extensive review below with some minor editorial adjustments to expand on abbreviations and remove the ‘twitterism’ for clarity.  The full thread is HERE:

[Via NameRedacted7] I’m taking my time reading the McCabe report from [JusticeOIG] and so far I’m floored. This is a 30+ page report on misconduct by fired Deputy Director Andrew McCabe; I intend this thread to be a work in progress as I make my way through it & will supplement work done by others.

I’ve just finished retweeting [tracybeanz] thread from today, and [Nick_Falco] & [The_War_Economy] have extensive research on this as well.

From page 1-6, the [JusticeOIG] lays out exact verbiage & statements McCabe made to FBI Inspection Division whom the investigation of his conduct originated with. This is a crucial data-point to understanding these events.

Within the first six pages, it is detailed what McCabe told investigators at each date and time; and relevant data regarding phone calls with DOJ officials, his aide Special Counsel Lisa Page, Director Comey, and Deputy Asst Dir Peter Strzok. Dates are noted.

The Inspector General report first describes McCabes lack of Candor. This is the act of not telling the complete truth, leaving out details, deliberately lying about details, or hiding key facts. (more…)