A visibly angered U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions gave a passionate press conference earlier today to announce a stunning new anti-leak initiative: Mr Sessions has asked leakers to stop.
Additionally, during the much heralded press conference with Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Attorney General Sessions warned those who leak classified intelligence he is now talking to senior officers within the intelligence community.
The incredibly harsh “just don’t do it” program, as launched by an obviously angered Sessions, includes three seismic measures.  They are:

♦First – A jaw-dropping appointment of Rod Rosenstein to monitor the intelligence community for possible leaks.
♦Second – A strong conversation with the NSA (Mike Rogers) about possible help stopping leaks.
♦Third – A  stern review of DOJ policies toward leak investigation standards.

The DC-based intelligence leaking community has officially been put on notice. No-one expected the Attorney General to go this far.  The “Just Don’t Do It” request has stunned and visibly shaken the anti-Trump forces in Washington. According to several DC officials, and sources who know a guy in Starbucks, “no-one is safe now”.

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FULL Transcript Below:
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And remember, there are some people who think the “UniParty” isn’t real. Meanwhile, republicans led the way in the Senate to initiate a rules process blocking President Trump from recess appointments during the upcoming Senate break.   The pro-forma session process requires all Senators to agree to the rules maneuver; they did.
There are over 100 Trump nominations awaiting confirmation from the Senate.  The Senators will not return until after Labor Day.

WASHINGTON DC – […] Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), doing wrap up for the entire Senate, locked in nine “pro-forma” sessions — brief meetings that normally last roughly a minute.
The move, which requires the agreement of every senator, means the Senate will be in session every three business days throughout the August recess.

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Newly formed Circa News agent Sara Carter (Sinclair Media Group) appears on Sean Hannity to discuss her ongoing campaign against Trump’s National Security Adviser HR McMaster.
As we pointed out yesterday, the entire Sara Carter presentation of a letter from current NSA McMaster to former NSA Susan Rice appears to be a propaganda narrative. –DETAILS HERE–  Toward that end, Carter appears with Sean Hannity and misleads the audience about McMasters letter to Susan Rice.
Notice at 02:00 of the video Carter states Susan Rice has access to classified intelligence.  Technically this is correct, but only to historic intelligence work-product that Susan Rice previously saw or created.  Rice’s access is time-restricted. Carter infers Rice has access to current intelligence, which is entirely false; she does not.  Watch:

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Again, here’s the actual letter from McMaster to Rice. You can clearly see the time-restriction on the authorization memo.
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According to numerous media reports Robert Mueller has empaneled a grand jury so that subpoenas can be dispatched to begin taking testimony in the ongoing investigation into Russian interference within the 2016 election.  Apparently Donald Trump Jr. in the first batch of recipients.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Grand jury subpoenas have been issued in connection with a June 2016 meeting that included President Donald Trump’s son, his son-in-law and a Russian lawyer, two sources told Reuters on Thursday, in a sign that special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is gathering pace.
The sources added that Mueller had convened a grand jury in Washington to help investigate allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. (link)

Attorney Jay Sekulow weighed in earlier (video below)
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The ongoing saga of intelligence community and DC government official leaks targeted to undermine the presidency of Donald Trump has created a large group of people wondering why Attorney General Jeff Sessions has done nothing about it.
In an effort to respond to the growing voices of inquiry the Attorney General and those who advocate on his behalf, has been teasing out a “leak  investigation” announcement for approximately three weeks.

The latest “DOJ announcement” date was established as tomorrow, Friday August 4th.  However, on the eve of the announcement the Department of Justice is positioning a lowering of expectations.

WASHINGTON – […] Sessions will be joined by Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and National Counterintelligence and Security Center Director William Evanina on Friday in Washington to discuss “leaks of classified material threatening national security,” the Justice Department said Thursday afternoon. (read more)

Tomorrow’s pending discussion marks the possible announcement that might actually lead to a future briefing wherein the DOJ could announce the potential for a formal investigation into a series of leaks that have damaged the Trump administration since he took office in January.  Fingers crossed.
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Earlier today President Trump together with VA Secretary David Shulkin launched the new TeleHealth program.  A VA healthcare initiative that allows VA Patients to schedule and change appointments, as well as reach VA client services, via a mobile app they can use on their smartphones and computers.
Advances in technology have enabled the VA to take advantage of platforms to provide VA services, but until now no-one ever put it into use.

[Transcript] 11:40 A.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I’d like to begin by thanking Secretary David Shulkin for the incredible progress that he’s making at the VA — tremendous strides. Thank you very much, David. We appreciate it. The veterans appreciate it, I can tell you that.
Today, I’m pleased to announce another historic breakthrough that will expand VA services to many more patients and veterans. We will do this through telehealth services. It’s what it’s called — telehealth services.
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Tonight President Donald Trump travels to Huntington West Virginia for a “Make America Great Again” MAGA Rally at the Big Sandy Superstore Arena.  President Trump is anticipated to speak at 7:00pm with pre-speech speakers earlier.
UPDATE: Video Added

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President Trump teased this out earlier in the day.  SEE VIDEO:

West Virginia Governor Jim Justice is anticipated to announce he is switching from Democrat to Republican at the Trump Rally tonight in Huntington West Virginia. The rally is at 7:00pm EDT at Big Sandy Superstore Arena.

WASHINGTON — Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia, a Democrat who was elected last year even as President Trump carried the state by 42 points, is expected to announce Thursday night at a rally with Mr. Trump that he is changing parties, according to three sources familiar with the plans.
[…] Mr. Justice, a billionaire coal and real estate magnate, ran as a conservative Democrat and declined to endorse Hillary Clinton in 2016. But even as West Virginia has become a reliable Republican state in presidential elections and further down the ballot, a handful of Democrats have still been able to win office.  (link)

CTH gave several warnings to be cautious and careful when reviewing political media as there are obvious attempts to push specific agenda narratives.  We could tell something was up in the DC proletariat.  The signals are often subtle but also follow a familiar pattern. The latest round of anti-McMaster stories are transparently part of that effort.
The long knives are out after National Security Advisor McMaster, and those knives are transparently connected to a very familiar and historic ideological world-view.
Example: Circa News writer, Sara Carter, today pushes a story about HR McMaster giving Susan Rice access -via a letter of approval- to ongoing classified intelligence; at least that’s the way the narrative engineers who pick up the ball from Carter are selling it.
Except it’s not true; that angle/narrative is entirely false.
In the letter (included below) National Security Advisor HR McMaster simply gave former NSA Susan Rice permission to continue accessing historic classified intelligence that she created and received while Mrs. Rice was President Obama’s NSA lead.
McMaster is NOT giving Rice ongoing access to new intelligence information, or current classified intelligence information. His letter was simply authorizing her to reference and have access to the historic intel work product she previously, personally and specifically was involved in.
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There is a considerable amount of visible internet and social media angst surrounding the National Security Council and staffing decisions made by National Security Advisor HR McMaster.   CTH has no insight into the inner workings of disagreements within the current NSC, however, with a modest amount of both skepticism and cynicism the current level of alarm appears over indulged.

Within any work group there’s going to be differences of opinion.  Within any national security working group there’s going to be ideological differences of opinion.  The issues are important and very complex.  The differences should never be dismissed or marginalized in their potential consequence.  That said, it’s not the differences of opinion that present problems – it’s when those differences become entrenched in opposition to the reason for the groups primary function.  That’s when differences become problems.
Consider the foreign policy proposals, and worldviews therein, of candidate Donald Trump and candidate Ted Cruz.  Now think about taking the foreign policy/NatSec principals from both candidate camps, and the outlooks carried therein, and put them into the same council chamber to hammer out papers of recommended action toward policy.
Can you see the structure for an underlying problem?  Now overlay the ideological interests of the institutional military with a healthy dose of both deep state and religious (centered principle outlook) career ideology, and you’ve got a recipe for disagreement.  Well, that’s essentially what I see when reviewing various media reports of internal group conflict points. (more…)