President Trump and VP Pence Host American Business Town Hall…

This morning President Trump and Vice-President Pence hosted a town hall on American Business.  The town hall consisted of CEOs and business leaders gathered to discuss infrastructure and the need to reduce regulations in order to help alleviate the restrictions that have plagued businesses.

[TRANSCRIPT] 10:41 A.M. EDT – THE VICE PRESIDENT:  It’s a great privilege to be able to welcome you to the White House.  Thank you so much.  I want to thank everyone involved in the Partnership for New York City — Michael Corbat, Stephen Schwarzman.

It’s an honor to have the leaders that are gathered in the room here with us today.  I know the President is on his way over, and it’s my great privilege this morning to share a few thoughts, in the midst of this important conversation on the topics that you’re covering before I introduce my friend and the 45th President of the United States.

(more…)

UPDATE: Susan Rice Confirms Her “Unmasking Requests” Were for President Obama’s Daily Briefing (PDB)…

With a general set of narrative ‘talking points’ in hand President Obama’s Former National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, appeared this morning on MSNBC for an interview with Andrea Mitchell.  This is the ‘We-Have-To-Respond-phase‘,  which necessitates the optic.

Andrea Mitchell is considered a trustworthy ally of the Clinton/Obama political networks; as such, it is not a surprise to see Mitchell selected as the interviewer.  Mitchell’s use of wording carefully guides Susan Rice through the narrow path of self-incrimination by providing plausible deniability for verbal missteps.

You already know the routine.  MSNBC is the favorable proprietary venue. Mitchell plays the role of media-legal-adviser, her client is Susan Rice.  Live interviews are always the greatest risk (see: Evelyn Farkas)  The full interview is below:

However, that said, there are some interesting aspects to the interview:

Susan Rice @00:51 – …”Let me explain how this works.  I was a National Security Adviser, my job is to protect the American people and the security of our country.  That’s the same as the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense and CIA Director.; and every morning, to enable us to do that, we receive – from the intelligence community – a compilation of intelligence reports that the IC, the intelligence community, has selected for us –on a daily basis– to give us the best information as to what’s going on around the world.”

[Note, Susan Rice is describing the PDB]

“I received those reports, as did other officials, and there were occasions when I would receive a report in which, uh, a ‘U.S Person’ was referred to.  Name, uh, not provided, just ‘U.S. Person’.

And sometimes in that context, in order to understand the importance in the report – and assess it’s significance, it was necessary to find out or request, who that U.S. official was.”

OK, so right there, in the very beginning of the forward narrative, Susan Rice is confirming the “unmasking” request(s) which can be pinned upon her, are directly related to her need to understand -on behalf of President Obama- intelligence for the President’s Daily Briefing (the PDB).  This was a previous question now answered.

This is EXPLOSIVE, and here’s why.

(more…)

Multiple Reports: All Unmasking Fingers Pointing Toward Nat Sec Adviser Susan Rice…

Fox News, The Daily Mail and Bloomberg News are all reporting the unmaking requests of collected surveillance activity was made by President Obama’s former National Security Adviser Susan Rice.

However, it remains unclear if Rice just made the unmasking requests, or if she herself did the unmasking.  Additionally, reporting by all three media outlets claims the surveillance of the Trump campaign encompassed more than a year.

(Via Fox News) Multiple sources tell Fox News that Susan Rice, former national security adviser under then-President Barack Obama, requested to unmask the names of Trump transition officials caught up in surveillance.

The unmasked names, of people associated with Donald Trump, were then sent to all those at the National Security Council, some at the Defense Department, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and then-CIA Director John Brennan – essentially, the officials at the top, including former Rice deputy Ben Rhodes.

(more…)

Senate Judiciary Committee Advances Supreme Court Nominee Neil Gorsuch Along Party Vote…

Despite a ridiculously false narrative of President Trump refusing to discuss Judge Gorsuch with Democrats in advance of his nomination, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 11-9 to advance the nomination to the full Senate.

Throughout the last morning of Judiciary Committee statements, several Senators used the talking point that President Trump never consulted their party.  As you can see from this January 24th tweet below, that assertion is demonstrably false:

President Trump met with Senator Dianne Feinstein and Senator Chuck Schumer on January 24th, 2017, to hear their concerns and opinions prior to nominating Judge Gorsuch a week later on January 31st.

Today the judiciary committee voted along party lines.  All 11 Republicans voting for Gorsuch and all 9 Democrats voting against him.   Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is expected to schedule a vote on Thursday to end a Democratic filibuster of Gorsuch, which would require 60 votes.

President Trump Tweets Fox Report Highlighting Surveillance “A Year Before Inauguration”…

President Trump tweeted earlier today referencing a news report by Fox reporter Adam Housley which ran on Fox and Friends.

The substance of the segment (video below) is quite startling as it highlights reports from inside the intelligence community of surveillance on Donald Trump “for up to a year before inauguration”.

(more…)