This report out of South Korea, while not confirmed, makes sense. Earlier today President Trump announced Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was en route to North Korea to finalize details for upcoming summit. Secretary Pompeo tweeted he was going to DPRK “at the invitation of N-Korean leadership.”

It makes sense, as an advanced gesture of goodwill ahead of the summit, for Kim Jong-un to release the U.S. captives.

SEOUL, May 9 (Yonhap) — North Korea is expected to release three U.S. citizens held in the communist state on Wednesday, an official from Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said, in an apparent goodwill gesture ahead of a historic meeting between its leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.

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NAFTA is at a critical stage.  Mexico has committed themselves to a full-court press this week in an effort to retain the investment influx from multinational corporations.  To retain their advantage, Mexico needs to keep the NAFTA loophole allowing Asia and EU to use Mexico and Canada as back-doors to the U.S. market.

Additionally, AM-LO, a self-described soft-Marxist (similar to Hugo Chavez) is likely to win the July 1st Mexican election.   Yesterday, Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray travels down the street to the State Department for a meeting with Secretary Pompeo. From the U.S. perspective, anything from Secretary Videgaray is essentially moot at this point; the Mexican government is moving toward a more socialistic economic model.

[Transcript] SECRETARY POMPEO: Good afternoon. Today it is my pleasure and a great honor to welcome the Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Videgaray to the State Department. Welcome.

We had a great discussion and we had so because Mexico is one of the United States’ closest partners. Together we are working to build a more secure, prosperous, and democratic hemisphere. We are neighbors, allies, and friends.

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A great deal of excitement today centers around President Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence participating in a formal swearing-in ceremony for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

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[Transcript] Washington, D.C. – 11:17 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. I must say, that’s more spirit that I’ve heard from the State Department in a long time — many years. (Laughter.) We can say many years, and maybe many decades. It’s going to be a fantastic start, a fantastic day. And that spirit will only be magnified, will only — with this man right here. I know that for a fact.

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In many regards the transfer of the CIA Director to the Position of Secretary of State is a natural continuum.  Most career foreign office CIA operatives work under the auspices of being State Department personnel.  The CIA and State Department are inherently connected.

[A familiar reference would be, the synergy of Leon Panetta and Hillary Clinton during their Libya and Syria operations in 2010, 2011, 2012.]

Today Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives at Foggy Bottom (State HQ) in Washington DC to meet the diplomatic corps.  He delivered introductory remarks:

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[Transcript] DEPUTY SECRETARY SULLIVAN: Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for being here. It’s a great honor to be here to introduce our new Secretary of State. Before I do so, I wanted to thank all of you, each and every one of you, for your hard work over the last six weeks. The pace of world events doesn’t pause to allow the United States Government to change from one secretary of state to another, but it’s because of your dedication and professionalism that this department has continued to meet its mission for the American people. So thank you to all of you for all you’ve done the last six weeks. (Applause.)

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President Trump’s MAGAnomic team have announced a 30-day extension for the Steel (25%) and Aluminum (10%) tariffs for the European Union, Canada and Mexico.

Also, after a prior agreement with South-Korea, the “KORUS” deal, team U.S.A. has also reached an agreement in principle with Australia, Argentina and Brazil which will be finalized in next 30 days.

Via Wall Street Journal – President Donald Trump has decided to postpone decisions about imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union and other U.S. allies until June 1, a senior administration official said.

In addition to announcing the delay, the White House is expected to say Monday evening that it has finalized a deal to exempt South Korea from the tariffs, mirroring details that have been previously released by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office.

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There is a geopolitical strategy happening this week that is essentially under the radar.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, USTR Robert Lighthizer, Economic Council Chairman Larry Kudlow, and the U.S. trade team are heading to China.

The outcome of their discussions connects the initiatives behind North Korea, China and NAFTA.  The steel and aluminum tariffs are part of the toolbox.  Only one media personality, our favorite suspicious cat, appears to understand the larger economic play and how it is being deployed.

From the U.S. perspective, NAFTA has a fatal flaw. Mexico and Canada admitted the flaw for the first time a few weeks ago. The flaw is Mexico and Canada’s exploitation of NAFTA as a backdoor into the U.S. market for Asian, mostly Chinese, manufactured products. Multinational corporations who have invested in Canada and Mexico are determined to retain the flaw.

President Trump understands that as long as Canada and Mexico can unilaterally make trade agreements with the EU and ASEAN nations, any NAFTA agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico is moot. The NAFTA talks are paused.

The U.S. Team now heads to China. There’s no doubt part of the objective is to begin a structural discussion that must happen for the U.S. trade team to approach closing the fatal NAFTA flaw from the source of origin. [*note* on the EU side of this issue, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is leading a similar discussion. Mnuchin and Lighthizer are focused on Asia, Ross has responsibility for Europe]

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Wow. You have to watch this video to see how history was just encapsulated.

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in meet at the village of Panmunjom, the historic site where the Korean War armistice was signed in 1953 for the start of talks between the two countries.

Their unified meeting is the third inter-Korean summit, but this meeting is the first time a leader from the communist North has entered the democratic South. South Korea then holds a welcoming ceremony for the North Korean leader that includes full military honors and a military guard review.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un writes: “new history starts now; age of peace, from the starting point of history” on guest visitor book at Peace House.

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The Senate voted Thursday to confirm CIA chief Mike Pompeo as President Trump’s next secretary of state.  Secretary Pompeo was confirmed on a 57-42 vote.  All Republicans present voted to confirm Pompeo. Seven Democrats voted yes.

After the vote, Pompeo was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in the West Conference Room of the Supreme Court:

I am pleased with the Senate’s confirmation of Mike Pompeo to serve as our country’s top diplomat. Having a patriot of Mike’s immense talent, energy, and intellect leading the Department of State will be an incredible asset for our country at this critical time in history. He will always put the interests of America first. He has my trust. He has my support. Today, he has my congratulations on becoming America’s 70th Secretary of State.

~ President Donald J Trump

Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes appears on Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the origin of the counterintelligence operation, that began in July 2016, against the Trump campaign.

Last week the FBI released the original “electronic communication” (EC) documents that underpinned the origin of the FBI counterintelligence operation.  The first half of this interview contains some stunning information: the raw intelligence product within the EC did not come through official intelligence channels.

Meaning, the origin of the 2016 counterintelligence operation, which was specifically started by CIA Director John Brennan sharing his ‘raw intelligence product’ with the FBI, was not an official product of the U.S. intelligence community. Brennan was NOT using official partnerships with intelligence agencies of our Five-Eyes partner nations; and he did not provide raw intelligence -as an outcome of those relationships- to the FBI.

The questions, many of which are rhetorical against the backdrop of political motives, become: if the EC is not based on official intelligence from U.S. intelligence apparatus or any of the ‘five-eyes’ partners, then what is the origin, source and purpose therein, of the unofficial raw intelligence? Who created it? And why?

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As we begin to ponder the ramifications and answers to the questions in the first half of this interview, we must remember that CIA Director John Brennan gave congressional testimony last year where he explained how he delivered the raw intelligence product itself.  We spotted this issue, and Brennan’s obfuscation therein, a year ago, when Brennan first gave his testimony.

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