A Chartered Amtrak train carrying Republican congressmen headed to a GOP retreat collided with a dump truck blocking the tracks in Crozet Virginia just outside Charlottesville. One person on the truck was killed, a few of the lawmakers were injured.
(Via NBC) A chartered train carrying Republican lawmakers to a retreat collided with a trash truck in Virginia Wednesday morning and left at least one person dead. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said there was one confirmed fatality and one person seriously injured.
“There are no serious injuries among members of Congress or their staff,” she said in a statement. The victim’s identity was not immediately released.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo appears on CBS Face the Nation for a conversation with John Dickerson.
Dickerson walks the fine line between maintaining his invitations to the DC cocktail circuit parties, where President Trump must be regarded as a vulgarian to gain admission, and yet he doesn’t want to go full-Tapper-childish and diminish his own credibility.
As such Dickerson sticks mainly to the substantive issues which confront the challenges of foreign policy and geopolitical adversaries: North Korea, Iran and Pakistan. Toward the end of the interview Dickerson questions Pompeo about FISA-702 re-authorization.
Good Interview:
On August 21st, 2017, President Trump began a very familiar process toward Pakistan within the geopolitical strategy known to us as The Trump Doctrine: ‘the accurate assignment of responsibility’, by honestly calling out the historic nature of the relationship.
In a remarkable speech on Afghanistan policy, President Trump addressed the nation and stated the continued Pakistani support of the Taliban extremists was only impeding the quest for peace.
The Trump policy goal was not Pakistan eliminating the Taliban, but rather outlining how the Afghanistan solution begins with the Taliban entering negotiations with the Afghan government. Pakistan -supporting the Taliban- continues to undermine that goal.
With little change since August, today President Trump calls out Pakistan:
Two gunmen opened fire on Coptic Christians Friday at church south of Cairo. Coptic Christian holy celebrations begin next week. Egyptian security forces killed one of the terrorists and captured the second outside the church of Mar Mina in Helwan district according to state TV and state news agency MENA said.
President Donald Trump called Egyptian President Fattah Abdel al-Sisi to offer support and condolences:
WHITE HOUSE – President Donald J. Trump spoke today with President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt to offer condolences to the people of Egypt after the attack on worshippers and security forces in the city of Helwan, which is located south of Cairo. President Trump condemned the attack and reiterated that the United States will continue to stand with Egypt in the face of terrorism. President Trump emphasized his commitment to strengthening efforts to defeat terrorism and extremism in all their forms. (link)
Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (Saudi), and Egyptian President al-Sisi are the fulcrum of stability for the current reform movement in the mid-east. Both are working to eliminate Islamic Extremism. Both are targets for Islamic terrorists who thrive amid chaos.
Catching up. If you watched the prior two updates from Brett McGurk you’ll note he does an exceptional job explaining how the administration is coordinating with multiple partners to defeat ISIS. The Trump administration plan was labeled the “D-ISIS” strategy.
Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS Brett McGurk provides an update on D-ISIS Campaign, at the Department of State on December 21, 2017.
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(Transcript) MR MCGURK: Yeah. Sum up the campaign against ISIS over the past – over the past year and where we are, and kind of a little bit on where we’re going. And we’ll have more to say about that in the coming year, particularly over the coming weeks.
I think it’s worth recalling ISIS used to be controlling basically a state, 100,000 square kilometers, the size of the UK; planning and plotting and carrying out major terrorist attacks against our partner homelands; inspiring attacks here in the homeland; responsible for the violent murder and – violent murder of American citizens James Foley, Steve Sotloff, Peter Abdul-Rahman, as well as the death of Kayla Mueller; committing acts of genocide against the Yezidis as they swept into Iraq, and other minority groups; displacing Christians from their – from their ancient homelands; and destroying our common heritage. We’ve really never seen anything like it, 40,000 foreign fighters from 110 countries around the world pouring into this so-called phony caliphate. (more…)
BETHESDA, Md. — President Donald Trump paid a holiday visit Thursday to wounded service members at Walter Reed National Medical Center, hailing them as “some of the bravest people anywhere in the world.”
During his visit, the president awarded the Purple Heart to 1st Lt. Victor Prato of the 127th Airborne Engineer Battalion, who was injured last month while deployed in Afghanistan.
Prato, 25, of Somers, New York, suffered multiple soft tissue injuries following a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device blast, according to the White House. (more…)
WHITE HOUSE – President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called President Donald J. Trump today to thank him for the advanced warning the United States intelligence agencies provided to Russia concerning a major terror plot in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Based on the information the United States provided, Russian authorities were able to capture the terrorists just prior to an attack that could have killed large numbers of people. No Russian lives were lost and the terrorist attackers were caught and are now incarcerated.
President Trump appreciated the call and told President Putin that he and the entire United States intelligence community were pleased to have helped save so many lives. President Trump stressed the importance of intelligence cooperation to defeat terrorists wherever they may be. Both leaders agreed that this serves as an example of the positive things that can occur when our countries work together. (more…)
Today Secretary of State Rex Tillerson went to the United Nations to deliver a strong diplomatic message to the North Korean regime about their ongoing nuclear ambitions.
President Trump and Secretary of State Tillerson are asking Chinese Chairman/President Xi Jinping to cut off the oil supply to the DPRK.
If you have not watched the prior ‘deep weeds discussion‘ by T-Rex on the specific reason why the U.S. cannot, ever, accept a DPRK with nuclear weapons, you should. Two very specific reasons why also explain why traditional state adversaries China and Russia are willing to put aside their differences with the U.S. and work to denuclearize N-Korea:
#1) The DPRK have stated, through actions and words, they intend to use nuclear weapons as a larger strategy, a shield per se’, toward advanced conventional military action in the region. And more importantly…
#2) The DPRK have stated, through actions and words, they intend to commercialize nuclear weapon manufacturing and distribution, thereby selling completed nuclear weaponry on the global market.
Given the unconscionable risk of having terror state actors gaining nuclear weapons for use against any nation, the threat of such a stunning and dangerous possibility can never be accepted. Which leads to three important videos from today:
In a stunning display of international transparency, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley presents actual, physical, incontrovertible and, yes, uncomfortable, evidence of Iranian weapons that have been used by proxy fighters against allied nations. The presentation takes place at joint base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, DC and consists of formerly classified intelligence gathering presented openly to the international community.
Ambassador Nikki Haley presents an assembly of actual Iranian missiles and weapons that have been fired against mid-east allies within the peace coalition. After a brief speech outlining the material on display, Mrs. Haley takes questions from international media.
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[Transcript] It’s really important that you be here today, because we have a story to tell, and the story is a very important one. And it’s not just important for the United States, it’s important for the entire international community. As President Trump announced on October 13, the United States is taking a new approach to Iran by focusing on all of the regime’s destabilizing behavior. That means we are focused not just on the nuclear program.
We’re also taking a hard look at Iran’s ballistic missile program, its arms exports, and its support for terrorists, proxy fighters, and dictators. (more…)
Known Details: •Police were called to an explosion at 7:20 a.m. ET in a below-ground walkway that connects two NYC subway lines at 42nd Street. •Responding units found an injured 27-year-old male, identified him as Akayed Ullah. •Terrorist is of Bangladeshi descent and lives in Brooklyn. •Terrorist was wearing an improvised “low-tech” explosive device attached to his body. •Three additional people in the immediate area sustained minor injuries.
•Terrorist Akayed Ullah told police he made the device at his workplace. •Terrorist is a lawful permanent resident from Bangladesh, who arrived in 2011 on an F43 family immigrant visa in 2011, according to DHS spokesperson Tyler Houlton
“DHS can confirm that the suspect was admitted to the United States after presenting a passport displaying an F43 family immigrant visa in 2011. The suspect is a Lawful Permanent Resident from Bangladesh who benefited from extended family chain migration.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders stated President Trump’s plan to end chain migration would have kept the suspect in the New York City attack out of the country. (more…)
