Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Moscow. Today, President Trump reciprocates with a welcome of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to Washington DC.

WHITE HOUSE – President Donald J. Trump met today with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov of Russia, following on the visit of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Moscow last month.

President Trump emphasized the need to work together to end the conflict in Syria, in particular, underscoring the need for Russia to rein in the Assad regime, Iran, and Iranian proxies.

The President raised Ukraine, and expressed his Administration’s commitment to remain engaged in resolving the conflict and stressed Russia’s responsibility to fully implement the Minsk agreements.  He also raised the possibility of broader cooperation on resolving conflicts in the Middle East and elsewhere.

The President further emphasized his desire to build a better relationship between the United States and Russia. (WH link)

There are more pictures below of President Trump, Foreign Minister Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Kislyak in the oval office. (more…)

White House Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders will deliver the daily press briefing for Wednesday May 10th:

UPDATE – Video Added:

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Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) appeared on both Fox News and CNN to discuss his support for the removal of James Comey from the FBI:

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Senator Paul later appeared on CNN as Wolf Blitzer plays out his apoplectic role about Director Comey’s firing. (Not enough duct tape to retain the Blitzer ‘splodey head’

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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer appears on Lou Dobbs and gives the first set of explanatory points around the President’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey:

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Why is President Trump so confident in this decision? Oh, that’s easy:

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It was eight months ago when we first began discussing the “White Hats” -vs- “Black Hats” within the intelligence apparatus.  It was obvious there was a battle going on within the  ‘intelligence’ and ‘justice’ systems per se’ between two distinct groups, mostly centered around political leaks within the IC:

• A Black Hat: is a self-serving entity, person or organization, that is corrupt, deceitful, manipulative, exploitative, and working for their own power and interests.  A bad entity.
• A White Hat: is an altruistic entity, person or organization, that is foundationally grounded on truth, honesty, and clear definitions of right and moral wrong.  A good entity.

The four primary agencies who drove the media narrative were: CIA, DNI, FBI and NSA.

We identified Admiral Mike Rogers (NSA) as the only ‘white hat’ within the intelligence group at the center of the media intel controversies.   Most, heck, all, of the media controversy was created by leaks of intelligence “reports”.  NSA Director Mike Rogers was the only intel head without any participation in leaking.  Rogers also controlled most of the raw intel from which the reports being leaked were constructed.

Initially, last year, FBI Director James Comey was challenging to gauge.  However, it didn’t take long to discover his political corruption, and see his political agenda was all about himself – not the application of law.

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For those who see the obvious, but just can’t figure it out; for those who see the obvious but have to pretend they just can’t figure it out; for those who were never paying close attention; for those who have forgotten or those who perhaps never knew; and for the tender gnats who need a constant reminder:

Our President

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Trap closes.

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Last month President Trump took a great deal of criticism for calling Turkish President Erdogan and congratulating him on the narrow referendum victory. Many critics of Trump said he was congratulating a dictator, without also recognizing Turkey is a NATO member.

As long as Turkey is allowed to remain in NATO the entire member nation alliance will always be compromised by the self-serving Islamic interests of Erdogan.  The EU and the political left, demand President Trump recognize the value of NATO – and hypocritically denounce Trump for speaking to a NATO nation’s leader.  This is the mindset of the idiots in the EU and their defenders amid the political left.

Today, the Trump administration announces they are arming the Kurdish fighting forces in Northern Syria. President Erdogan hates the Kurds and considers them as adversaries and political opposition to his control over Turkey.

Within the dynamic you can see a multidimensional problem. The Kurds are fighting short-term against ISIS and Bashir Assad in Syria; however, in the larger Kurdish goal they are also attempting to establish their own independent state, Kurdistan.

Erdogan opposes Assad, but Erdogan more strongly opposes the Kurds and any Kurdistan formation efforts because it would destroy his goal of establishing the new Ottoman empire he dreams of leading. (more…)