Against the backdrop of all things DC swamp, this move was entirely predictable.  No-one takes over as chair of the SSCI without senate leadership having (blackmail) material on the appointee to have full control over their activity.  Marco Rubio is fully compromised.

Today Mitch McConnell announces that Senator Marco Rubio will replace Richard Burr as chairman of the notoriously corrupt Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI):

MITCH McCONNELL – “I am glad to announce that Senator Marco Rubio has accepted my invitation to serve as Acting Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

“The senior senator for Florida is a talented and experienced Senate leader with expertise in foreign affairs and national security matters. Senator Rubio was the natural choice for this temporary assignment on the basis of accumulated committee service. His proven leadership on pertinent issues only made the decision easier.

(more…)

This is so far outside the bounds of traditional judicial activity it is unprecedented.  In the case against Michael Flynn the court appointed amicus curiae, essentially a court appointed outside lawyer enlisted to prosecute the case despite the DOJ withdrawal motion, John Gleeson has now filed a motion requesting: (1) a briefing schedule, (2) oral arguments; and (3) the possibility of interviewing witnesses.

Within Mr. Gleeson’s motion (link here) he will file his amicus brief on June 10th, and asks Judge Sullivan to set up a briefing schedule and allow him to make oral arguments.

(more…)

President Trump is holding a roundtable discussion today with restaurant executives and national leaders within the industry.  Anticipated remarks at 2:00pm ET

UPDATE: Video Added

.

[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. We’re here with the leaders of the restaurant industry. It’s an industry that’s been tremendously impacted by what’s happening with COVID, and it’s an industry that we’re working very hard with and on. We’re looking at doing deductibility so that a corporation can use a restaurant or entertainment clubs, et cetera, and get deductibility. I think that’ll really have a big impact. Steve can maybe talk about it — Steve Mnuchin.

But I’d like to have some of these leaders talk about — real quickly — about their company and the industry and any ideas they have, and I think we can do it in front of the media for a little while, and then we can answer a couple of questions, and we’re going to get back to business. Okay?

(more…)

During a press conference to outline new evidence in the Pensacola terror case, Attorney General William Barr coordinated a pre-staged question from the media. Responding to a question about President Trump’s tweets the AG said: based on his knowledge of the Durham probe so far, he does not expect the Justice Department to open a criminal investigation into former President Barack Obama or Vice President Joe Biden.

Curiously within the statement Bill Barr notes: “what happened to the president during the 2016 election and throughout the first two years of his administration was abhorrent”, within that statement he is now saying the activity by special counsel Mueller was part of the “grave injustice”.

.

Full Presser below:

(more…)

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

Kayleigh McEnany 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 †

Representative Doug Collins of Georgia appears for an interview with Maria Bartiromo to discuss holding China accountable and the ongoing revelations surrounding the Obama administration targeting of Michael Flynn and President Trump.

(more…)

More than a week after CBS first constructed their editorial narrative they finally released the full interview between Catherine Herridge and AG Bill Barr.  Many people read the transcript; however, thankfully Michael Sheridan excerpts a portion of the video that doesn’t come across in the transcript.

When the attorney general is questioned about “still having confidence” in FBI Director Christopher Wray, a newly articulated hesitancy is visible that doesn’t come across in the transcript. WATCH:

.

Since February 2019 Bill Barr has been a staunch and very public defender of Chris Wray. However, with new revelations about recent FBI efforts to block the release of information as it relates to Michael Flynn, it now appears the AG has less confidence.

This shift is important because as the public have a renewed focused on the question of who illegally leaked Flynn’s communication with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak, there has always been a rather curious contrast issue with the known classified intelligence leaking of James Wolfe.  If finding Flynn’s leaker is important then why didn’t the DOJ/FBI take action when they found a classified intelligence leaker in 2018?

(more…)

In April something was bugging me… a familiarity amid the COVID lock-down status & another time… I couldn’t quite put my finger on it until a dear friend reminded me.

Many U.S. states are acting like the early 1980s and the imposition of Martial law in Poland to target the Solidarity movement.  Subsequently I wrote about it on a Twitter thread, because the parallels were really quite remarkable.

Both Poland circa 1980 and the U.S. friction in 2020, center around fragile economic issues. Both were an outcome of state control; and the key connection is government targeting control over the workers.

In both examples the state took exclusive control of the economic and social state of the citizens, and the courts provided no option for redress. In both examples the state locked down the citizens and would not permit them to interact with each other.

In 1981 the government in Poland initiated Martial Law and citizens were forced to communicate underground. In 2020 a considerable number of U.S. state governments locked-down citizens in similar fashion and banned citizen assembly.

In 1981 in Poland the communist regime used economic psychological pressure, selecting workers permitted to earn wages. Those workers identified as “essential” to the state. In 2020 many State governors selected workers to earn an income by designating them “essential” to the state.

In 1981 in Poland; communication amid the Solidarity Movement was forced underground. In 2020 many oppressive State governors demanded social media remove public content adverse to the interests of the Stay-at-Home confinement orders. Big Tech complied with the authoritarian dictate.

(more…)

The American electorate are wide-eyed and well aware of how President Obama and Vice-President Biden were co-enablers to Chinese duplicity on a wide range of aspects including theft of U.S. intellectual property, economic espionage and exfiltration of U.S. wealth.

Against that backdrop; and understanding the political risk inherent within the policy of the former administration; ABC News’ George Stephopoulos enters with his rehearsed narrative to cloud the truth.  However, White House China-hawk and policy advisor Peter Navarro easily and righteously smacks down the Biden/Obama political defenses fabricated by a combative Stephanopoulos with the atomic sledgehammer of truth.

When Stephanopoulos tries to use the Rick Bright whistle-blower narrative; Navarro squished Stephanopoulos into a puddle of political mush…

(more…)