President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend the 70th Anniversary NATO Summit in London, England. The U.K. is five hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. The President and First Lady are staying with Ambassador Woody Johnson at the Winfield House, the official Ambassadors residence.
The Day One schedule includes breakfast with NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, two bilats with Emmanuel Macron (one private), a bilat with Justin Trudeau, and two diplomatic receptions: Buckingham Palace and No. 10 Downing Street.

♦4:10am ET / 9:10am Local – THE PRESIDENT participates in a 1:1 meeting with the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, London, United Kingdom
♦4:30am ET / 9:30am Local – THE PRESIDENT participates in a working breakfast with the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Jens Stoltenberg, London, United Kingdom
♦6:00am ET / 11:00am Local – THE PRESIDENT departs Winfield House en route to the InterContinental London Park Lane, London, United Kingdom
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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

Stephanie Grisham Twitter @StephGrisham45

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 †

A Washington Post spin article attempts to defend the DOJ/FBI “small group” 2016 campaign effort by claiming vindication from IG Horowitz and U.S. AG Barr not accepting the finding.   But not so fast…
Before getting to the WaPo narrative construction a little background review is worthwhile; starting with the original investigative purpose of the IG review.  The Horowitz review was initiated to look into how the DOJ and FBI secured a Title-1 FISA surveillance warrant against U.S. person Carter Page:
IG Horowitz was never investigating the predicate claims that initiated the CIA/FBI operation known as “Crossfire Hurricane”.  So how exactly would AG Barr and IG Horowitz be diverging on an aspect to a predicate that Horowitz was never reviewing?
Additionally, IG Horowitz was never tasked or empowered to interview CIA officers who are known to have been at the heart of the pre-July 2016 operation.  Horowitz was/is focused on the DOJ and FBI compliance with legal requirements for the FISA application that was assembled for use in October 2016, and renewed throughout 2017.
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It has always been a nonsense claim that Russia “interfered” with the 2016 U.S. election.  The political James Clapper and James Brennan construct of the ICA therein was the thin gruel that provided cover for the media to continue making the claim.
Congressman Jim Jordan outlines why democrats must maintain this illusion if they are to retain the public premise:

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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler has announced the four selected representatives for the committee “groundwork” hearing on political impeachment.
The hearing takes place Wednesday, December 4th at 10:00am EST and includes:

• Noah Feldman – Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law and Director, Julis-Rabinowitz Program on Jewish and Israeli Law, Harvard Law School
• Pamela S. Karlan – Kenneth and Harle Montgomery Professor of Public Interest Law and Co-Director, Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, Stanford Law School
• Michael Gerhardt – Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence, The University of North Carolina School of Law
• Jonathan Turley – J.B. and Maurice C. Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law, The George Washington University Law School

 

The synergy, flow and timing of the U.S. trade and economic team is just a marvel; a brilliant assembly of perfectly in-tune economic and trade professionals.
As President Trump touched down in the U.K. to attend the two-day NATO summit, United States Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announces the completion of a Section 301 review of France’s Digital Services Tax (DST).
After determining the value of the French tax on U.S. internet services at $2.4 billion; Lighthizer announces a 100%  countervailing duty on a carefully selected $2.4 billion in French imports.
Obviously the agenda for the bilateral NATO meeting between U.S. President Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron just changed.  LOL, you have to love Team USA.
Oh, but wait, wait… it gets better….
We have to remember, THIS $2.4 billion U.S. tariff against France would be on top of the $7.5 billion (per year) countervailing duty recently won from the Airbus subsidy case in the WTO…. and by law France cannot retaliate.
Oh my, President Trump strolls into the NATO bilat with Macron while holding a $10 billion legally justified countervailing tariff position.  How’d ya like ‘dem grapes?
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In advance of the Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler and Lawfare Committee releasing a highly partisan HPSCI report to facilitate a political impeachment effort, the House republicans have provided a proactive 123 page rebuttal report [pdf link here] the media will ignore.
A good encapsulation paragraph within the executive summary: “The Democrats’ impeachment inquiry is not the organic outgrowth of serious misconduct; it is an orchestrated campaign to upend our political system. The Democrats are trying to impeach a duly elected President based on the accusations and assumptions of unelected bureaucrats who disagreed with President Trump’s policy initiatives and processes. They are trying to impeach President Trump because some unelected bureaucrats were discomforted by an elected President’s telephone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. They are trying to impeach President Trump because some unelected bureaucrats chafed at an elected President’s “outside the beltway” approach to diplomacy.”

[link to House pdf version of report]

1. President Trump has a deep-seated, genuine, and reasonable skepticism of Ukraine due to its history of pervasive corruption.
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Chopper pressers are the best pressers.  Earlier today President Trump paused to talk to the press pool prior to departing the White House for the NATO summit in the U.K. [Video and Rough Transcript Below]

.
[Rough Pool Transcript] – President Trump … we’re fighting for the American people. It has not been a fair situation for us because we pay far too much as you know. Secretary Stoltenberg said we were responsible — I was responsible — for getting over $130 billion extra from other countries that we protect, that weren’t paying. They were delinquent. So we’ll be talking about that. We’ll be talking about a lot of things.
We are leading the world now on the economy, and we have been almost since I became president. But we are substantially ahead of anybody else. Nobody’s even close. You know that very well. And I look forward to having a number of very, very productive days for our country. We’ll be working hard. Do you have a question?
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Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross appears on Fox Business to discuss the status of the U.S-China trade “negotiations” :::nudge-nudge, wink-wink::: and highlights the ‘phase-1’ fulcrum is China committing to the $50b Ag purchase without condition.  Secretary Ross also notes the December 15th date just happens to be “good timing” if the U.S. team is “forced” to put more tariffs on China.  LOL.
Additionally, Mr. Ross notes the challenge of a strong dollar as it relates to allied nations who are stimulating their own economy by sending us even cheaper stuff, ie. Brazil.

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