The U.K. is five hours ahead of New York EDT. The President and First Lady are traveling overnight and will arrive in London at 4:00am U.S. EDT / 9:00am U.K. BST. The first family will be staying at the the official residence of U.S. Ambassador Woody Johnson, Winfield House estate.
The first day schedule is packed with a state welcome at Buckingham Palace by host Queen Elizabeth II; a state visit to Westminister Abbey (tomb of unknown, Prince Andrew); High Tea at Clarence House (Prince Charles, Duchess Camilla); and a lavish State Dinner at Buckingham Palace (full royal family, sans HRH ‘Nasty’).

4:00am EDT / 9:00am BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at London Stansted Airport, Stansted, United Kingdom
4:10am EDT / 9:10am BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY depart London Stansted Airport en route to Winfield House Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom, Stansted, United Kingdom
4:40am EDT / 9:40am BST THE PRESIDENT and THE FIRST LADY arrive at Winfield House [U.S. Ambassador Woody Johnson] Landing Zone, London, United Kingdom
(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
Sarah H Sanders Twitter @SHSanders45
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 †
President Trump and First Lady Melania will be traveling overnight to the U.K., sleep during the flight, and immediately begin a packed schedule upon arrival in Britain.
Chopper pressers are the best pressers… Departing the White House tonight, President Trump delivered rapid-fire remarks to the assembled pool prior to departing on Marine One. [Video and Transcript]
.
[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: Hello everybody. So we’ll be going to the UK. I think it’ll be very important. It certainly will be very interesting. There’s a lot going on in the UK. And I’m sure it’s going to work out very well for them.
(more…)
When previously questioned by Catherine Herridge about timing for declassification of documents President Trump noted “when they need them“. Within the response, who “they” were was never clarified; but the later directive to empower executive branch cabinet member AG Bill Barr provided a more clear reference.
In the legislative branch representatives Mark Meadows, Doug Collins and John Ratcliffe are the primary House members who were clearly helping to organize timing and distribution. Additionally, AG Barr has appointed a prosecutor in John H Durham to review the overall DOJ, FBI and intelligence community activity. Obviously Durham along with Inspector General Horowitz would benefit from declassification of documents in both of their reviews.

Earlier today John Ratcliffe outlined his view of U.S. Attorney John Durham as a benefactor of the declassification insofar as he would gain information for his review. Interestingly Ratcliffe noted Durham was essentially a ‘special counsel’ and could use access to documents as a tool toward a grand jury review [ergo DOJ declassification would be needed].
Along with noting the likelihood of Durham’s intent, Ratcliffe seemed to temper expectations of any upcoming publicly visible declassification.
The possibility of Durham exploiting/using documents declassified by his boss, AG Bill Barr, would suggest some of the material may not be made public; indeed that’s the inference from Ratcliffe earlier today as he outlined to Maria Bartiromo.
(more…)
Earlier this evening President Trump delivered remarks during an annual gala at Ford’s Theater in Washington. [Video and Transcript]
.
[Transcript] THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. What a place. You look right there and that says it all. That’s history at its highest.
Thank you very much for what you’ve done. So many of you have been so helpful. And I see Congress, I see Senate, I see congressmen. They hate each other during the day, but tonight they love each other. (Laughter and applause.)
(more…)
Earlier today President Donald Trump attended McLean Bible Church in Virginia after a round of golf. Pastor David Platt introduced the president at the church service where a musical performance was taking place. While he did not talk during the service, President Trump stood behind pastor David Platt as he offered a prayer for the 12 killed in Friday’s mass shooting.
Additionally, Pastor Platt noted there had been calls to pray for the president on this day and offered a prayer. [Video and brief transcript]
“Many of you may have seen that there was calls to, particularly on this Sunday, pray for our president. We don’t want to do that just on this Sunday. We want to do that continually, day in and day out. So I want to ask us to bow our heads together now and pray for our president.”
(more…)
Representative John Ratcliffe is one of the few (only 3 or 4) who has seen all of the known classified documents surrounding the corrupt DOJ and FBI effort. In this interview Mr. Ratcliffe discusses the ongoing issues within the review of the corrupt DOJ/FBI activity.
Interestingly Ratcliffe uses specific wording in his notation of the appointment of John H Durham; akin to Attorney General Bill Barr appointing a “special counsel”.
(more…)
Today is a sunlight day… Remember the axiom: ‘Never Trust a Never Trumper’, because today’s exhibit is a case study in axiom accuracy. Despite small moments of brilliance, Glenn Beck has been a character of generally unstable, illogical and intemperate disposition during his political life.
Minstrel Glenn Beck claims to respect a nationalist constitution yet advocated for mass illegal immigration during the 2014 first central American migration with his ‘soccer balls and teddy bear tour’. The same man who said Ted Cruz is the “Mormon prophecy” sent to save the world from the “end of days”, was also the same man suspended from SiriusXM after he and Brad Thor called for the assassination of Donald Trump. Oh, there are a multitude of examples of instability….
Today Glenn Beck lays his snake-oil worship upon the alter of Justin Amash:
(more…)
Acting chief-of-staff Mick Mulvaney appears on Fox News to answer Chris Wallace question about whether President Trump is serious about punishing Mexico with tariffs for their lack of action on illegal central American migrants.
Mulvaney skewers Wallace and predicts the tariffs will hit. Additionally Mulvaney sets the record straight on the impact of tariffs on consumers.
Generally, watching a Chris Wallace segment is worthless; however, Mulvaney’s linguistic Ginsu delivery is so good, this one is worth watching:
(more…)
