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 †

House Judiciary member Mark Meadows has provided John Solomon with notes taken by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Kathleen Kavalec on Oct. 11, 2016, during her meeting with Dossier author Christopher Steele (full pdf below). Solomon Article HERE.

Within the notes Kavalec outlines: ¹the motives of Steele; ²innacuracies in his claims; and ³his media distribution network used to push the sketchy information.  From the notes Kavalec wrote an email (currently classified by FBI/DOJ) informing the FBI of her review, two weeks ahead of the FBI application to the FISA court, which should have led investigators to withdraw Steele’s dossier from the application:
[scribd id=409363897 key=key-msf8r3AmC6FEpoDTsQUT mode=scroll]
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Paul Sperry has an interesting article today at Real Clear Politics outlining the amount of expenditures by special counsel Robert Mueller during his two-year investigation.  Sperry notes many in DC are wondering who the “contractors” are that were paid by Mueller:

Special Counsel Robert Mueller spent more than $732,000 on outside contractors, including private investigators and researchers, records show, but his office refuses to say who they were. While it’s not unusual for special government offices to outsource for services such as computer support, Mueller also hired contractors to compile “investigative reports” and other “information.”  (read more)

Strongly suggest reading the above article.
Sperry outlines the breadcrumb trail which seems to indicate that Glenn Simpson (Fusion GPS) and Chris Steele may have been paid.  One of the key aspects lending weight to this likelihood is the part of Mueller’s specific mandate, as delivered by DAG Rosenstein, that the special counsel investigate the claims within the Steele Dossier.
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Earlier today President Trump celebrates with Major League Baseball champions Boston Red Sox at the White House.  [Video and Transcript]

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[Transcript] South Lawn – 3:44 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Well, there’s nothing like the White House. And a little rain is okay. We might wipe out a suit, but that’s all right, too. It’s raining a little bit, fellas. Nobody told me about that. You don’t need umbrellas, I know that.
Well, good afternoon. It’s my pleasure to welcome to the White House the 2018 World Series Champion, the Boston Red Sox. A very special group of people. (Applause.) A very special team. Thank you.
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The Southern District of New York has released a criminal complaint to accompany the seizure of a North Korean freighter “Wise Honest” (Full pdf below). The freighter was seized by Indonesian authorities on/around April 2, 2018 [media story here]. However, the background story of Wise Honest is more interesting.

The indictment outlines how the freighter was used to transport coal from North Korea to China and Russia and back-haul heavy equipment from Chinese ports into the DPRK. However, the transport network changed with the timing of increased sanctions on the DPRK.  Simply, the ship was routed to avoid being caught for violating sanctions.
The indictment also outlines how Chinese entities in Hong Kong assisted with routing the vessel to avoid maritime surveillance. There’s an aspect here that overlays a prior set of CTH discussions surrounding U.S. Navy training for a potential U.S. maritime blockade.
You might remember November 2017 CTH discussions about U.S. vessels conducting training exercises in/around shipping lanes. In 2017 and 2018 there were some maritime collisions that seemed to align with the possibility of these training exercises. In June 2017 The USS Fitzgerald was one such example near the coast of Japan.
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This is the big one.  This is the inflection moment.  Tonight around 5:00pm Chinese Vice-Chairman Liu He will engage with team U.S.A. on the substantive issues around the future of the U.S-China trade relationship.   Trillions at stake.
At midnight tonight the tariffs on Round One of Chinese goods are scheduled to increase from 10 percent to 25 percent.  Round Two is yet determined.  The background for the disposition of TEAM USA was outlined HERE.

Mnuchin – Trump – Lighthizer and Ross

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnunchin previously worked a 150-page outline agreement with China on seven chapters of trade issues covering: Theft of U.S. intellectual property; protection for trade secrets; forced technology transfers; competition policy; access to financial services; and currency manipulation.  Last week China reversed course on all of the substantive agreements. 
Today Vice-Chairman Liu He is going to try to justify to President Trump why China can no longer accept the commitments they made over the past three months.
It cannot be overstated how everything in/around DC must first be filtered through the prism of this inflection point.  At the heart of U.S. politics, the majority of the Senate Chamber is aligned with the Chinese through purchased multinational lobbying interests. Again, there are trillions at stake.  Wall Street through K-Street has paid the Big Club to defend their multinational/financial interests from President Trump.
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At the conclusion of a presentation for healthcare ‘surprise billing’ initiative, President Donald Trump took multiple questions from the media on a variety of issues.
Topics include: China trade deal and upcoming meeting with Vice-Chairman Liu, President Trump notes receiving letter from Chairman Xi Jinping; the strength of the U.S. economy; issues surrounding special counsel Bob Mueller; North Korea missile launch; current status of issues with Iran; questions about Donald Trump Jr. subpoena.  [Transcript will follow]

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[Transcript] Q Mr. President, on the North Korea missiles —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q — what message do you take from them?
THE PRESIDENT: Well we’re looking at it very seriously right now. They were smaller missiles — short-range missiles. Nobody is happy about it, but we’re taking a good look and we’ll see. We’ll see.
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The White House is promoting a new healthcare initiative to confront the issues of ‘surprise billing’ within the healthcare industry. [SEE HERE]  Today President Trump delivered remarks on a new standard for informing healthcare consumers:

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[Transcript] – 12:06 P.M. EDT – THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. Yesterday, Secretary Azar announced a bold, new initiative to require drug makers to disclose the prices to consumers. And it’s going to be something, I think, very special. You may have heard about it; maybe not. But it’s the beginning of a plan of transparency. And I think it will have quite an impact. So, thank you very much. That was a job well done. Everybody said it. (Applause.)
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Ranking Member Representative Doug Collins discusses the House Judiciary impeachment scheme, and the “desperate move” to discredit Attorney General Bill Barr.
Rep. Collins notes that former Special Counsel Robert Mueller is unlikely to appear before the committee and there is no appearance currently on their schedule:

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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

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