This morning, Grandma in Texas linked a tweet which had a video linked: The Brains Behind AOC, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez  which has been viewed over 2.5 million times. In sharing the link across other venues, I found another SECOND part to the video, also excellent…. makes correction to the first video, and is jaw dropping in it’s revelations.
Link is here: The Brains Behind AOC Part II
As is common in the age of Trump, we learn there is a great deal of subversion behind the scenes and most Americans are oblivious. Hence, the deep dive today. Can’t wait until the forum here, Q Treepers, begin to add information and plug in other data points. Please add data as you find it, and we will update. Thank you.
First, we need to know the players, the people and their organizations to track. While new spotlight has landed on Saikat Chakrabarti, the real top of the operative pyramid is Zack Exley.

Back in 2013, Zach had an idea he pitched called “Brand New Congress”/”Justice Democrats, which are really both the same thing. In a nutshell, it called for throwing out the establishment leaders and running “500 Elizabeth Warrens – as a slate” to accomplish their radical mission. Zack Exley explains it in his own words, starting at 4:45 in the video linked here: Link Important to note, Politico describes Saikit Chakrabarti as being the founder of “Brand New Congress” two years AFTER the Bernie campaign in a glowing puff piece found here Link to Politico , but we have Zack, on audio, talking about it in 2013.
Shocking, right? Oh, but that’s just the beginning. In fact, Zach has always talked about the same radical ideas. Take a look at his Wiki page: Link
Summary from Zack Exley’s background. Know this man and know him well.

1. Zack Exley started as a Union Organizer and Computer Programmer, according to Neal, Terry. Nov 29, 1999, The Washington Post, p, A2
2. In 2000, to protest BushV.Gore Exley used a website to allow citizens to self-organize more than 100 protests around the United States . Link  
3. Exley was Organizing Director at MoveOn.org during the group’s campaign to prevent the Iraq War, and during its controversial involvement with the Dean campaign.
4. Exley moved on to the Kerry Campaign, Director of Online Communications and Organizing
5. He also worked overseas, in the UK, to help the Labour Party in 2005. The Independent (UK), “No 10 in new dirty tricks row over role of US ‘garbage man’,” February 27, 2005.
6. We lose track of Exley during the ’08 campaign cycle (which is very odd), but he shows up again in 2010 as Chief Revenue Officer for Wikimedia from 2010-2013, and worked in contracted fundraising consultation until 2017 (which means he has direct relationship with donors).
7. Exley worked for Thoughtworks, IT consulting, based out of Chicago, 6000 employees and locations all over the world. Link
8. Exley co-founded, with Judith Freeman, the “New Organizing Institute” which trained Dem activists in social media and tech platforms – dissolved in 2015 Link Donors were Open Society, Bauman Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Atlantic Philanthropies (worthy of another deep dive). Lot of activist names here worthy of tracking and the org was shuttered in a major controversy.
9. In August of 2015, he joined the Bernie Sanders campaign, Politico reported, as a senior advisor responsible for digital communications.
10. Exley is now associated with the Justice Democrats.

Interesting that Zack’s public persona never includes info about his family (wife/kids/parents/siblings = nothing). Well, our Coyote genealogy researcher, Aubergine, spent some time on Zack Exley. This is what she found.

Zack’s mom Alma is deceased. She was an educator; there is a scholarship for “persons of color” in her name in Connecticut.

https://almaexleyscholarship.org/

His dad is Elwood “Woody.” I found a FB page for him. He just looks like an average liberal old guy. His father, also Elwood, was an architect in PA from what I can find.

Elwood owns a company called Exley Communications, LLC in Connecticut, est. in 2015. I can’t find out anything about the company. He is 79 now; that’s pretty old to establish a company four years ago, but who knows?

His sister Alexandra got married in 2007. She was at the time the director of information resources at the Young Survival Coalition, a non-profit dedicated to helping young adults affected by breast cancer. This was probably because her mother died of breast cancer in 1995 at age 52.

Zach also has a FB page. First thing on it was about Alex Rojas on CNN. Lots of lefties in his friends list, people working for Cory Booker, ACORN, Bernie Sanders, etc. I could spend a week looking at people from that list. I find it odd that his FB stuff is so accessible.

It looks like Zack grew up in the standard liberal family to me. Activism, scholarships for people of “color,” etc.

While Exley and others work on the “idea” of overthrowing Congress, Exley and Becky Bond wrote a book together called “Rules for Revolutionaries” in 2016. Becky heads an org called Realjusticepac.org which is all about installing radical District Attorneys all over the country. The organization’s mission ( Link )  is to “Elect Prosecutors who will fix our broken criminal justice system.” Sound familiar? Becky is the FIRST person listed as part of the team for this PAC and here’s what they have to say about Becky Bond:

BECKY BOND

Becky served as senior advisor to the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign and is the co-author of “Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything.” She was formerly the president of CREDO SuperPAC and political director of CREDO Mobile. (The whole thing needs another deep dive) As BAM points out, the success of Becky Bond and the radical DA program can be found in San Antonio, where, according to the candidate, “It was just impossible to overcome a million dollars in NY money.” Link
Here’s Becky and Zack together.
 

Guess who else is on the team list for Becky Bond’s PAC. Wait for it……… Shaun King. Yeah, THAT Shaun King. The white guy who pretends to be bi-racial and went to Morehouse College, President of their SGA, and won the Oprah Winfrey Scholarship. We all thought he was half-black. But no….. He’s still very involved in “Civil Rights” activism. Harry Lime, our contributor found Shaun King yesterday…..

Praises Antifa Terrorist Willem Van Spronsen as Hero – Compares Him to Abolitionist John Brown Link

We haven’t introduced you to Corin Trent, better known as Zack Exley’s right hand man: Here’s Corbin Trent, the 31yr old from Tennessee.

We learn lots and lots about Corbin here  Link , such as his shoe size, he’s single, 5′ 9″ and 165 lbs, etc., and………. (warm and fuzzy narrative). He’s also the Communications Director for AOC.  Within this link, we also learn Ira Allison is the Exec Director for “Justice Democrats” And there’s Corbin, following AOC.

Corbin Trent is listed as the Co-Founder of “Brand New Congress” and Co-Director of Justice Democrats, here Link  The website is VERY visitor friendly and includes a “Blog” with radically slanted articles where all the reader has to do is push a button for sharing on Facebook. It’s all so easy………
In this video, Link    , beginning at about 10:10 minutes, we have Corbin on video discussing running Republicans, who are really Progressives (Neo-Marxists), and targeting districts which have historically low turnout. It wasn’t really Corbin’s idea, it was Zack Exley’s idea. Hear Zack talking about it here at about 12:30 in the video Link 
But we found another pic of Corbin, when he did his stylized photo shoot, in the same shirt, with these people. Oh my, who are these people? Let’s find out!!

The one in the middle is Alexandra Rojas. She’s the head of Justice Democrats and we have her on video at 4:05 minutes,  Link  talking about social, racial, and economic justice. Yes, it’s full blown Soviet Bloc Communism, with “justice” thrown in, favoring certain skin colors. They really don’t like white people, men, and especially Christians. Here, at 1:00 minute Link    Alexandra Rojas talks about how they recruited the bartender, AOC, to run for Congress, and BOTH AOC and Alexandra Rojas are on tape, admitting it. AOC is merely a figurehead.
To get into the deep weeds of policy, Alexandra Rojas does the 28 minute interview Link    here, rather than risking AOC talking for herself……… cuz Rojas knows the words far better than AOC…… because the words and policies belong to Rojas. Here, Rojas is polite, almost timid, young, fresh-faced…… carefully scripted. It’s the policies which scare the hell out of most Americans. She started as an intern in the Bernie campaign and worked her way up to national staff. She is now the Exec Director of Justice Dems. Alexandra is only 24yrs old and did a couple of years at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, CA.
Then we have Saikat Chakrabarti:

The guy on the right is Saikat Chakrabarti, Chief of Staff for AOC. He’s received a great deal of attention lately, which is fine with Zack Exley (who prefers the background). Saikat is often seen in the same green t-shirt with a meme of Subhas Chandra Bose….. who is a whole nother issue. Bose was the alternative to Gandhi in the quest for India independence from Britain. Gandhi advocated for peaceful return of rule to Indians and expelling the British. Bose argued for an armed overthrow and was STRONGLY influenced by Hitler’s Germany, actually MET Adolf Hitler, living in Germany during portions of WW2. Here is the Wiki page for Bose, one scary guy. Link
Even in India today, “anti-colonialism” sentiment runs strong among political parties. A push back against the USA in 2019, is often couched in language harkening back to that used by Subhas Chandra Bose. This political wing obviously does not like the British……. but they also identify America as an “Empire” …… which is pretty strange……. because we threw out the British before they did. So, why aren’t we kissing cousins with Saikit and his buddies? Because it’s not about resentment from India Independence in the 1940’s……. it’s about CONTROL of America in 2019. Bose is Chakrabarti’s idol.
Chakrabarti’s wiki page is found here:  Link   We learn more about him when we expand into the sources USED for his profile. For instance, Saikat is described as born and raised in Ft. Worth from a “Bengali” family. Were his parent His parents Indian Nationals, Bay of Bengal, this is the old Calcutta region and among the wealthiest regions in India. OR, were they from Bangladesh? Which is it? Why can’t he just say it? Bengali????? What the heck is a Bengali? I have 15 employees in India and no one uses this terminology. I’ve done biz in Bangladesh, no such thing as a Bengali. It’s odd and makes me wonder…… why?
ALSO, Bangladesh is one of the MOST polluted regions of the world. The mouth of the Ganges River, which drains into the Bay of Bengal is one of the 9 rivers responsible for 80% of ocean pollution. If Saikat wants to change the world and push Green New Deals, the best place in the world for him to start would be Bangladesh. Note: Biggest problem for Bangladesh today is China moving industry there for LOWER wages and CHINA acting as an overlord over the natives. Bangladesh GDP is about 275 Billion Link  but has almost doubled in the last decade. Saikat isn’t in Bangladesh or India though, he’s in the USA, blaming the USA for all the problems in the world.

Saikit graduated from Harvard with a degree in Computer Science, took off to Wall Street, then Silicon Valley, where he was involved in a number of startups. There’s a note in Saikit’s Wiki page which does not have a source. LOOK at this one: “founding a web design tool called Mockingbird”………. nah, it couldn’t be……. could it?
Saikit sounds like an American success story and VERY privileged. Yet, he joined Bernie Sanders campaign in the very beginning. Saikit became the Sanders Campaign Director of Organizing Technology and was part of the effort that created technology for grassroots supporters to collaborate on organizing events. Saikit also met Corbin Trent and Alexandra Rojas while working in the Sander’s campaign.
Saikit has received a number of puff pieces in the media, thank you to Michael H., contributor to this article. Here we see a full spread in ELLE magazine, by author R. Eric Thomas, who nicknamed him “Snack Saikat”, and openly discusses Saikat’s beard in a sexually appealing way, and how lucious his white button down is……. Who wrote this crap? The photos are staged and designed to be a “picture of America”……….. which would be a Communist picture……. but Elle doesn’t talk about that part. Link    Note: Elle Magazine is selling a new picture of the ideal sexy male — and it looks like Saikat, to young American women. It’s not the 6’3″ blond Harvard fraternity guy on the crew team  anymore. What’s even MORE shocking? The article is described as “Everything you need to know about Saikat” — except that he’s a radical Communist who wants to overthrow the American economic system.
Again, from Michael H, via Peter Hanson, Senior Reporter for Daily Caller Link

“The interesting thing about the Green New Deal, is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all,” Chakrabarti said to Inslee’s climate director, Sam Ricketts.
“Do you guys think of it as a climate thing?” Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing,” Chakrabarti added.

Today, publicly, the founders of Justice Dems are listed as Corbin Trent, Rojas, and Chakrabarti. The others, like Exley prefer the shadows. These young activists push a message of “getting big money OUT of campaigns” and “anti-establishment” but it looks like they still rely heavily on traditional funding sources and only want to replace the current system with another system…….. which they control. What confuses me is….. why aren’t they all still working on Bernie’s campaign? No love for Bernie? Hey, I’m a Trump supporter, but Bernie’s supporters were completely screwed in 2016. Not fair to them at all.
One final word about Cenk Uygur, head of The Young Turks, which is probably the most popular youtube channel among young progressives/Neo-Marxists. Many people THINK it was Cenk’s idea to run these candidates. That’s wrong. Cenk was merely a media outlet who was used. Cenk is now disassociated with the Justice Democrats completely….. which would be strange if it was his brainchild…. given their success. Cenk was used.

Yet, Cenk and the Young Turks are still the favorite propaganda arm for this political wing of leftists. And YES, Cenk still loves them… good for business. Maga Mom turned in this link: Watch closely, 7 minutes of pure propaganda: Link
We now more clearly understand their goal, which is to take over government of the United States, at every level of power. From your local District Attorney and Dog Catcher all the way up to Congress. This is no longer classical liberals who value individuals, rule of law, and free speech. Not your Daddy’s Dem Party anymore. Their idea works, but is dependent on those who don’t ask too many questions = naive voters. They are scaling up, will learn from their mistakes, and try again. Listen again to Zack Exley talking about how to USE Democracy to their advantage at 17:10 minutes, here. Link  They have no problem picking puppets as front men/women, people “of color”, which is odd because they’re almost exclusively white, for their ultimate goal. It’s even okay if they run Neo-Marxists as Republicans in historically low voter turnout districts. They’re organized and on the move.
Want to see what happens when they get together? Here’s Cenk Uygur interviewing Becky Bond and Zack Exley:

Are we ready to counter the effort?
Takeaway: I’ve been listening to their speeches for the better part of the day, in the background of the office. These people are slick, expert, trained in propaganda, highly proficient in creating a fluffy narrative. All their pics in the media, take a look, they are smiling broadly, no suit, no formal attire, they appear….. approachable and non-threatening. Yet, these are some of the worst bigots I’ve ever heard. They hate our side and most Americans. They recoil at the sight of us and think we are worthy of an untimely death….. and if only we would die……. everything in the world would be better, for their world/view/friends. It’s incredibly divisive and harmful….. the kind of thing any parent would shield their child from hearing……. and yet we send our kids to college and straight into the belly of this beast.
End

I wanted to take a moment to compliment the Q Tree and members here. Thank you for your activity, sharing info, and everything you bring to the group. As an accountant, I really am one of those strange people who can make 2+2=5. Yet here, with the talent available, the 2+2= 10,000,250. It’s amazing and makes me humble.
When I was a kid, Dad (like all parents) focused on education, which led me to going back to college, over and over again, throughout my life (I still want to be an architect). Today, husband teases me I could play poker with my degrees. Fortunately, I also learned not all intelligence comes from books, and with a little bit of saving grace…….. I learned a LOT from our elders, neighbors, friends. Truth is, we can learn something from every person we meet. No one is an expert on every subject – we need friends. Dad gave me “curiosity”, and love of learning. More than anything else, he taught me:
Information = Power (more on that part later)

As the kids grew up, when they hit the back door – home from school, my first question was, “What did you learn today?” The question came from my subconscious, probably because of Dad, but it forced the kids to stop and think about ONE item and placed a value on learning. I didn’t realize it would help them in public speaking, to summarize what they were taught/redefine it in their own mind/processing the info/and explain it to a stranger……. but it did help. It helped them to become well spoken and think on their feet – skills which are often not taught in school.
Today, it feels like I am the one back in school ….. again……. this time we’re all in a treehouse which is beautiful, warm, and inviting…….. with great snacks. Every day, I learn something new from the members here, and I am grateful. They way you guys dug into Epstein yesterday was mind-boggling and one of the best illustrations of how crowdsourcing and the hive mind works. It was a joy to watch. I hesitate to start naming people because I will forget someone, but here’s what I learned.
Small Tribute to Our Members: 
From Wolfie: Brought me back to center, made me realize I’m too naive when addressing evil, and to hide my lunch money. Seering sense of perception. I’m sticking to him like glue.

From FLEP: We all love the News RoundUp and it just so happens, FLEP’s news roundup helped my kid get an “A” for a summer Macro class he was taking. The good news is valuable and I encourage you all to share it across forums as a counter to the MSM. It’s true, we are the news, and others will not know unless we tell them.

From Aubergine: If we needed to find someone, ask Aubergine. Give her a mission, feed her, give her water, and let her work. Amazing.

Gail: I have a vision of Gail in a room surrounded with terabytes of hard drives. IKR?

OlderWiser: Points me in the right direction, gently, cuz I can get off track sometimes. Thank you. Were you a teacher?

 
Ozzy: Needed for humor and as a reality check. Great skills.

Cthulhu: The two of us could sit down for dinner, swap war stories, and you could pick us up…….. next spring.

STEVEinCo and Scott467: Rational thinking. Objective. Analytical. We need more of these guys. We’ve only just scratched their surface. You two can’t leave. We won’t let you. We need you. They think way outside the box.

 
GrandmaInTexas, SadieSays, KSwiss: Wish they lived in my neighborhood, definitely POWERFUL women and girlfriends. Deep respect for their brainpower and perspective.

Deplorable Patriot: The one I want to be when I grow up….. yep, it’s true!

Kea (and her MOM!!), Sue McDonald, Teagan, Linda: Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! MOAR!!!!!!!!!! Most impressive!!

Covadonga: I could be completely wrong about this, BUT………. If I were assigned a reconnaissance mission, I would pick Covadonga = get low, be quiet, get the job done. There’s a LOT going on behind those eyes. Sincere compliment.

A Fortiori and Rodney: Rodney is like the missile. A Fort is more subtle but equal detonation load. Catch things, small points which turn into bigger issues, which we sometimes miss. Better pay attention to what these two have to say.

Lady Penguin, SingingSoul, Plain Jane, Nebraska Filly, and GA/FL: Feels like I’ve known them all my life. We grew up together. If were a “left hand”, then they are the right hands. Can finish my sentences. I could trust them with my kids or my money….. and I would end up with better kids and MOAR money.

Rayzorbak and RedLeg and HARRY LIME!: Where did these guys come from? I sat down one night, watched them go back and forth, and I couldn’t keep up. They’re hilarious. All I wanted to do was lob straight lines into the mix. Wicked smart, crazy wit, sharp as razors. Honorable and great men.

Driller and Mrs. Driller: The very soul of America.

Smiley2: Drops bombshells. If we ever form research groups, I want to be on Smiley’s team. Watch him/her. Follow the links. Good stuff. NOTED! Smiley’s over-performance yesterday and today is the reason for this thread…….. the reason I am extra grateful this morning. Hey, I’m just honored to be here. Smiley sneaks up on you.

Tom F: I see you there, lurking. You don’t miss anything, do you?

Barb Meier and Mary Morse: There’s two I would like to hear more from. Worthy!

Kalbokalbs: HUGE add to the tree. Glad you are here. Makes me hungry for shish kabobs.

Churchmouse: Not enough room, not enough adjectives in the dictionary to describe how much I love Churchmouse. Great perspective and needed in this forum. I just want to hug him.

Miss Gil, Alison, Marica, Sylvia, BFlyJesusGirl, KInTheNorthwest, MollyPitcher, Holly100 : When women come together and have not seen each other in a long time, they squeal and jump up and down. I think I would squeal if I saw them. Yeah, I would squeal.

ThinkThinkThink: Misses nothing, juggles everything. Well done.

Wheatie: Would we have a Q Tree without Wheatie? Indispensable. Wheatie is the 13-13-13 fertilizer of our tree and the guardian of the gate.

BakoCarl: What a delightful add to our tree. Carl makes our tree……. Bloom.

BBSSSaint: Sharp as a razor. Funny. Concise. Perceptive.

MichaelH: Did you guys see the live thread we were working on where Michael posted a photo for every comment? Who works that fast? Answer = Michael H does. Oh, and Michael brings great snacks.

WSB and Big Momma Tea: Come in every now and then and drop BIG bombshells of valuable info. Always good to see old and dear friends. We have missed you guys.

BAM and ColdDeadhands: Bring the meat to the table, not Aunt Helen’s jello salad, REAL meat. Thank you!

 
LM: Big picture person, far more than others. Great skill. Sees the consequences of actions and can see down the road.

Evereleutheros: Great drops of obscure source info (thank you for the info on Epstein yesterday). Great research we would not normally see. It’s like getting presents.

Of course, we all miss Patrick Henry Censored………
And we miss others like Phoenix and FG&C, and I really miss SheByTheSea.

Small sidenote: Surely, I’ve forgotten to mention some people. Please know it’s not a slight. Rather walk 100 miles in flip-flops than offend anyone here. And to those of you who lurk, please speak up, we need your input as well. We need to be stronger…… and your voice will help us all. It’s time to come out of the closet.
Hear/read this: Wherever you go, whether you lurk or post, whether you are a daily force or drop in now and then, please know, you are welcome here. We appreciate your thoughts and you make us all a little bit smarter. In this way, we learn something new every single day. Yeah, Dad would be proud.
Information really does = Power, but far more than the Pareto Principle from which the rule stems. If I may be allowed to bend the rule a little — Those who seek to censor us, silence us, will never be able to stop us from communicating with each other. We will find a way. When we HAVE the information = We HAVE the power, which is what terrifies our opposition more than anything else.
We all remember a time, during the Obama years, when we knew something terrible was wrong with America. We thought we were the only ones who felt it….. and then, President Trump showed up…… and we figured out we were not alone.

Now, since the election of 2016, we’ve learned far more than we ever bargained for. Not sure what we expected post election. Yet today, it’s fair to say – we’re drinking information through a firehose. We never could have imagined what we were up against, the depth of the problems, Deep State, corruption and resistance to change, problem with media, we’ve seen today.
One thing is certain. Those who seek to maintain the status quo are being defeated, slowly but surely. And the Genie, which is all of us, will never again retreat to the bottle. We’re out. We’ve been freed. We have questions about our government, and we demand answers.
Lately, against President Trump, the Deep State be like………

Well done, Q Treepers. Honored to be among you.

RE: Epstein’s money
By chance, did any of you see James Patterson’s interview with Dana Perino? Link      Patterson wrote a book about Epstein, “Filthy Rich”, which is nonfiction (true/fact based and heavily researched). James Patterson lives next door to Jeffrey Epstein in Palm Beach. Patterson normally writes spellbinding spy novels but in this case, the truth was just as good. If what we suspect about Epstein is half true, then we know where Patterson gets the inspiration for his books. Patterson simply needs to look around his neighborhood, and talk about his neighbors, as I talk about my girlfriends drinking bloody marys and ironing together. No wonder Patterson makes the big bucks. Already, the Epstein story reads like a B-rated movie script…….. but add a little blackmail….. and the movie would make zillions.

It made no sense. How did Epstein get his money? I couldn’t figure it out. I was a licensed NASD Broker Dealer, fingerprinted, FBI file, constant updating for more licenses, a trail of paperwork as wide and long as the Mississippi River. When I moved millions of dollars, I was bonded, questioned, background checked (they even called my parents and neighbors), and every single penny was accounted for, audited annually, ……. AND I was a little peon in the business.
How in the heck did Epstein accumulate vast wealth when no one knew what he did? No one traded with him. We always had to call other trading desks, other firms, for various info/updates, or to allocate client funds. It’s impossible to earn what Epstein allegedly has earned without other people telling stories. Traders know each other (across states and oceans, too). There would have been a tale about how Epstein returned a HUGE sum to a client, or LOST a huge sum….. and yet, nothing. Scuttlebut, you know, cocktail party talk, and yes, brokers talk worse than fishwives. But complete silence? It’s couldn’t happen….. and certainly not for decades.
The BEST thing about money, is that it’s finite. Money is not gaseous and does not evaporate into thin air.  Money is pure, like a solid mass, “X” amount comes in and “X” amount goes out. Money NEVER disappears….. ever…… even if a Spanish galleon laden with gold sank to the bottom of the sea……. it can be recovered. There’s no opinion about money. There’s no casting of shade, no estimating client’s funds on a report, no subjective politically correct statement about money. Nonononooooo. Money is PURE raw data and easy to track. So, where the heck did Epstein get his money and how come other hedge fund managers don’t know this guy?
Understand, I meant no harm and I’m still a peon. I was minding my own business, making blueberry muffins in my little rural kitchen in Mississippi…….. but with my securities experience, it made no sense to me. The curiosity kept rolling around in my head, like when you keep poking at a chipped tooth with your tongue. Imagine my surprise when other hedge fund managers began to voice their own suspicion. Yeah, the warning lights hit the red line. Time to break the glass.
The following is a brilliant theory from an anonymous guy on Twitter by the name of @quantian1 …. and entirely plausible.    Link   What if the hedge fund was a cover for blackmail? The idea was so good, soooooo plausible, it was picked up by Michelle Celarier who writes for Intelligencer Link  in NY Magazine. She talked to Douglas Kass, who happens to be a Hedge Fund Manager, President of SeaBreeze Partners Management, who just HAPPENS to have a house in Palm Beach and is plugged into the local social swirl. Doug Kass was quite intrigued by the idea of Epstein using a “hedge fund” to hide blackmail.
First, let’s read the short unroll thread from @quantian1 (all attribution to her/him/ze)

So, apologies in advance, but I want to do a quick little THREAD to explain my theory of what the Epstein story really is. I promise this isn’t some crazy Pizzagate conspiracy about space lizards, just a neat little explanation that IMO perfectly fits the known facts (0/13):

(1/13) Let’s take as our starting points two givens.
(A.) You are a committed, unrepentant pedophile
(B.) Because of your old job in private banking, you are very connected to lots of very, very wealthy people
We’ll also assume a goal:
(Z.) You want to become very rich

(2/13) The obvious route is, well, obvious: you could just be a pimp, offering underage prostitute services to very rich people. This has two problems: you’re very disposable (see: DC madam), and it’s also not super lucrative. You can’t charge millions of dollars up front.

(3/13) The second level though follows instantly: You don’t need to charge up front, just get them to have underage sex, and then blackmail them afterwards for hush money. Better ROI, but you’re still a liability, and producing and receiving big bribe money raises big questions.

(4/13) So, what to do? Well, the second idea has some merits. First, you need to recruit people in. Have lots of massive parties at your spacious home (check), invite top academics, artists, politicians to encourage people to come (check), and supply lots of young women (check)

(5/13) You don’t even have to do anything, and most people invited might even be totally unaware of the real purpose of the parties! But, sooner or later, some billionaire will get handsy, she’ll escort him to a room with a hidden camera, things happen. Morning after, you strike.

(6/13) You inform him she was really 15, but you offer him a nice, neat way to buy your silence: a large allocation to your hedge fund, which charges 2/20 (check). To ensure nobody else asks questions, you also take the extraordinary step of demanding power of attorney (check)

(7/13) The fund is offshore in a tax haven (check) and nobody will see the client list (check). Of course, you don’t really know anything about investing, instead making up some nonsense about currency trading (check), and nobody on Wall Street has ever traded with you (check)

(8/13) The fund itself doesn’t need investment personnel (check), only some back office people to process the wires (check). You don’t want to money from non-pedophiles, or they’ll notice you’ve just put it in a S&P 500 fund, so you reject all incoming inquiries (check)

(9/13) A $20 million wire from Billionaire X to you with no obvious reason will raise many questions, and the IRS will certainly want to know what you did to warrant it. A $5 million quarterly fee for managing $1 billion in assets? Nobody bats an eye.

(10/13) Because of this structure, you’re extraordinarily secretive about client lists (check) because they aren’t clients, they’re pedophiles paying you bribes, and they also are very secretive, which is why no letters or return streams ever leak (check)

(11/13) Occasionally you may also try this trick on other people: important political figures, mayors, prosecutors, etc. They don’t invest in the fund, but it’s nice to have them in your pocket. Others (academics, artists, etc.) can just be bought with money as a PR smokescreen.

(12/13) And, of course, the scam can be kept going as long as people are willing to pay, which is forever. If you’re ever caught, just lean on some of your other friends in government to lean on the prosecutor to get you a sweetheart deal. There’s almost zero risk.

(13/13) And the last piece of the puzzle is the evidence. You’d want it somewhere remote, but accessible: a place the US can’t touch but you have an excuse to visit all the time to update. Remember that offshore fund?
I bet there’s a *very* interesting safe deposit box there.

Two small points of clarification:
1. This scheme works just as well if the billionaires are in on it from the getgo as a way to buy sex; I assumed that was obvious but I guess not.
2. There’s no need to invoke the Mafia/Russia/Mossad/CIA/etc, that’s just needlessly overfitting.

It’s like an epiphany, isn’t it? Deep breath. Move your neck around in a circle a few times. You guys okay? I’ll give you a moment to let you wrap your head around the premise.
Yes, the USVI is far away, and if Epstein had a reputation with the SEC as only dealing with billionaires…. then a 20 million dollar wire transfer as a service fee would not have raised an eyebrow….. unless someone at the SEC looked too closely……. or Epstein was protected from anyone looking too closely.
Back to Michelle, the writer for Intelligencer/NY Magazine, her article is linked above and here Link
Recall, Michelle was talking to “several prominent hedge fund managers”, including Doug Cass, a hedge fund President who lived in Palm Beach. Cass was super curious about Epstein, …….. for years. In fact, over the years, Doug Cass asked others in the business about Epstein. No one heard of him. Cass even called another hedge fund manager, Whitney Tilson, and they both emailed around to ask if anyone knew of Epstein’s business. Nope……… nothing.
AND they couldn’t find anyone, minus Wexner, who admitted to investing with Epstein. Where were his clients? From another Hedge Fund manager:

A fund manager who knows well how that kind of fortune is acquired notes, “It’s hard to make a billion dollars quietly.” Epstein never made a peep in the financial world.

Then, there’s this part. Epstein did all the investing himself, he claimed. I call “BS”. No one in our industry (or any industry) knows everything about everything. Ya’ gotta have specialists…… unless, maybe, Epstein was dumping everything into a SPDR fund, but there were not that many SPDRs in the late 1990’s……. and dumping hundreds of millions into a SPDR would have triggered an allocation of funds….. so the other hedge fund boys would have known who Epstein was…… they would have seen the order sheets.
The NYTimes has discovered a professor, Thomas Volscho, who is trying to track down an accurate estimate of Epstein’s worth. Link   Note, there are FOUR people ( James B. Stewart, Matthew Goldstein, Kate Kelly and David Enrich ) who wrote this story for the NYTimes. Does it strike anyone as odd that the NYTimes would devote FOUR reporters to a single story? Yeah, me either. They’re digging. Here’s an excerpt from the story:

  Thomas Volscho, a sociology professor at the College of Staten Island who has been researching for a book on Mr. Epstein, recently obtained [a 2002 disclosure] form, which shows [Epstein’s] Financial Trust had $88 million in contributions from shareholders. In a court filing that year, Mr. Epstein said his firm had about 20 employees, far fewer than the 150 reported at the time by New York magazine.

Sidenote: Why does the NYTimes source a story like this from a Sociology professor from an obscure college? Can’t we talk to the Dean of Accounting from Wharton?
As the NYTimes and others point out, Epstein cut his teeth in the finance biz, after he left Bear Stearns, with Steven J. Hoffenberg, who was convicted of a 460 million dollar Ponzi Scheme. Here’s the link to the 1995 article on Hoffenberg in the NYTimes Link

Is blackmail that far of a stretch from a Ponzi Scheme? Does the apple fall far from the tree? And why, oh please tell us why, were Jeffrey Epstein’s finances “sealed” for his bail hearing by his attorneys……… and why did Epstein’s younger brother MARK offer to chip in funds if needed? Do you know any billionaires who need to borrow money to try to make bail?
Suspicious cat can’t take it anymore!
 

Now that Epstein is in the spotlight again, we’re all curious about him….. his money……. and his associates. Maybe this time we’ll learn something.  
Nonetheless, it’s incredibly odd that four reporters from the NYTimes, multiple hedge fund managers, an anonymous guy on twitter, and a little peon muffin maker in Mississippi are all thinking the same thing………..
If your bored, there are a few more theories found here. Link

End

It really was a Tour de Force.
Presser begins at 23:45 in the video, here. Please watch this presser.

President Trump moves through subject after subject with ease. If I were a Dem Presidential Candidate, I would throw in the towel.
President Trump stood side by side with Sec Acosta.
Highlights: President’s opinion on Paul Ryan. “Nancy Pelosi is not a racist.”, President Trump. “I didn’t back down on the census, I backed UP”, President Trump. On and on it went.
And now, President Trump is off to Wisconsin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Begin Transcript: 
** 9:34 A.M. EDT
Q How do you think your Labor Secretary did?
THE PRESIDENT: I think he was a great Labor Secretary, not a good Labor Secretary. He’s done a fantastic job. He’s a friend of everybody in the administration. And I got a call this morning, early, from Alex. And I think he did a very good job yesterday. Under a lot of pressure, he did a fantastic job and he explained it. He made a deal that people were happy with, and then, 12 years later, they’re not happy with it. You’ll have to figure all of that out.

But the fact is, he has been a fantastic Secretary of Labor. And Alex called me this morning and he wanted to see me. And I actually said, “Well, we have the press right out here, so perhaps you just want to say it to the press.”
But I just want to let you know, this was him, not me, because I’m with him. He was a — he’s a tremendous talent. He’s a Hispanic man. He went to Harvard. A great student. And, in so many ways, I just hate what he’s saying now because we’re going to miss him.
But, please, Alex.
SECRETARY ACOSTA: Thank you, Mr. President. Over the last week, I’ve seen a lot of coverage of the Department of Labor, and what I have not seen is the incredible job creation that we’ve seen in this economy — more than 5 million jobs. I haven’t seen that workplace injuries are down, bucking a three-year trend; workplace fatalities are down, bucking a three-year trend; that we had the safest year ever in mining, the lowest number of fatalities ever in mining.
I have seen coverage of this case that is over 12 years old, that had input and vetting at multiple levels of the Department of Justice. And as I look forward, I do not think it is right and fair for this administration’s Labor Department to have Epstein as the focus, rather than the incredible economy that we have today.
And so I called the President this morning. I told him that I thought the right thing was to step aside. You know, Cabinet positions are temporary trusts. It would selfish for me to stay in this position and continue talking about a case that’s 12 years old, rather than about the amazing economy we have right now.
And so I submitted my resignation to the President –effective seven days from today, effective one week from today — earlier this morning.
Q If the Secretary explained himself, as you say he did two days ago, why the need for him to resign?
THE PRESIDENT: There’s no need at all, as far as I’m concerned. I would have — I watched Alex yesterday. I thought Alex did a great job. And, you know, you could always second guess people, and you could say it should have been tougher. They do it with me all the time. I make a great deal with anybody, and then they say — like, the Democrats — “Oh, it could have been better.”
I got $1.2 billion settlement fined from a company, from ZTE. And the next day — and everybody couldn’t believe it. The next day, the Democrats said, “Oh, he should have gotten more.” So you can always be second guessed. That’s what people do.
I just want to tell you: This is a person that I’ve gotten to know. There hasn’t been an ounce of controversy at the Department of Labor until this came up. And he’s doing this not for himself; he’s doing this for the administration.
And, Alex, I think you’ll agree. I said, “You don’t have to do this.” He doesn’t have to do this.
Q Why would you — why would you accept his resignation?
Q But you accepted the resignation. You accepted the — why did you accept the resignation if he hasn’t done anything wrong?
THE PRESIDENT: I do, and we have — we have — as everybody knows, we have Pat Pizzella, who right now is a deputy, and he’ll be Acting for a period of time. I think you know Pat. He’s a good man, highly recommended by Alex. But Pat is going to be Acting, and we’ve already informed him.
Q Why did you have a falling out with Jeffrey Epstein? Why did you have a falling out with Jeffrey Epstein? And did you ban him from Mar-a-Lago?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. And I did have a falling out a long time ago. The reason doesn’t make any difference, frankly. But I haven’t spoken to him in probably 15 years or more. I wasn’t a big fan of Jeffrey Epstein, that I can tell you. And now, if you look, the remnants hurt this man. And I hate to see it happen.
I will say this, and I say it again and I say it loud and clear: Alex Acosta was a great Secretary of Labor. What he’s done with plans and — you see the plans coming one after another. You’re just about done with the 401(k) and —
SECRETARY ACOSTA: That’s correct.
THE PRESIDENT: — and that happened. Things that nobody would even think of. So it’s very sad. But at the same time, he wants the focus to be on accomplishments, not on what you’re talking about.
Q But do you believe — do you believe, Mr. President, that Epstein has become and Mr. Acosta has become a distraction to the Labor Department?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, Alex believed that. I’m willing to live with anything, John. I think you know me. I’ve lived through things that you wouldn’t believe.
Alex felt that way. And he also felt — we’re so good; we’re doing so well. The economy — the stock market just hit the highest point yesterday in the history of our country. Our unemployment numbers are the best they’ve ever been. If you look at specifically certain groups — African American, Asian, Hispanic — the best unemployment numbers in the history of our country.
You know, there are so many good things, and he didn’t want to distract from that. And I understand that, 100 percent.
Q Did Paul Ryan prevent you from making any bad decisions?
THE PRESIDENT: For what?
Q Did Paul Ryan prevent you from making any bad decisions?
THE PRESIDENT: So Paul Ryan was not a talent. He wasn’t a leader. When the people in Freedom and great congressmen wanted to go after the Dems for things that they did very badly, he wouldn’t give subpoenas, whereas Nancy Pelosi hands them out like they’re cookies.
Paul Ryan was a lame duck for a long time as Speaker. He was unable to raise money. He lost control of the House. The only success Paul Ryan had was the time that he was with me because we got taxes cut. I got regulation cuts. I did that mostly without him.
But for Paul Ryan to be complaining is pretty amazing. I remember a day in Wisconsin — a state that I won — where I stood up and made a speech, and then I introduced him and they booed him off the stage — 10,000 people.
So for him to be going out and opening his mouth is pretty incredible. But maybe he gets paid for that. Who knows? Maybe he gets paid for that.
Q Mr. President, the raids — can you — Mr. President, are you putting law enforcement at risk by having these raids? Is the public at risk now that everyone knows that the raids are coming?
THE PRESIDENT: So people come into our country illegally. We’re taking them out legally. It’s very simple. It’s not something I like doing, but people have come into our country illegally.
We’re focused on criminals. We’re focused on — if you look at MS-13 — but when people come into our country, we take those people out and we take them out very legally. They all have papers. And it’s a process. And I have an obligation to do it. They came in illegally; they go out legally.
What the Democrats should be doing now is they should be changing the loopholes. They should be changing asylum. I’ve been talking to that — to you about this for a long time. They should be changing asylum. There’s so many things.
Now, let me — let me give you the good news: Mexico has done an outstanding job so far. If you look at the border, it’s down now 30 percent, and that’s only one week inclusive where they’ve gotten it together.
The June numbers just came out. It’s down. It looks like it’s going to end up being a little bit above 30 percent down. It’s going to be down more and more. They have 21,000 — and I say “21,000” — Mexican soldiers on the borders — both their southern border and our southern border.
And we really have it in control. The problem is — we have a big problem. The laws are so bad. The Democrats have to help us fix the immigration laws. But even with that, because of the job that Mexico is doing — and, yes, they maybe did it because of tariffs, but they’re doing a great job and I appreciate it.
Q Democrats are portraying your action yesterday on the census citizenship question as backing down. Do you believe that you backed down?
THE PRESIDENT: No, no. Who said — who said that?
Q Democrats are saying you backed down. Do you believe you backed down?
THE PRESIDENT: Look, anything you do, the Democrats will say it’s not good. In the meantime, they had a disaster. They had these laws that are so bad — catch-and-release, and you look at the different laws — visa lottery, that was a Chuck Schumer law. It’s a disaster. A lottery. You pick them out. A lottery.
The Democrats have caused tremendous problems. What they’ve let China get away with — for years and years, China has been ripping us off. They’re not ripping us off anymore. Right now, companies are fleeing China because of the tariffs. And right now, we’re taking in billions of dollars. And, by the way, our people are not paying for it. They’re paying for it — they’re paying for it by depressing their currency and they’re putting a lot of money.
Look, nobody’s ever done what I’ve done with China. And that’s fine. And we’ll get along with China. But you know, when I see a guy like Biden, who is weak and ineffective — and everybody that knows him knows it. He’s a weak man. He’s an ineffective man. President Xi laughs at guys like that.
Now, with that being said, I would say this: President Xi, Putin, all of these guys go to bed at night and they pray that Joe Biden or somebody like him becomes President so they can continue to rip off our country.
Q Two questions, please. With regard to Jeffrey Epstein, did you have any suspicions that he was molesting young women, underaged women?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I had no idea. I had no idea. I haven’t spoken to him in many, many years. But I had — I didn’t have no idea.
Q Secretary Acosta, now that you’re resigning, do you regret that plea deal that you struck with Epstein (inaudible)?
SECRETARY ACOSTA: I’ve already — I’ve already talked about the Epstein matter. I gave a press conference that, according to the media, was longer than any other Cabinet official in this administration.
You know, I will reiterate what I said previously. My point here today is we have an amazing economy. We have unemployment lower than we have seen, literally, in my lifetime. And the focus needs to be on this economy and on job creation, on the decreased fatalities in the workplace and in mining. And going forward, that’s where this administration needs to focus, not on this matter.
Q Mr. President, following up on your Social — following up on the Social Media Summit, you’re instructing agencies to look into this. How long do you think this review is going to take —
THE PRESIDENT: We are looking into it. The platforms are absolutely, in my opinion, 100 percent crooked. They discriminate against Republicans and conservatives. They’re 100 percent dishonest. That’s my opinion. And something is going to be done.
But I can tell you, from personal experience, I see it. I had something happen this morning — I won’t tell you about it yet — but these platforms are 100 percent — they’re 100 percent dishonest.
Please.
Q Mr. President, the reason for your falling out with Mr. Epstein matters. Was it related to business or the abuse of underaged girls? People want to know.
THE PRESIDENT: I was not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein. And you watched people yesterday saying that I threw him out of a club. I didn’t want anything to do with him. That was many, many years ago. It shows you one thing: that I have good taste. Okay?
Now, other people, they went all over with him. They went to his island. They went all over the place. He was very well known in Palm Beach. His island — whatever his island was, wherever it is — I was never there. Find out the people that went to the island.
But Jeffrey Epstein was not somebody that I respected. I threw him out. In fact, I think the great James Patterson, who is a member of Mar-a-Lago, made a statement yesterday that, many years ago, I threw him out.
I’m not a fan of Jeffrey Epstein.
Q Mr. President, are you planning to move ahead with deportations intensities this weekend? Are you planning to —
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Yes.
Q You are.
Q But what about the families, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: You know what? You know what? They came in illegally. They have to go out.
We have millions of people standing on line waiting to become citizens of this country. They’ve taken tests. They’ve studied. They’ve learned English. They’ve done so much. It’s — they’ve been waiting seven, eight, nine years. We have some waiting 10 years to come in. It’s not fair that somebody walks across the line and now they’ve become citizens of the United States.
Q (Inaudible) British ambassador resign?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I wish the British ambassador well. Some people just told me — too bad — but they said he actually said very good things about me. He was sort of referring to other people. And I guess I quoted Lindsey Graham today; he said some things that were pretty nice from the British ambassador.
But look, I wish the British ambassador well. But they’ve got to stop their leaking problems there just like they have to stop them in our country.
Q Why have you pre-announced these ICE raids? Why have you given warning, essentially —
THE PRESIDENT: We’re not giving warning.
Q — to all of these illegals?
THE PRESIDENT: No, we’re not giving warning.
Q They know about the ICE raids, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: There’s nothing to be secret about.
Q They know about the ICE raids.
THE PRESIDENT: Can I tell you what?
Q Absolutely.
THE PRESIDENT: There’s nothing to be secret about. ICE is law enforcement. They’re great patriots. They have a tough job. Nothing to be secret about. If the word gets out, it gets out. Because hundreds of people know about it. It’s a major operation.
So if the word gets out, it gets out. It starts on Sunday, and they’re going to take people out and they’re going to bring them back to their countries. Or they’re going to take criminals out, put them in prison, or put in them in prison in the countries they came from. We’re focused on criminals as much as we can, before we do anything else.
Q [Crosstalk.]
THE PRESIDENT: For instance, MS-13 — very important — we’re taking them out by the thousands. We’ve already been taking — you know, we didn’t stop this. We’ve been taking criminals out for the last year. These people have been here for many years — MS-13. We’re taking them out by the thousands. We’re getting them out.
Q Mr. President, do you believe that using data to fill in the citizenship data on the census will be as effective as a question?
THE PRESIDENT: I think we’ll have it in the end where it’ll be actually more accurate than a census. Because we have information, gotten through other means, whether you look at Social Security or other places. We have — including loan applications — we have information that’s probably more accurate than the information we could get by going in and asking somebody, “Are you a citizen?” Because a lot of people aren’t going to tell the truth.
Q Did you back down on that (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: No. No. Not only didn’t I back down, I backed up. Becau- — anybody else would’ve given this up a long time ago. The problem is we had three very unfriendly courts. They were judges that weren’t exactly in love with this whole thing. And they were wrong. But it would’ve taken a long time to get through those courts. You understand that better than anybody, John. It would’ve taken a long time back up to the Supreme Court.
So I asked, “Is there another way?” And somebody said there’s a way that might be better. It might be more accurate. They explained it. I said, “Then what are we wasting time — we’re going to be in court for the next two years. What are we wasting time for?”
In the meantime, we have to, by law, have the printing done. So the printing has starting and we’re already finding out who the citizens are and who they’re not — and, I think, more accurately.
So, when I heard this, I said, “I think that’s actually better. I think what we’re doing is actually better.” And only the fake news, which there’s plenty, would say differently.
Q Did Wilbur Ross let you down, Mr. President? Did Wilbur Ross let you down?
THE PRESIDENT: No, he didn’t let me down. No.
Q How many people are you targeting? How many people are you targeting during the raids? And, again, are you worried at all about law enforcement — putting them at risk because everybody knows about the raids? Two questions.
THE PRESIDENT: These are great professionals. These are people that have done this for a long time. We’re really looking for criminals as much as we can. We’re trying to find the criminal population, which has been coming into this country over the last 10 years. We know who they are, too. We’ve been taking them out by the thousands — specifically, gang members from MS-13 and other gangs. We’ve been taking them out by the thousands.
Q How many?
THE PRESIDENT: But we are really specifically looking for bad players, but we’re also looking for people that came into our country not through a process — they just walked over a line. They have to leave.
Q The mayors don’t want ICE raid. The mayors don’t want the ICE raids, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Some do. No. No. No. The mayors in sanctuary cities, like — a mayor like de Blasio, who is probably the worst mayor in the country — from New York. I don’t even know what his attitude is. Nobody does because he doesn’t work very hard. Nobody knows what the hell he does. But a guy like de Blasio probably wouldn’t want the raid. But many mayors do — most mayors do. You know why? They don’t want to have crimes in their cities or states.
Q What do you think about Christine Lagarde? What do you think about Christine Lagarde running?
Q On military families — what about military families? Will you’re- — is your administration going to reconsider ending the parole in — policy — place on military families and provide assurance —
THE PRESIDENT: So nobody has treated the military better than President Trump. Nobody. Nobody has even come close. And you see that with budgets, you see that with the pay increases, and you see that with medical. But you know where you see it more than any place is with the vets. Because the vets now have Choice. They never had Choice before. For forty- —
Q But can you guarantee that their loved ones won’t be deported?
THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait. Wait. For 44 years —
Q Can you guarantee that their loved ones won’t be deported?
THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait. For 44 years — we are looking at that. For 44 years, they’ve tried to get Veterans Choice. I got it. Nobody else could’ve gotten it.
Q What did you mean — what did you mean, Mr. President, when you said —
Q Turkey — Turkey is planning to take delivery of —
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. Go ahead.
Q What you would like Robert Mueller to tell Congress next week?
THE PRESIDENT: Say it.
Q What would you like Robert Mueller to tell Congress next week?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think, how many bites at the apple do you get?
Q (Inaudible.)
THE PRESIDENT: We’ve gone through 500 witnesses, 2,500 subpoenas. I’ve let them interview my lawyers. I’ve let them inter- — because I had nothing to do with Russia. Now that’s come out. There was no collusion.
Q You didn’t do an interview, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: But how many — how many people and how many times — and this has been going on for two and a half years. Rush Limbaugh said there’s nobody else in the world that he knows that could’ve taken it. And on top of taking it, I’ve been a great President. I’ve done more —
Q But, sir, you did not sit down with the Special Counsel.
THE PRESIDENT: Listen. Listen. I’ve done more in two and a half years than any other President — nobody’s even close — including, we just said, Veterans Choice and all of the other things I’ve gotten.
But for two and a half years — so now they have Mueller go make a speech. That goes. Now they wanted to have him again. They want to go it again and again and again because they want to hurt the President for the election. Because I see what I’m running against. You got Sleepy Joe Biden. He doesn’t have the energy to be President. And the people that nipping on his heels — they don’t have what it takes.
And I can tell you that China and Russia — and I’ve been rougher on Russia than any President in the last 50 years. China and Russia and try North Korea — where I have a relationship. You don’t have a man testing nuclear anymore. You have a man —
Q Is there something you want Mueller to say in this hearing?
THE PRESIDENT: Wait. Wait. You have a man that was so happy to see me. That’s a good thing, not a bad thing. You have a man that doesn’t smile a lot. But when he saw me, he smiled. He was happy. You have a man that, when I came into to office, all he was doing before under Obama was testing nuclear weapons and blowing up mountains. And now he’s not doing it.
Q But on Robert Mueller, is there anything you’d like Robert Mueller to say about you?
THE PRESIDENT: There’s nothing he can say. He’s written a report. The report said, “No collusion.” And it said, effectively, “No obstruction,” because there’s no obstruction. And the other thing, it’s very interesting —
Q But he couldn’t clear you on obstruction, sir.
Q Do you think he should (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: So they find out there’s no collusion. The whole thing is about collusion. So they find out it’s no collusion. Now, actually, it was different; it was bad crimes committed by the other side. We’ll find out about that. I’m sure that’s being looked at right now.
Q Do you regret not talking to Mueller?
Q Do you think he should show up? Should he show up show, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: So — so there’s no collusion and there’s no obstruction.
Now, we have a great Attorney General now — he’s strong and he’s smart — and he read it and he studied it — along with Rod Rosenstein, who worked it from the beginning. And Rod Rosenstein and Bill Barr said, “There’s no obstruction.”
It’s also interesting — number one, there’s no crime. And how do you obstruct when there’s no crime?
Also, take a look at one other thing. It’s a thing called Article II. Nobody ever mentions Article II. It gives me all of these rights at a level that nobody has ever seen before. We don’t even talk about Article II.
So they ruled: no collusion, no objection. Very simple.
Q [Crosstalk.]
THE PRESIDENT: And you can only — by the way, you can only get so many bites at the apple. We got to get on to running a country. You got immigration, infrastructure, drug prices. The Democrats aren’t working. All they’re doing is trying to hurt people like Alex Acosta, a man who has done —
Q Do you think Democrats hurt Mr. Acosta?
THE PRESIDENT: — a man who has done — I have no idea. Are you a Democrat?
SECRETARY ACOSTA: I am not, no.
THE PRESIDENT: I have no idea. You know what I know? You know what I know about Alex? He was a great student at Harvard. He’s Hispanic, which I — which I so admire, because maybe it was a little tougher for him, and maybe not. But he did an unbelievable job as the Secretary of Labor. That’s what I know about him. I know one thing: He did a great job.
SECRETARY ACOSTA: And — and —
THE PRESIDENT: And until this came up, there was never an ounce of problem with this very good man.
Go ahead.
SECRETARY ACOSTA: And let me — let me just add — let me — let me just add, you know, I hear a lot about how individuals got jobs and whatnot. Before our interview, we had never met, we had never talked. The President selected me as it should be done. It wasn’t that we knew each other. It’s not that we had a longstanding relationship. And I think that’s a testament to his selection process.
Q Mr. President, what do you make of the infighting going on among Democrats in Congress between Nancy Pelosi, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her squad?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think Cortez — who kept Amazon out of New York, and they don’t like her for that; thousands and thousands of jobs — I think Cortez is being very disrespectful to somebody that’s been there a long time.
I deal with Nancy Pelosi a lot, and we go back and forth and it’s fine. But I think that a group of people is being very disrespectful for her — to her. And you know what? I don’t think that Nancy can let that go on.
A group of people that came from — I don’t know where they came from. I’m looking at this Omar from Minnesota, and if one half of the things they’re saying about her are true, she shouldn’t even be in office.
But Cortez should treat Nancy Pelosi with respect. She should not be doing what she’s doing.
And I’ll tell you something about Nancy Pelosi that you know better than I do: She is not a racist. Okay? She is not a racist. For them to call her a racist is a disgrace.
Q Mr. President, are you visiting an immigration detention center like the Vice President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah — and very importantly, today, in a few hours, Vice President Pence and the head of Homeland Security are taking the press and congresspeople into detention centers. And we’re the ones that said they were crowded. They’re crowded because we have a lot of people. But they’re in good shape.
And the reason is because the fake-news New York Times wrote a phony story. What Border Patrol is doing — they’ve become nurses and janitors and doctors. And they’re not trained for that. What they’ve done is so incredible.
So they’re touring detention centers. And that was my idea because I read a phony story in the New York Times today — or the other day — about the detention centers, about the conditions. And I had people calling me up at the highest levels from Border Patrol and ICE, almost crying, about that phony story.
And they never saw anything. They have phony sources. They don’t even have sources. They write whatever they want. The New York Times is a very dishonest newspaper. They write what they want. And what they do is a tremendous disservice to this country. They are truly the enemy of the people, I’ll tell you that. They are the enemy of the people. And what they wrote about detention centers is unfair.
Now, I believe it’s going to be the center they wrote about, but we’re taking a tour. They are — I’d love to be there, but I’m going to Ohio, Wisconsin.
Q Are you going to — are you going any time?
THE PRESIDENT: I’ll be going. I’ll be going.
But I’ve seen it. I’ve seen it. And these centers are — I mean, to have Ocasio say, “They’re drinking out of toilets.” She made that up, okay? That’s a phony story. She made it up. And these people, they — I’ll tell you what, I’ve been with ICE and I’ve been with Border Patrol a lot. They love those people coming across the border. They love them. And I’ve seen it. They love them.
Q Does your administration have an estimate of how many illegals are living in the United States? Have they given you a number?
THE PRESIDENT: So one of the reasons the Democrats don’t want to have a census is because the number of people in the United States, for many years — you know, for years, you’ve heard 11 million; it’s far greater than that. But we’ll find out because I’m going to do something much more accurate than the way we — the way we did it in the census would never have been very accurate. What we’re doing will be much more accurate.
Q Anything on Iran, Mr. President? Anything on Iran?
THE PRESIDENT: The wall is being built. The wall is being built. We had a couple of very good decisions. We had one bad decision. It’s very tough.
Again, Paul Ryan let us down. Paul Ryan was a terrible Speaker. Frankly, he was a baby. He didn’t know what the hell he was doing. The wall let us down.
Now, in all fairness, the problem with — during — when we had both houses — in the Senate, you need 60 votes. Well, we don’t have 60 votes. We had 51 last time. Now we have 53 because we won during the ’18 election, which nobody wants to say, just so you understand.
So the wall is being built. We had one setback. We had one tremendous victory.
And I had a tremendous victory that was very rarely covered by the press. Two days ago, I won the emoluments case. That was the biggest case of them all. I won the emoluments case. People don’t know that, by being President, I lose billions of dollars. By my being President — and especially in money I can’t make because I don’t do deals. But I lose billions of dollars.
But, another thing, I get a salary of $400- or $450,000 a year. I don’t think any other President has ever given up — it’s a lot of money, almost a half a million dollars. I give it up. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anybody say, “I give up my salary.” I’m not looking for credit, but I give up my salary. I get zero. I get zero.
But you know what makes me happy? That we’re doing a great job. And I want to thank Alex Acosta. He was a great, great Secretary.
Q Anything on Iran, sir? Sir, I asked about Iran. I asked about Iran — I asked about Iran, not the wall. Could you give us an update on your thoughts on Iran?
THE PRESIDENT: Iran better be careful. They’re treading on very dangerous territory. Iran, if you’re listening, you better be careful.
Q Mr. President, on Turkey: Will you sanction Turkey?
Q Should Epstein stay behind bars?
Q Yesterday you got a win in the Ninth Circuit court over Title X funding. What’s your reaction? And are you trying to completely defund Planned Parenthood?
THE PRESIDENT: They had a big win yesterday. We have some very big cases having to do with that. We’ll see where it (inaudible).
END 10:04 A.M. EDT
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