“We do not believe any group of men adequate enough or wise enough to operate without scrutiny or without criticism. We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it, that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. We know that in secrecy error undetected will flourish and subvert.” –J. Robert Oppenheimer
The Do’s and Don’ts of attending a MAGA Rally in Tupelo, MS, as explained by Secret Service.
Welcome to MY STATE!!! This will be the President’s second trip to Tupelo! He’s here to rally for our big Governor’s Race and state-wide seats. Mississippi is a deep red state, and chances are Tate Reeves will be our new Governor (He’s running against Jim Hood, the famous trial lawyer who led the landmark Tobacco case). Personally, I find Reeves kind of squishy. He’s known to be incredible competent and powerful in the state, but man-o-man is he boring. He’s no Donald Trump, but then, who is? Reeves can’t drive turnout, obviously, and Jim Hood oozes charisma, thus the reason for Trump’s visit = drive the turnout. And in the end, we dance with the guy who brought us. This is Tate Reeves, you will certainly see him this evening:
Meh, it’s Tate Reeves
Mississippi is legendary for powerful politicians. Haley Barbour was former Governor and now runs one of the most powerful lobbying firms in DC. Thad Cochran, the powerful Senate Chair of Ways and Means, ran against Chris McDaniel (Tea Party) in 2014. Recall that race was particularly brutal and opened many eyes to the ways of the RINO in DC. In the 90’s, Senator Trent Lott was Majority Leader of the Senate. Before Lott, Senator John C. Stennis, a Dem/Dixiecrat, was also President Pro-tempore of the Senate and and served for 41yrs. Our Space Center on the Coast is named for him. Every one of those men has been in our house, at least once. In Mississippi, politics is a preferred pastime. Of course, that was long after Jefferson Davis, President, and the Head of the Confederacy being located in Mississippi.
But enough about politics!!! We’re so happy you are here, we have to show you around our state. Let’s get you oriented, because many of you are new to our state. This thread does get a little bit long, because I HAD SO MUCH TO TELL. If you want to, just skip to the rally thread and we won’t mind a bit!
Mississippi is 340 miles long and 170 miles wide. It takes me about 5 hours to travel from just south of Memphis, TN, to New Orleans. A total of 48,430 sq miles of natural resources, a population just under 3 million people with a median income of $43,529, as of 2016, dead last in the union. GDP runs a little over 95 Billion, 37th in the country. (Wiki is the source for basic stats)
Mississippi includes everything from the south, which is really just a big suburb of New Orleans or Mobile. It’s only about a 100 mile shoreline on the Gulf, so the coastal towns tend to blend together. On the western border is the Mighty Mississippi River offering the birthplace of the blues to plantation after plantation and miles of farmland and hunting. The east is where we find vast forests, to the north which is more characterized by the industry of Memphis. The food is fabulous, people are friendly, and as long as you understand the education dynamic within the state, it’s a perfect place to raise children or retire.
Race Demographics
Can’t mention the state name without discussing “racism”, and wow, do we have a chip on our shoulder about the subject. It was a label that stuck.
Once you understand the racial makeup of Mississippi, everything else starts to make sense. Our GDP, education, culture, the food and music, everything is influenced by race. Mississippi is different because our black population is so high as a percentage of total population. I have a hard time explaining this to visitors because they go by their own experience of their home. In fact, 37.9% of our state are black citizens, highest in the country. Therefore, if anyone wanted to truly study/solve anything to do with race, the state of Mississippi would be a perfect incubator for any social experiment or a new proposed idea…… if “they” wanted to really fix the problem….. or if there really was a problem?
Little Bit of History
Before the Civil War broke out, the colonies (new states) on the eastern seaboard were connected to the new LA Purchase (1803) territory by the land of what is now the states of Tennessee and Kentucky. The land which was MS and AL, was inhabited by Indians (Chickasaw/Choctaw in the south which beget the Trail of Tears) and Tecumseh (+others) in the upper midwest (IN, IL, MI, Minnesota which beget the war of 1812) when the Brits sided with Tecumseh. These lands did not belong to the USA…yet.
When the Civil War broke out, Mississippi was 55% black. The wealthiest cities in our fledgling country at the time were New Bedford, Massachusetts (whaling and industry), and Natchez, MS (cotton and foreign +domestic trade). The south, via New Orleans was more influenced/loyal/trading partners to the French (Lafayette, Barataria, Acadians, 1812 war with England) and the north, particularly Boston, was more loyal the the English (Puritans, etc.), but the USA declared war on England, conscription of soldiers, to capture the midwest (remember Tecumseh?) In other words, they didn’t really like each other BEFORE the Civil War, particularly when it came to trade, culture, and most of all …….. money.
Elvis sings BOTH Battle Hymns, north and south
The Civil War was personal to the south, fought in our front yard. As a kid, I grew up in the north and we learned very little about the Civil War. In the south, we talk about great-granddaddy…. who fought and died…… around the corner. My town was burned by Grant’s soldiers on his way to Vicksburg, save one home across from the firehouse, which had a Mason’s symbol above the door. Our state is one big battlefield and the study of military history is a pursued past time. Probably why Mississippi citizens of all races and backgrounds will NEVER give up their guns.
At the beginning of the war, only 3% of the population owned “slaves”. At the end of the war, 2/3 of the farmland in “the Delta” was owned by blacks, but falling cotton prices caused many farms to be lost. During reconstruction, many blacks held local office, until Governor Vardaman was elected. Vardaman began the red shirts and black voter suppression in the 1890’s.
Remember the PA judge who finally died and lifted the voter suppression penalty on the south, just a couple of years ago? By 1900, the state was still majority black population but the boll weevil hit the cotton crop. Then came the great flood of 1927, followed by the Great Depression, and the migration to Chicago and Detroit began. “When the Levee Breaks” was a song originally by Memphis Minnie, about the Great Flood of ’27.
That wailing harmonica can only come from one place… Mississippi.
Today, Mississippi, demographically, is 37% black, 59% white, and almost no Hispanics or Native Americans. We are a black and white state. In other states, like NY (14.4% black), Illinois (14.1), MA (about 8%), California (only 6.5%) or Vermont (1%), people think of “blacks” living in a community, which is far away from “them”. If you notice, there aren’t too many black people in Joliet, Westchester, or Palo Alto. I had a liberal girlfriend in upstate NY who confessed she had never MET a black person, but of course, she “knew all about it”. Note it was “it” and not “them”. Weird.
It’s not like that here. There are no places where “black people” do not exist. They represent almost 40% of our population! Our communities are mixed all up and down the state. Our families have known each other’s families for generations. We cheer for each other’s kids during high school sports and chat in the grocery store. Our kids go to school together. AND when we have hurricanes, tornadoes or ice storms, we figure it out……. together. When I travel to other states, I often say, “Where are all the black people?”, because to me, coming from here, it’s a noticeable absence. Even when I travel to other southern states, LA and AL (about 26%), it’s odd, because statewide, the communities are more disparate. If I go home to Iowa, to visit extended family…. there are almost no black people at all….., anywhere…. and the food is bland.
As a result of the demographics in Mississippi, our cultures mix. It’s how the Blues was born in Clarksdale, MS. It’s how Elvis came to prominence and American Rock and Roll changed the world. It’s how the world was blessed with “comfort food”. Dear Lord, the food is extraordinary. I also believe I could make a legal case on behalf of black grandmothers. They should interrogate all witnesses for the FBI – we would be better off as a nation. As a subset of humanity, elder black women are the most pragmatic people on the planet and can sniff out a lie faster than a good dream disappears in the morning. I have trembled in the face of their wrath and been blessed to call them friends. More than any other demo, elder black women represent the moral fiber, the core, of the state. THEY are responsible for the Steel Magnolias, the strong southern women and well behaved men. And we WILL go to church on Sunday! 83% of the state identifies as Christian.
The ShitPie Scene – justified payback!!
Our race demographics are also why our state was targeted in the 1960’s. Our black population is so high, if the seeds of discord could be sown here, the animosity would travel like a dandelion on the wind.
My grandparents moved south from Iowa in 1961. Grandpa was part of a three man team who opened the largest factory in town. He wanted to hire black workers (cuz they were 40% of the people who lived here – made sense) and met with opposition from the town leaders. Grandpa wasn’t the kind of guy to back down. It didn’t go well. The guy who used to own my house was a town leader, powerful man, Senators, Cattlemen and the St. Louis FED used to meet at our house…. all the time. He tangled with Grandpa quite often.
The Integration of Ole Miss – Fascinating Story of Meddling by Politicians
By 1962, James Meredith decided to enroll at Ole Miss. Whether he decided himself or it was planned, we will never know. Meredith was an air force veteran, good scores at another college. If he had been white, he would have been a perfect candidate for Ole Miss… but Ole Miss was segregated at the time (as were most other schools all over the country). The Kennedy Administration decided to make their stand in Mississippi and made it a political stunt when it didn’t need to be. Here, it was seen as the 100yr replay of Massachusetts trying to tell Mississippi what to do. Civil War all over again.
Kennedy deployed 500 Marshals and a Combat Battalion out of Ft Campbell to accompany Meredith to registration, when the Governor already agreed to do it. In fact, Meredith had already moved into his dorm! The press was coordinated perfectly (one French journalist died in the riots-bullet to the back – how do you get French press all the way to Ole Miss without coordination). Locals were alarmed by the massive show of force, TROOPS, Army on our own land! People were mortified and James Meredith immediately became an incidental issue. Several hundred were injured in the riots/protests which ensued…. but the media played it perfectly, all about RACE.
Within 24 hours of the television coverage, the entire world thought everyone in the state of Mississippi was a racist. The false label stuck.
The story is fascinating (I have girlfriends who were students there at the time and Ole Miss is my Alma Mater) and a perfect lesson in how politics created a problem where there was no problem. Kennedy Admin and Governor Barnett’s Admin agreed on a discreet enrollment. Meredith was resting comfortably in his dorm room when Kennedy brought troops onto the campus. Here it is, directly from LEFT-LEANING Wikipedia:
In accordance with Barnett and Kennedy’s plan, on Sunday evening, September 30, the day before the anticipated showdown, Meredith was flown to Oxford. He was quietly escorted by Mississippi Highway Patrol as he moved into a dorm room.
The federal marshals assembled on campus, supported by the 70th Army Engineer Combat Battalion from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Responding to the federal presence, a crowd of a thousand, mostly students–led by Edwin Walker–quickly crowded onto campus…… (Walker was an agitator, not from Mississippi, and Bobby Kennedy had him arrested and sent to a mental institution for 90 days – he was let go after 5 days, as soon as the media left town.)
As the scene grew more out of control, the highway patrol initially helped hold off the crowds but, despite Barnett’s renewed commitment, those police were withdrawn by State Senator George Yarbrough starting at about 7:25 p.m. local time.[7][8] The student demonstration, joined by an increasing number of other agitators, started to break out into a full riot on the Oxford campus. (Betrayed by Kennedy Admin) At 7:30 p.m., Barnett announced on radio that Meredith had been brought to Mississippi by force. After signing his enrollment, Barnett said to the Federal troops:
“Gentlemen, you are trampling on the sovereignty of this great state and depriving it of every vestige of honor and respect as a member of the United States. You are destroying the Constitution of the United States. May God have mercy on your souls.[5] ” (So, locals were primarily protesting what appeared to be an invasion by the US government AND the admission of Meredith, but portrayed as racist on national television and in print media)
The crowd eventually swelled to about three thousand. As its behavior turned increasingly violent, including the death of a journalist, the marshals ran out of tear gas defending the officials in the Lyceum. President Kennedy reluctantly decided to call in reinforcements in the middle of the night under the command of Brigadier General Charles Billingslea, Commanding general, 2nd Infantry Division. He ordered in U.S. Army military police from the 503rd and 716th Military Police Battalions, which had previously been readied for deployment under cover of the nuclear war Exercise Spade Fork, plus the U.S. Border Patrol and the federalized Mississippi National Guard. U.S. Navy medical personnel (physicians and hospital corpsmen) attached to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Millington, Tennessee, were also sent to the university.
Before they arrived, white rioters roaming the campus discovered Meredith was in Baxter Hall and started to assault it. Early in the morning, as Gen. Billingslea’s party entered the university gate, a white mob attacked his staff car and set it on fire. Billingslea, the Deputy Commanding General John Corley, and aide, Capt Harold Lyon, were trapped inside the burning car, but they forced the door open, then crawled 200 yards under gunfire from the mob to the University Lyceum Building (The same Lyceum which was occupied by Grant’s Army and used as a Union Hospital which treated both Union and Confederate soldiers wounded in the battle of Shiloh – only reason Ole Miss wasn’t burned. The same Lyceum where I registered for classes). The army did not return this fire.
To keep control, Gen Billingslea had established a series of escalating secret code words for issuing ammunition down to the platoons, a second one for issuing it to squads, and the third one for loading, none of which could take place without the General confirming the secret codes.
By the end, one-third of the US Marshals, a total of 166 men, were injured in the melee, and 40 soldiers and National Guardsmen were wounded.[9][6]
Finally, on October 1, 1962, Meredith became the first African-American student to be enrolled at the University of Mississippi,[13] and attended his first class, in American History.[1] Meredith graduated from the university on August 18, 1963 with a degree in political science.[14] At that time, there were still hundreds of troops guarding him 24 hours a day although, in order to appease the local sensitivities, 4,000 Black soldiers were removed from the Federal troops under Robert Kennedy’s secret orders.[15][6] (In other words, caused further segregation…. smh)
Governor Barnett was fined $10,000 and sentenced to jail for contempt. The charges were later dismissed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.[16]
There they are, rolling past the fraternity house on MY CAMPUS
It all happened about 30 minutes from here. It lit the flame. From that moment on, Mississippi became the staged battleground for Civil Rights. 1964 made worse.
Education:
Schools in Mississippi are horrible, often ranked at or near the bottom of all states, or so I thought, but statistics are sneaky things. The perception of lack of good schools presented a problem in recruiting executives/skilled labor/corporate headquarters from other parts of the country. Education became my primary interest. Good schools lead to more opportunity, better employees, attract more business, leads to stronger communities, and better families. For YEARS, I battled/advocated /screamed loudly to improve the results of students who were educated in MS. It wasn’t until my son was in high school that I figured out what the real problem was.
Because of one of my son’s extracurriculars, I ended up as a Scholarship Chair for thousands of the region’s highest performing students, who were being recruited by top colleges. Along with resumes, SAT/ACT scores were key. I started investigating, poking around, running numbers, comparing studies, and the results of kids across states and even down to various zip codes. Couldn’t believe what I was finding, but we can’t argue with hard data.
I learned the “average” black student scored an 18 on the ACT, Hispanic about a 20, white student about a 22.4, and an Asian student about a 23.6-24. Of course, there were outliers who performed incredibly well despite all kinds of odds. I could, however, compare an “average” black student in Palo Alto, Lake Forest, Wellesley (rich zip codes) to an average black student in rural Mississippi (poor zip code), and the scores were the same, no discernible difference. Same with Hispanics/Whites/Asians. There could be a hundred reasons for the discrepancy among races, but clearly, $$’s spent per pupil was NOT a reason. Flabbergasted. I cross checked dozens, and then hundreds, of different zip codes, same results. I ran into zip codes which spent 3X’s the amount per pupil, no difference in ACT scores.
Therefore, since our state had a higher demo of black students (almost 40%), the lower test scores were bringing down the average of the state, but easily addressed, right? Politically, if we extrapolated the problem across the region of high demo black population states, it explains the stigma of the “dumb southerner”, which hastens division of Americans, and becomes Exhibit A on “How to Lie With Statistics”. Massive legal/illegal immigration into CA could explain the downturn in numbers for California.
It’s not possible to explain “why” there is a difference among races for test scores (above my paygrade – but if lil’ ole me found it, then SURELY someone else has noticed before me). Yet, common sense tells us, if we worked on ACT prep classes with black students we could increase overall averages, improve the state’s reputation for education, recruit more execs, more biz, and increase prosperity. If we had success with one subset for ACT, even in a single zip code, we could duplicate results across the state, right? And then work down across grade levels, right? I gave it to Governors, Senators, Congressmen, even local Superintendents. No one wanted to touch it….. because they would be accused of being racist if they admitted “average” differences in test scores. Thus, the black community suffers…. and we’re all worse off…. which is actually “racist”.
My own school Superintendent alluded to the fact that he already knew what I was telling him…… but the idea was poison to him. Sticking his head in the sand was more politically convenient. Political correctness is therefore racist, and in this case harms all our of fellow citizens. “Systemic Racism” = There it is, a real definition, and it would be so easy to turn around.
It’s a shame. If we can’t talk about a problem, we can’t fix the problem.
Industry
Mississippi is a right-to-work state and Nissan and Toyota have enormous plants in the state. We also have shipyards and many military bases here. Mississippi citizens are the highest percentage of those in the military.
Nissan Plant in Canton, MS
Ingalls Shipyard in Pascagoula, MS
With President Trump in office, the shipyards are so busy, the closest Junior College is running welding tech, structural welding, welding info systems, ANYTHING welding classes 3 shifts a day, and another one on weekends, to train welders. It’s amazing.
Of course, Mississippi will always be the land of beautiful women (more Miss Americas than any other state). Ole Miss has a saying….., as opposed to a football team, “We red-shirt Miss Americas”.
Tailgating is an art-form in our state and the men and women dress to impress. The town of Oxford, only has about 30K residents, but on Football Weekends, it swells to about 180-250K. People bring pool tables, satellite dishes, and all their friends.
Homecoming Tailgating. Photo by Kevin Bain/Ole Miss Communications
So, plan to stay for a while. You’re always welcome in Mississippi.
Today is ALL Saints Day in New Orleans. The town was settled by the French/Spanish and is dominated by rowdy Catholics to this day. Therefore, we always had the day after Halloween off of school and work. Everyone heads to the cemetery with flowers for the dead, clean up the graves, and of course, food and liquor is required. Those Catholics, I tell ya’, they have the holidays worked out well! My friends allowed me to be a pseudo Catholic for the day…… Presbyterians don’t get holidays.
We’re leaving Rocktober October and we landed in ACTION November!! Can’t wait to see what happens. We’re ready for some Batman Super-Power!
Marine One Flying Over NYC
You can say what you want, comment on what other people said, and so on.
Free Speech is practiced here. ENJOY IT. Use it or lose it.
Keep it SOMEWHAT civil. They tried to FORCE fake Orwellian civility on us. In response, we CHOOSE true civility to defend our precious FREEDOM from THEM.
Our rules began with the civility of the Old Treehouse, later to become the Wolverinian Empire, and one might say that we have RESTORED THE OLD REPUBLIC – the early high-interaction model of the Treehouse – except of course that Q discussion is not only allowed but encouraged, and speech is considerably freer in other ways. Please feel free to argue and disagree with the board owner, as nicely as possible.
Please also consider the Important Guidelines, outlined here in the January 1st open thread. Let’s not give the odious Internet Censors a reason to shut down this precious haven. Wolfie would be upset.
SPEAK THE FIVE WORDS BOLDLY TO OUR PRESIDENT!
“I AM PRAYING FOR YOU!“
Also remember Wheatie’s Rules:
No food fights.
No running with scissors.
If you bring snacks, bring enough for everyone.
In honor of tonight’s rally in Tupelo, MS, I’ll leave you with the King, in Tupelo. It’s Elvis Presley live from the Mississippi/Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, September 29, 1956. LOOK at all the people. Wow, that’s a Donald Trump size crowd.
For those who still have courage, for those who can read beyond a headline, for those who believe in liberty and our rights, this is our time. It’s been a long path. Along the way, we’ve encountered those who have lied, spied, and died. At times, we ‘ve been distracted by skillful opponents, small and carefully crafted skirmishes, intentional disinformation from media, and worst of all, our own naivety. It was inconceivable that Americans would choose to harm America. Yet, truth is patient and eventually revealed. The more we know, the more we are drawn again to Ukraine. The source of all things evil in DC, all the corrupt players from BOTH parties, left their footprints in Ukraine.
For YEARS we’ve said, “It all comes back to Ukraine.” We were right.
For extensive background, please see our article “Timeline for 1/1024th of an Impeachment Inquiry”, which goes back years, with hundreds of sources, at the link below. Dems and our media would prefer we only focus on a July 25th phone call or the actions of Rudy Giuliani. Yet, it’s impossible to understand what has happened, the depth of the corruption, the overthrow of a country, without knowing the history found within the timeline. https://wqth.wordpress.com/2019/10/09/timeline-for-1-1024-of-an-impeachment-inquiry/comment-page-1/ Please note: We stopped adding to the timeline in mid-October 2019 because the document became so large and unwieldy. Yet, the problems from Ukraine continue and we MUST talk about them.
Ciaramella was a Yale grad, from Connecticut, and 33yrs old currently.
Ciaramella was 30yrs old when he was Director of Baltic and Eastern European Affairs, NSC, according to internal email to Victoria Nuland on May 26, 2016.
Ciaramella worked with DNC Alexandra Chalupa, who dug up dirt on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election, inviting her into the White House for meetings….. “He knows her. He had her in the White House,” said one former co-worker, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Documents confirm Chalupa in the WH, meeting with Ciaramella in November 2015. Several more meeting confirmations are listed below, confirmed via Gateway Pundit.
The day after Comey was fired, May 10, 2017, Russian FM Lavrov visited the WH, the Oval Office, with President Trump. Ciaramella was incensed, went “outside of his chain of command” and sent emails across agencies which ended up in the media. Ciaramella claimed Trump boasted to the Russian officials about firing Comey, whom he allegedly called “crazy, a real nut job.” and noted Putin had called President Trump a week earlier. Ciaramella claims created “Putin told Trump to fire Comey”. The media spun the story, and a week later Special Counsel was announced. The emails were noted in the Mueller report.
Ciaramella was removed from the WH in June of 2017 for suspicions of leaking.
It appears Ciaramella huddled with Schiff or his staff, old friends from NSC recently hired by Schiff, for “guidance” on how to put forth his WB complaint.
To Glenn Beck’s #2 episode on Ukraine. It’s stunning. Some of his best work yet.
From Glenn Beck we learn many things but here are the highlights from this 2 hour video.
During 2017, Ukraine prosecuted 4 people for meddling in the US election of 2016, two were convicted in December 2018, Artem Sytnyk Head of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, and Serhiy Leschenko, a Member of Parliament who was an extreme ideologue and terrified Trump foreign policy may help Russia and harm Ukraine. Sytnyk is on audio tape admitting to helping Hillary Clinton (played during Beck’s 1st segment). A few months later the case was overturned on appeal for technical objections (entity who brought suit didn’t have standing, statute of limitations expiration). Case is being retried.
Ukraine hired an American lawyer and to get boxes of evidence to the DOJ, which was being blocked by Yovanovich, the Obama leftover Ambassador. Finally the info is dumped on the SDNY branch of the DOJ, who did nothing with it.
November of 2018 – “someone” approached Giuliani and told him about Ukraine. Lev Parnas (one of the two mysteriously arrested for illegal campaign contributions)puts Giuliani in touch with Shokin.
December of 18-February of ’19 – Giuliani meets with several people and talks to Shokin via Skype in December. In January of ’19, Giuliani meets with Yuriy Lutsenko, CURRENT Chief Prosecutor for Ukraine, in NYC, two times, and again speaks with Shokin on Skype. In February, Giuliani meets Lutsenko again in Warsaw.
March of 2019 – Lutsenko, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, again opens the Burisma investigation. How can there be a quid pro quo if the investigation is already open in Ukraine BEFORE President Zelinsky is elected and BEFORE the July 25th phone call?
March 26, 2019 – John Solomon posts an article that Ambassador Yovanovitch has given the Chief prosecutor of Ukraine, Lutsenko, a “do not prosecute” list. The media has a meltdown, claims it’s not true. During the election Late April in Ukraine, Lutsenko recants after extreme pressure from our State Dept.
March 28, 2019 Giuliani sends the State Dept all the files on what he has learned. How can Giuliani be running a “shadow foreign policy” when he sent all the docs to the State Dept? Included in files are notes of conversations between Lutsenko and Shokin, notes on Biden/Burisma investigation, notes on meeting with Ambassador Yovanovitch…….. which proves, yes, she had a do not prosecute list, and Solomon articles.
Media and Deep State claim Giuliani/Solomon/Lutsenko/Shokin/Biden/Burisma is all a conspiracy theory.
April 25th, 2019 – Biden announces run for President. Same night Trump goes on FOX and talks about the documents from Ukraine which have been sent to State Dept. (Trump knew all about it).
May 6th, 2019 – Ambassador Yovanovitch is fired. Suddenly the Whistleblower begins to become “concerned” about policy in Ukraine.
June 2019 – Bill Taylor is named temporary Charge d’affaires in Ukraine until permanent Trump nomination makes way through Senate. Taylor is a State Dept loyalist, not a Trump guy.
July 2019 – Trump puts hold on Ukraine aid, they are checking on things BEFORE the phone call on July 25th. Allegedly, Trump asks for help with Biden investigation from Zelinsky and asks Zelinsky to ANNOUNCE the investigation. Phrase of “Quid Pro Quo” as a “bad thing” was hatched in our media as a disinformation campaign.
August 2, 2019 – Guiliani travels to Madrid to meet with Andriy Yermak, Chief Aide and Advisor to new President Zelinsky.
September 9, 2019 – Bill Taylor, Acting Ambassador to Ukraine sends text message to Sondland (EU Ambassador), “This is crazy” why are we withholding aid to Ukraine for a political campaign in 2020? Sondland says, no we’re not doing that, you misunderstood.
October 2, 2019 – Remember the files Giuliani sent to the State Dept? Well, on October 2nd, the State Dept sent all those files to Congress. ONLY Congressman to attend the briefing was Jamie Raskin, Dem of Maryland, who said… it’s all propaganda…. trust me.
October 10, 2019 – Lev Parscam and old Igor Soviet guy are arrested for campaign finance violations along with 2 other guys.
October 22, 2019 – Taylor testifies and claims Giuliani was running back channel operation. Taylor also claims military aid was withheld because of campaign in 2020, ……… but was told that wasn’t true. Media explodes, deems Taylor is credible (state dept) and Sondland is not credible (Trump appointee)
The Dems case for impeachment, point of view, restricting voters to only events from November of 2018 – current, presents a case of Trump/Giuliani guilt. The Dems don’t want anyone to look at the history of corruption in Ukraine. Dem main talking points are neat and tidy for the American people. Rudy and Trump conspired to remove Yovanovitch. They froze 400 million in aid to try to get Ukraine to investigate Bidens. And Trump incriminated himself during the phone call by spelling out the scheme.
Problems in the Dem Talking Points = January of 2019, Rudy Giuliani asked for a travel visa for Shokin, the Head Prosecutor for Ukraine, who was fired at the behest of Biden, “You have 6 hours to fire the prosecutor” or else you don’t get the billion dollars. The State Dept visa was turned down. Strange? Giuliani goes to the WH and asks for a visa and is turned down again. Why? Well, if we think the President and Rudy have bad motive, a personal visit from Shokin to Giuliani might look bad…… but Rudy sent the State Dept all the documents in March. How can Giuliani and Trump be hiding when all documents have been sent to State Dept, and they’re out in the open? Plus, September 11th, military aid was released to Ukraine.
Dems claim quid pro quo. Yet, the Ukraine got the 400 million dollars. Rudy was out in the open with all the files sent to State Dept = no hiding. The Ukraine didn’t have to start an investigation onBiden/Burisma because they already started an investigation in March of 2019, BEFORE Zelinsky was elected and BEFORE the phone call of July 25th.
Where is the quid pro quo?
And, the Ukrainians and Giuliani claim the evidence in those boxes, the evidence they have been trying to get to OUR DOJ, for which certainly Giuliani has made copies, proves the following:
A. The DNC and Ukrainian officials gathered dirt on Trump (and Manafort).
B. Ukrainian officials admitted to influencing election (we have the audio).
C. The misappropriation of the 7 BILLION dollars (DING, DING, DING!)
D. US Officials interfered in cases within Ukraine (Yovanovitch and her list)
E. Biden pressured Ukraine to fire Shokin (we’ve seen the video)
F. Burisma records show Hunter Biden received 3 million dollars. (follow $$’s)
Glenn Beck’s timeline video is excellent work. Highly recommended.
To the paperwork bomb in Gateway Pundit, tracking the connections, the money, and subterfuge of Ciaramella https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/more-on-the-now-infamous-eric-ciaramello-hes-connected-to-the-fake-steele-dossier-and-the-transfer-of-funds-from-the-imf-to-the-ukraine/
It’s deep. We have documents which are impossible to ignore. We have everything needed for a real trial.
Ciaramella needs to be on trial for treason or the primary witness in the trials of Biden, Brennan, Rice, Nuland, Michael Atkinson, Schiff, et als. He needs to be brought into protective custody, under the Atty General, asap.
Take a look. The following documents via, Gateway Pundit, connect Ciaramella, Victoria Nuland, Biden, Chalupa, David Kramer, Victor Pinchuk (Hillary’s favorite oligarch), and Olga Bielkova…….. she’s an MP in Ukraine Parliament and in charge of their Energy Dept. Surprised?
Here’s the biggest surprise – the Steele Dossier and the Whistleblower attempt are all linked together. It’s the SAME THING.
If it turns out Eric Ciaramella is Schiff’s informant, people ought to know that Billionaire Clinton donor Victor Pinchuk sent 🇺🇦 MP Bielkova to meet with him same day she met with David Kramer and kicked Steele Dossier operation into high gear. ie “Whistleblower” = Dossier 2.0 pic.twitter.com/TuoTGjzv3K
And yes, Ciaramella knew all about the IMF transfers THE MONEY transferred to Ukraine. His hands are on MANY emails back and forth. This is just ONE example:
Additionally, we have Ciaramella at Yale, protesting the firing of a professor who was tied to Hamas and Hezbollah. I’m just imagining, just for a moment, what horrendus thing would have to occur for Yale to fire a professor who was tied to terror orgs. Nonetheless, Ciaramella was sympathetic.
Eric Ciaramella, Nuland and Kavelec at State Dept talked all the time about Ukraine.
for the final tasty morsel, it all comes together at……… The Atlantic Council.
SAME MONTH (April 2016): Burisma-funded Atlantic Council event Devon Archer and Olga Bielkova both attend. “Huge” State Dept. Presence. 🚨 BIG DEAL: Blue Star Strategies—the lobby firm Hunter was also involved with is there… https://t.co/9olX13mZKMpic.twitter.com/Agq3dxHRFl
To temporarily sum it all up (because there will be more from Ukraine). For years, we have been digging and we will continue to dig. In fact, we’re encouraged. We’ve confirmed we hit a motherload of swamp critters. Eventually, the truth will out. We need to push the truth to help our President, right now, and overall, to help our country. These are the people who need to be held accountable.
Judiciary Committee lawyers Barry Berke and Norm Eisen (Nadler is behind them) make their way down to the SCIF. Won’t say what for. pic.twitter.com/4VJvJzqMYS
and now it’s Nancy’s turn + the Media, to sell this as a fair process to the American public. It’s not.
Here is the document, read for yourself:
What has changed since yesterday? A lot.
The President and his lawyers can’t do anything until this is handed off to the Judiciary Committee, “where the President and his lawyers” will be allowed.
There are three committees working on gathering evidence, Intel (Schiff), Foreign Affairs, and Oversight (who just lost Elijah Cummings-Chair, and their Deputy Chair Katie, the naked one). All of the committees will create “a report” and transfer into to Judiciary.
Somewhere in the new “Rules” there is supposed to be at least ONE public hearing (media wonderland)of HPSCI with all three Committees present (sans Executive Branch), before transfer to Judiciary. This public show looks to be a staged disaster. Both Schiff and Nunes are allowed 90 minutes to question any witness brought before the committee, but only those witnesses brought – no surprises – and the minority can’t get anyone to testify unless approved by Majority Chair. Schiff will have the luxury of allowing, if he chooses, to allot his 90 minutes or a portion, to a Lawfare lawyer but deny Nunes the same privilege.
Other members of the Committees can have 5 minutes, each, on each witness. Well, there are already 8 witnesses X the membership of 3 Committees = media disaster = complete standstill in DC swamp = 40 minutes of AOC = 40 minutes of Ilhan Omar = 40 minutes of Tlaib, and so on.
Upon conclusion of the epic mini-series of Schiff, HE will write a report to Nadler, and Schiff MAY include a dissenting opinion from the minority (Nunes).
Within the committees and before the transfer to the Judiciary:
Remember, minority ranking members are permitted to call witnesses, submit documents, but only with permission from the Majority chair. Requests must be submitted 72hours in advance and in writing.
Sidenote: Big T is having a fit over this. He believes if Nunes or others succumb to the new rules from Lawfare and attempts to call a witness, submits a request to Schiff, Nunes would thereby give the procedure legitimacy. In other words, don’t do it and pray the Appeals Court stops the farce.
The secret-hybrid-open hearings will continue to be held, including questioning by staff Lawfare, until they are transferred to the Judiciary, when the President and his counsel will be allowed to question witnesses within time limits. Within the Judiciary Committee, however, Collins still has to get approval from Nadler to do anything. Of course, this assumes Judge Hollier’s crazy ruling is still in standing……. but it’s already on appeal.
Chairs of the three committees are allowed but not compelled to release depositions. AND the transcripts will be delayed to check for classified info and redacted. In other words, selective leaks will continue to establish narrative and smear the President. Days or weeks later, we MIGHT get a transcript.
Nancy leaves us with this final statement.
“The evidence we have already collected paints the picture of a President who abused his power by using multiple levers of government to press a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 election. Following in the footsteps of previous impeachment inquiries, the next phase will move from closed depositions to open hearings where the American people will learn firsthand about the President’s misconduct.”
Nancy Pelosi, October 29, 2019
Response from the White House:
.@PressSec: Pelosi's resolution "does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration." https://t.co/lEsicPQn8J
The resolution put forward by Speaker Pelosi confirms that House Democrats’ impeachment has been an illegitimate sham from the start as it lacked any proper authorization by a House vote.
It continues this scam by allowing Chairman Schiff, who repeatedly lies to the American people, to hold a new round of hearings, still without any due process for the President.
The White House is barred from participating at all, until after Chairman Schiff conducts two rounds of one-sided hearings to generate a biased report for the Judiciary Committee. Even then, the White House’s rights remain undefined, unclear, and uncertain – because those rules still haven’t been written.
This resolution does nothing to change the fundamental fact that House Democrats refuse to provide basic due process rights to the Administration.
It’s important. We’re on the verge of something truly awful in our country and it must be stopped. If we lose our legal system, our system of checks and balances, we lose fairness.
Background: A Congressional subpoena is a merely a request to appear, and has no enforcement mechanism. There is no penalty for not showing up as long as there is merely an “inquiry” in the House. The push for the House vote “resolution” is a legal trick, way out on a limb in a gray area of the law, to give the House “judicial authority” or the ability to subpoena, demand testimony of witnesses and documents… without giving the other side the ability to defend themselves. In other words, the Legislative Branch wants to become the Judiciary……….. because they don’t like the President.
It’s a weird place we’re in. The logic is flawed and strange to regular Americans. It’s “if you have nothing to hide, why not allow me to do an anal probe of your family, your business, your… everything.” Well, one might think, first, there better be a damn good reason for that kind of intrusion. Does a bureaucrat have the right to give ME an anal probe because I was selected as a cheerleader in high school and they weren’t, or because I had a party and didn’t invite them, …….. or because I won the 2016 election and beat them?
If the House actually believed the President sold out our national interest for a “favor” in the 2020 campaign, which constituted a campaign contribution from a foreign power, the criminal referral would go to the DOJ…….. Well, it did go to the DOJ, and it’s already been rejected… using Mueller’s own words. AND the DOJ has issued a letter to strongly admonish the ICIG for ever allowing the issue to rise to the level of “urgent concern”…. which is why we see Adam Schiff backtracking from all things concerning the whistleblower and the President’s phone call with Zelinsky.
…. This left radical elements within the House frustrated in their efforts to impeach the President. Thus, Nancy Pelosi announced an “impeachment inquiry”, which means she and the media can use the word “impeachment” without all the normal accoutrements which go along with an official impeachment, as in the President and Republicans get to defend themselves. Still, the House has no reason for the anal probe. There is no crime nor mention of a crime. There has been no independent counsel, now referred to as a Special Counsel, which has referred a crime to Congress. Yet, this is the logic Pelosi is using. In other words, “Sit still Mr. President, while I give you this anal probe.”
Enter Judge Howell. – Beryl A. Howell worked for Senator Leahy on the Judiciary Committee and was the primary staffer when Leahy was drafting legislation to create the Homeland Security Agency after 9/11. Staffers remember Howell. ” According to one “she showed up at meetings wearing a Mao green military hat and sometimes in full Mao military fatigues” and was “a total socialist left winger.” Howell also authored articles on expanding the understanding of obstruction of justice……. with…… Andrew Weissman …… throughout the years, and Howell also gave a speech in honor of Loretta Lynch at a tribute dinner in 2016. http://conservativehq.com/article/26233-deep-state%E2%80%99s-kangaroo-court
Judge Howell, DC Federal Court, Obama appointee, made a crazy ruling (effectively determining the House process “legal” AND allowing the House to pierce the veil of Grand Jury testimony) which set this whole thing in motion in the House = the vote on “impeachment inquiry” versus the legal precedent of “impeachment investigation”. It’s an important distinction which could affect the future of all rights of ALL Americans.
The confusion between “inquiry” and “investigation” from Pelosi/Schiff/Lawfare is intentional and designed to mislead the public, giving the impression of more openness in the House, and twisted for effect by a compliant media. No, the President and minority will still have NO RIGHTS to defend themselves, and the Judiciary Committee will gain further power…… corrupting the protection for innocent people involved in grand jury testimony…… forevermore. It’s a HORRIBLE precedent to set.
Nancy Pelosi is attempting to present to the public the idea that her “resolution” is normal course of business, or “the next step” in impeachment. No, it is a vial and corrupt twisting of our system where the legislative branch becomes the DOJ — but only for Democrats.
Sidenote: Howell was the judge presiding over the grand jury for Mueller’s Special Counsel http://conservativehq.com/article/26233-deep-state%E2%80%99s-kangaroo-court . She should have immediately recused from this case for a blatant conflict. Her reaction (found in her ruling) to the President’s Counsel Cipollone letter of justification (why the WH refused to cooperate outside of established procedure) indicates Howell’s reaction was CLEARLY political and her motivation is HIGHLY suspect. It’s alarming…. coming from a Judge.
The importance of privacy within a Grand Jury: This cannot be stressed enough. The privacy of a Grand Jury is sacrosanct. The system is structured so it cannot be invaded, even by mistake. There are no transcripts of the proceedings. Disclosure of Grand Jury Testimony by anybody, any time, is a felony. So, to have a COURT grant permission, to a non-judicial body, in this case a partisan House Committee, a partisan faction of a Congressional Committee, is tantamount to overturning black letter criminal law dating from Medieval English Common Law. The Grand Jury system is the replacement for the heinous Star Chamber system and the Schiff led Democrats are, in essence, recreating a Star Chamber, to their eternal shame and certain demise.
Big T, verbatim, October 29, 2019
To give an example of what would happen if the Grand Jury is cracked: Let’s say I am indicted for murder. A prosecutor goes before the Grand Jury and presents evidence of my guilt AND is allowed to withhold anything adversarial to his side of the story. The Grand Jury hands down an indictment. I am arrested and hire F. Lee Bailey. The pissant prosecutor, scared by my legal counsel, and knowing it is a weak case, orchestrates a leak of selective evidence put forth during the Grand Jury to infect the potential jury pool.
It’s the PRIMARY reason Grand Jury testimony is kept of limits = to NOT sway public opinion.
NOW, with a trial at least 6 months away, I would be faced with swirling media (just like President Trump) attention, and scorn from my neighbors (voters who think Trump is guilty) who have only heard a piece of the evidence. How would I ever get a fair trial? My attorney, being the star he is, while draining my life savings, files a motion for change of venue, arguing I couldn’t get a fair trial, and that the PROSECUTOR is responsible for the Grand Jury leak….. which creates even further public attention. The Trial Judge would order a hearing on my motion, but denies it. You think I exaggerate? Remember the Valerie Plame case? The deck would be stacked against me. When I walk into court, the jurors would sneer at me, already convinced of my guilt.
It’s EXACTLY what Schiff is attempting to do to President Trump, and is succeeding at doing, with the help of a compliant media and a biased judge who would allow such an outlandish ruling.
THIS is WHY the testimony and materials of a Grand Jury must be protected.
After the Howell ruling, which makes the Pelosi process legitimate for now, Lawfare/Pelosi/Schiff are trying to “hurry up”. Pelosi/Schiff/Lawfare are trying to run (before the ruling is appealed), give legitimacy and create the illusion of a “judicial proceeding”, which is a technical term. If the House votes and establishes a “judicial proceeding”, OUTSIDE OF A COURT, it’s still a gray area. The House/Lawfare thinks it will give the judiciary committee ALL OR PARTS OF the grand jury testimony from Mueller’s Special Counsel (millions of documents) + subpoena power + STILL NOT an official impeachment investigation = no rights for the President and Republicans.
Therefore, STILL no power or rights to the minority and no power to the President to defend himself, call witnesses for his side of the story, or have his attorneys question witnesses or object…. like we would normally do for a traffic ticket.
The DOJ (not the President’s team) have requested a “stay”, which means the ruling cannot take effect (blocking the vote in the House) until a decision is reached on appeal. It would be normal to grant the “stay” but when dealing with the emotions of Federal Judges, anything can happen. Here is the Motion from DOJ: https://www.scribd.com/document/432384070/DOJ-s-Motion-to-Stay-10-28-19#from_embed
Overall, the process is WRONG and UNFAIR because the President and his administration cooperated at an extremely high level within the Executive Branch (Mueller + DOJ + White House + Agencies), allowed McGahn and others to testify (over 500 people/2800 subpoenas), produced records and info which normally would be withheld because of Exec privilege. The President also chose to answer questions of the Special Counsel to help the investigation proceed expeditiously, WITH THE UNDERSTANDING his response and supporting docs would be held within the Special Counsel and he did not give up Exec Privilege or a basic right to NOT cooperate under 5th Amendment. The HOUSE is seeking to overturn basic rights of ALL those 500 people including the President of the USA.
See the problem?
Furthermore, if the House is allowed access to “grand jury testimony” by legal trick of claiming a “judicial proceeding” (which it’s not and never has been –>> it’s why we have courts), then the ruling will annihilate the confidential nature of Grand Jury proceedings for us all. Would you, as a well intended citizen EVER give testimony in the future… if you knew your identity and words would be examined forevermore in public…. or could be used against YOU, cherry picked and taken out of context, in a future and unknown case? The threat of future retribution, from a competitor/lover/friend would silence everyone. I’m not sure how you could even carry out a civil proceeding of a divorce trial. Such a precedent would alter our legal system.
Without a doubt, it’s possibly the worst miscarriage of justice we’ve ever seen. There might be another example which is worse, but can YOU think of one? It scares the hell out of me. If our leaders can do this to a Billionaire President of the United States, what would they do to someone small like me?
What American would willingly VOTE for giving away our rights against self-recrimination or to NOT be able to mount a self-defense?
And it’s for the impeachment of a President of the United States. It’s the kind of thing you don’t even wish on your enemy. It’s a persecution and not a normal prosecution. And in no way, EVER, could this farce be construed as a search for the truth. In fact, the Pelosi/Schiff/Lawfare “play” is purposely designed to HIDE THE TRUTH normally allowed to ANY American’s vigorous defense. It’s shocking.
It is correct to say “it’s a gray area” of the constitution.
True. It is.
Just because impeachment proceedings in the House have always been bipartisan, taken seriously, open and above board, does not mean “constitutionally” that they HAVE TO BE.
Legally, the judgements and proceedings COULD BE one sided. We COULD disregard former guidance from our ancestors (the Johnson Impeachment which was seen as political after the Civil War) which cautions against “impeachment for a political end”, and we can throw precedent established for other impeachment hearings (Nixon/Clinton) out the window…. which is what Pelosi is doing.
Does the decision of Pelosi/Schiff/Lawfare go against everything we hold dear about our justice system, our series of checks and balances between legislative, judiciary, and executive branches……….., yeah, it does.
We’re in dangerous territory.
And to EVERYONE who thinks it doesn’t matter……. cuz impeachment will never get through the Senate….. stop right there. Just…….. stop….. and think.
If we allow this precedent to be established in the House, for future impeachment proceedings (along with upending 200+ years of grand jury precedent) who is to say we won’t have a Democrat Senate 20yrs from now? 100 years from now?
What we do today, this decision, these proceedings, will set the course for our future.
On the Durham investigation: “The US Attorney for Connecticut who is in charge of the investigation is making great progress. As you know, he is a 35yr veteran of the Department with a great reputation for non-partisanship. He was selected by two Democrat Attys General to do sensitive investigations for them. He’s a by-the-book kind of guy. He’s thorough and fair, and I’m confident he’s going to get to the bottom of things.
We’ll let the chips fall where they may. I think they all know John Durham’s reputation…. and …a… we’ll see how it turns out,…. but I do want to say, One of the reasons Mr. Durham is able to make the kind of progress he is making is because …a…. Director Wray and his team at the FBI have just been outstanding in their support and their responsiveness. They’ve given……..”
William Barr, Attorney General, USA, October 28, 2019
The interview of Bill Barr was done by Jake Gibson, the FOX Producer for the Justice Department. The full interview is not out yet.
Barr, speaking Monday to Fox News on the sidelines of a law enforcement event in Chicago, rejected Democrats’ claims he is acting as Trump’s personal lawyer.
“That’s completely wrong and there is no basis for it, and I act on behalf of the United States,” Barr said. The attorney general said that while he’s assisting in connecting Durham with countries that could have valuable information, Durham is running the show.
“He is in charge of the investigation, I’m not doing the investigation,” Barr said, while describing Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, as “thorough and fair” and saying he’s making progress.
……. Barr said. “As you know, I’ve said previously that I felt there was a failure of leadership at the bureau in 2016 and part of 2017, but since Director Wray and his team have taken over there’s been a world of change. I think that he is restoring the steady professionalism that’s been a hallmark of the FBI. I really appreciate his leadership there.”
(Member of Congress want him to testify or accuse him of going after political enemies) In response to such criticism, Barr said, “It wouldn’t be appropriate at this stage for me to discuss the Durham investigation.” He said he’d “certainly inform the public and Congress” when possible.
On Durham traveling to Italy: “Well, some of the countries that John Durham thought might have some information that would be helpful to the investigation wanted preliminarily to talk to me about the scope of the investigation, the nature of the investigation, and how I intended to handle confidential information, and so forth,” Barr said. “So I initially discussed these matters with those countries and introduced them to John Durham and established a channel by which Mr. Durham can obtain assistance from those countries.”
Pack your bags, we’re going to Chicago!!!!!!!!!!!! This is my home town, that toddlin’ town, back on State Street, that GREAT Street! Ohhh, how I do miss Chicago! It’s calling me home!!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feFl1DMT_Y4
President’s remarks at Andrews on the way.
The President will address the Police Chiefs, IACP.
An invite for the fundraiser, obtained by NBC 5, indicates that the event will be hosted in part by Todd Ricketts, the Republican National Committee finance chair and part-owner of the Chicago Cubs.
Also listed among the hosts for Monday’s event were RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, Co-Chairman Tommy Hicks Jr. and Trump’s Campaign Manager Brad Parscale. Tickets ranged widely in price, from $2,800 per person for a ticket to the lunch to $35,000 per couple for a photo opportunity, reaching $100,000 per person for access to a roundtable discussion with Trump himself.
As a special tribute to the “Members of the Illinois Law Enforcement Community” AND the great city of Chicago (and all the police cars wrecked during the making of this movie), we offer the following……. cause we all need Someone To Love. We need You, You, YOU!
Okay, okay, okay, but I have to tell you more about Chicago!! Cuz it’s so wonderful.
Chicago is the home of Wrigley Field and the Cubbies. Mrs. Dvorjack took us to Cubbies games (when I couldn’t go with Dad), and SHE taught me how to keep score, sitting on that third base line. Ahhh, yes, Don Kissinger, Ron Santos, Billy Williams, Joe Pepitone, and God Bless Ernie Banks. Those were the days! Five generations of our family cheered for the Cubs, and when they finally won, I swear I could hear Aunt Hazel cheering from heaven!
And then there’s Soldier Field! First time, I was only five years old. Little Blue Snowsuit, wrapped so tight I could barely move and couldn’t wipe my nose. Dad had four tickets as a salesman. He invited two clients and had an extra ticket….. of course, he dragged me along. I loved it. And yes, I have seen the mighty Gale Sayers run the field many times. Glorious. Gosh it was fun to tag along with Dad, and I begged to go with him. I really thought referees were aliens until I was about 12yrs old. First time I ever saw Dad cry was the movie Brian’s Song.
But wow, Dad has his fingerprints all over Chicago. Dad and a small team invented/perfected high speed elevators. Their first challenge was the elevator which goes around for the St Louis Arch. After that success, Dad was transferred to Chicago for the Amoco Building (70 stories), the Hancock Building (98) and finally, Sears Tower (110 stories). And we were in the THICK of it all, I was a kid, but I remember. Most little girls idolize their dads, but my dad could build buildings which pierced the clouds.
I remember the day the the cornerstone was laid for Sear’s Tower. Later on, 3rd grade, the mechanics went on strike, and the execs had to service the elevators (schedule maintenance). Dad took me with him. He lowered the elevator manually and stepped off onto the cab, and extended his hand to me……… and I stepped on top of the elevator. I was inside the shaft and looked up. WOwwwwwwww, I thought. No fear, never even thought about it. Dad wasn’t afraid so why would I be? Golden moment.
But the union guys and architects were always at our house. They haggled and bounced me on their knee. Wonderful men, the best of men, the men who built our country! Dad had a big BBQ and the liquor flowed. One weekend, the same men who built Sear’s Tower built me a swingset. My God, it was divine! Higher and higher, faster and faster, we would swing…. almost reaching those same clouds, Dad’s clouds.
Best place ever was the Museum of Science and Industry by the Lake. My girlfriend and I would tag along with Dad on Saturday mornings when he went to the office. We would squeal with delight at Lower Wacker Drive and all the congestion. Afternoons were spent at the Museum and we explored every corner. She ended up as a math major and a lawyer…… great days. Museum of Natural History was good but not as good as Science and Industry.
And the Polish/Greek/Russian Jewish bakeries where dad would pickup pastry or candy…. I can still taste it. Years later, I took Big T back to Chicago for a Bears/Saints NFC game and hunted and hunted for those bakeries…… just to have one more taste. Finally, on a return trip with Gunner, we found them…. and just as good as before. Years melt away with one bite, close your eyes and you’re 8yrs old again. It’s magic pastry.
And the oysters, steaks and martinis. It doesn’t get any better than in Chicago. Dad was a member of the Playboy Club back in the 60’s. I always wondered why mom was a little mad when he went there. Why couldn’t I go?
Then there was our playground, the Morton Arboretum (Morton Salt family). At the end of our street was the entrance to the Arboretum. We could ride our bikes and because we were kids, the guards let us in all the time. It was a wondrous place, like a foreign land, with Japanese Tea Houses and exotic gardens and greenhouses, woodland trolls and mazes. I had never seen anything like it. It was like reading a book……..and imagining what the scene looked like…… and then suddenly being IN the book. Around the corner there could be a Prince, a Wicked Queen, or a Mongolian Warlord. Does that make sense?
It was a place of natural beauty. We always stayed too late and then had to pedal fast to get home before the sun set. I can still feel the chill sting on my face as we would stand up to pedal faster, streamers in a straight line off the handle bars, and barely touching that sparkly green banana seat. The evening temps dropped fast.
President Trump reminds me a lot of my dad. Funny how so many people say the same thing. Appropriate that President Trump would have a hotel in Chicago. It’s a big one too, right on the Chicago River.
You know that River, the one they dye green for St Pat’s Day.
So, WELCOME to Chicago! We’re glad you’re here. Eat well, dance a little, and try to keep up with our President today! He’s on the move, AGAIN!
We will post links as soon as they are available and run a thread for the speech.
Remember, we’re putting the band back together, “We’re on a Mission from God”
Newsweek reports that as Trump announced the death of Baghdadi, Hellfire missiles targeted Muhajir by Ayn al-Bayda, near Jarablus in Aleppo province. The operation that targeted Muhajir comes just one day after a raid targeted ISIS’ leader in the Idlib province of Syria, where Trump said he detonated a suicide vest as U.S. forces closed in.
Remember all the intel grabbed from the Bin Laden raid and how we heard the agencies were sitting on it? Welllllllllll, there’s no grass growing under our feet now. Our military has CONTINUED THE MISSION IN THEATRE.
Syrian Democratic Forces commander Mazloum Abdi, also known as Mazloum Kobane, also reported on the news Sunday.
“Continuing the previous operation, terrorist Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir, the right-hand man of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and an ISIS spokesman, was targeted in the village of Ayn al-Bayda, near Jarablus, in direct coordination between SDF intelligence and the U.S. military,” Kobane said.
Continuing— He released several sermons……, went silent for 6 months…….., made last speech……., a week later President Trump declared victory over ISIS.
Details of Syria from Newsweek, some shaded by bias……
Final Paragraph:
Kobane referred to the raid that ended in the death of Baghdadi as a “Successful & historical operation due to a joint intelligence work with the United States of America.” Trump also expressed gratitude Syrian Kurds, noting they provided “useful” information, while Iraq appears to have played a major role in intelligence-gathering in the lead up to the operation.
While we are all aware of the news by this point, we can use this thread to accumulate info for further use. Use this thread as our own historical record. Here, we can dump info details, maps, credit to various agencies, comments, etc.
We’ll start with the statement from the President, the ensuing presser, and work backwards…. and by the way, God Bless Our Military! Full transcript is located at the bottom of this post.
It started with a single Tweet from President Trump at 8:23pm on a Saturday night during the World Series.
"Terrorists who oppress and murder innocent people should never sleep soundly, knowing that we will completely destroy them." pic.twitter.com/b6MnJPFnH3
Lindsey Graham was apparently in the WH Situation Room when it happened. He spoke from the WH podium. Where was Mitch McConnell???????? Video is not available as yet but we will post when it hits. Lindsey did post this at 10:08am. UPDATE: Video of Graham Presser available at 1:22pm
Last night the best of America confronted the worst of mankind.
I’ll let you guys fill in all the extra details. It’s a good day for the world. God Bless our Military and the dog who was injured.
Americans never forget.
Kayla Mueller, Steven Sotloff, James Foley and Abdul-Rahman (Peter) Kassig
Per Maria Bartiromo: “We called Debbie Dingell of Michigan to come on the show.” As of 11:47am, FOX News had “not heard from the leadership of the Dem Party on reaction to the incredible news” of the Death of the #1 Terrorist in the World…… silence.
Per Maria Bartiromo: As of 11:53, “We are just getting reaction from House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi….. someone must be watching”. Interesting. “While the death of this leader is significant it does not mean ISIS is dead”….. and she goes on to demand a briefing. Snippy response. No praise for our military, etc. (I was proven wrong 75 minutes later, Pelosi did praise military in beginning of her statement.)
Update, 1:15PM: Official Pelosi Statement:
Pelosi Statement on Al-Baghdadi Raid OCTOBER 27, 2019 PRESS RELEASE Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. military raid:
“Americans salute the heroism, dedication and skill of our military and our intelligence professionals and acknowledge the work of our partners in the region. We are relieved that no U.S. personnel died in this daring raid.
“The death of al-Baghdadi is significant, but the death of this ISIS leader does not mean the death of ISIS. Scores of ISIS fighters remain under uncertain conditions in Syrian prisons, and countless others in the region and around the world remain intent on spreading their influence and committing acts of terror.
“This month, the House passed a joint resolution on an overwhelmingly bipartisan 354-60 basis which rejects President Trump’s green-lighting of Turkish aggression into Syria against our Kurdish partners, and calls on him to present a clear strategy to defeat ISIS. The House must be briefed on this raid, which the Russians but not top Congressional Leadership were notified of in advance, and on the Administration’s overall strategy in the region. Our military and allies deserve strong, smart and strategic leadership from Washington.”
Nancy Pelosi
Please continue to check Q Tree Daily Thread for minute-by-minute response from our members.
Per Dora and others, much has been made of the the connection between John McCain and Al Baghdadi.
In the immediate aftermath of the successful raid, the media has decided to make the raid political. The pundits are questioning why the Dem Leaders in Congress were not notified when Lindsey was at the White House and Chairman Burr of Senate Intel was notified (talk about a leaker, yikes!)
Anyway, Glen Greenwald has already located a 2015 NYTimes article about the 2012 Osama Bin Laden raid, which explained as follows. WH attorneys deemed justifiable delay t notification of Congress during the raid……. yet Leon Panetta, unable to contain himself, blabbed to Congress without permission. https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1188496336473219073
Media Response: Unreal to watch the NYC/DC media twist themselves into a pretzel to defend terrorists…… cuz orange man is bad.
The reaction from Bloomberg tried to outdo the terrorist pandering of the WaPost. From Bloomberg: “… Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi transformed himself from a little-known teacher of Koranic recitation into the self-proclaimed ruler of an entity that covered swaths of Syria and Iraq”
Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi transformed himself from a little-known teacher of Koranic recitation into the self-proclaimed ruler of an entity that covered swaths of Syria and Iraq https://t.co/CNI5XBsoai
Last night, the United States brought the world’s number one terrorist leader to justice. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead. He was the founder and leader of ISIS, the most ruthless and violent terror organization in the World. The United States has been searching for Baghdadi for many years. Capturing or killing Baghdadi has been the top national security priority of my Administration. U.S. Special Operations forces executed a dangerous and daring nighttime raid into Northwestern Syria to accomplish this mission.
No U.S. personnel were lost in the operation, while a large number of Baghdadi’s fighters and companions were killed with him. He died after running into a dead-end tunnel, whimpering and crying and screaming. The compound had been cleared by this time, with people either surrendering or being shot and killed. Eleven young children were moved out of the house un-injured. The only ones remaining were Baghdadi in the tunnel, who had dragged three children with him to certain death. He reached the end of the tunnel, as our dogs chased him down. He ignited his vest, killing himself and the three children. His body was mutilated by the blast, but test results gave certain and positive identification.
The thug who tried so hard to intimidate others spent his last moments in utter fear, panic and dread – terrified of the American Forces bearing down.We were in the compound for approximately 2 hours, and after the mission was accomplished we took highly sensitive material and information from the raid.Baghdadi’s demise demonstrates America’s relentless pursuit of terrorist leaders, and our commitment to the enduring and total defeat of ISIS!The reach of America is long. As you know, last month we announced that we recently killed Hamza Bin Laden, the very violent son of Osama Bin Laden, who was saying very bad things.
He was the heir apparent to Al Qaeda. Terrorists who oppress and murder innocent people should never sleep soundly, knowing that we will completely destroy them. These savage monsters will not escape their fate – and they will not escape the final judgement of God.
Baghdadi has been on the run for many years, long before I took office. At my direction, as Commander-in-Chief, the United States obliterated his ‘caliphate’ in March of this year. Today’s events are another reminder that we will continue to pursue the remaining ISIS terrorists to their brutal end.
Baghdadi and the losers who worked with him – in some cases people who had no idea what they were getting into and how dangerous and unglamorous it was – killed many people. Their murder of innocent Americans Jim Foley, Steven Sotloff, Peter Kassig, and Kayla Mueller were especially heinous. The shocking publicized murder of a Jordanian pilot who was burned alive in a cage for all to see, and the execution of Christians in Libya and Egypt, as well as the genocidal mass murder of Yazidis, rank ISIS among the most depraved organizations in history.
The forced religious conversions, the orange suits prior to many beheadings, all of which were openly displayed for the world – this was all Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s work. He was vicious and violent, and he died in a vicious and violent way, as a coward, running and crying. This raid was impeccable, and could only have taken place with the acknowledgement and help of certain other nations and people.
I want to thank the nations of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iraq, and I also want to thank the Syrian Kurds for certain support they were able to give us. Thank you as well to the great intelligence professionals who helped make this very successful journey possible.
I want to thank the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines involved in last night’s operation. You are the very best there is anywhere in the world. I want to thank General Mark Milley and our Joint Chiefs of Staff, and I also want to thank our professionals who work in other agencies of the United States government and were critical to the mission’s success.
Last night was a great night for the United States and for the World. A brutal killer, one who has caused so much hardship and death, was violently eliminated – he will never again harm another innocent man, woman or child. He died like a dog. He died like a coward. The world is now a much safer place.
God bless the United States of America!
Comments from The President of The United States on the death of Al Baghdadi, October 27, 2019.
Q When did you first hear that this was — operation was going to get started?
THE PRESIDENT: We’ve had him under surveillance for a couple of weeks. We knew a little bit about where he was going, where he was heading. We had very good information that he was going to another location. He didn’t go. Two or three efforts were cancelled because he decided to change his mind — constantly changing his mind. And, finally, we saw that he was here, held up here. We knew something about the compound. We knew it had tunnels. The tunnels were a dead-end, for the most part. There was one, we think, that wasn’t. But we had that covered too, just in case.
The level of intelligence, the level of work, was pretty amazing. When we landed with eight helicopters, a large crew of brilliant fighters ran out of those helicopters and blew holes into the side of the building, not wanting to go through the main door because that was booby-trapped. And there was something — it was something really amazing to see. I got to watch it, along with General Milley, Vice President Pence, others, in the Situation Room. And we watched it so clearly.
Q They had body cameras? Or how did you watch the —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t want to say how, but we had absolutely perfect — as though you were watching a movie. It was — that — the technology there alone is really great.
A big part of the trip that was of great danger was the — it was approximately an hour and 10-minute flight, and we were flying over very, very dangerous territory. In fact, some of our leaders said that that could be the most dangerous — flying in and flying out. And that’s why, last night, we were so quiet about it. We didn’t say anything, and I didn’t make my remark until after they had landed safely in a certain area.
But the flight in, the flight out, was a very, very dangerous part. There was a chance that we would have met unbelievable fire. Russia treated us great. They opened up. We had to fly over certain Russia areas, Russia-held areas. Russia was great. Iraq was excellent. We really had great cooperation.
And you have to understand: They didn’t know what we were doing and where we were going, exactly. But the ISIS fighters are hated as much by Russia and some of these other countries as they are by us. And that’s why I say they should start doing a lot of the fighting now, and they’ll be able to. I really believe they’ll be able to.
Yes, Jennifer?
Q Sir, can you say what role the Kurds played in this, just generally?
THE PRESIDENT: They gave us not a military role at all, but they gave us some information that turned out to be helpful, the Kurds.
Q And can you tell us what the role of Turkey might have been, and Iraq?
THE PRESIDENT: Who?
Q What was the role of Turkey? How did they help?
THE PRESIDENT: Turkey — we dealt with them. They know we were going in. We flew over some territory. They were terrific. No problem. They were not problem. You know, they could start shooting, and then we will take them out. But a lot of bad things can happen. Plus, it was a very secret mission. We flew very, very low and very, very fast. But it was a big — it was a very dangerous part of the mission. Getting in and getting out too, equal. We went in identical — we took an identical route. We met with gunfire coming in, but it was local gunfire. That gunfire was immediately terminated. These people are amazing. They had the gunfire terminated immediately, meaning they were shot from the airships.
Q I’m trying to understand the timing. You talked earlier — you know, several weeks — about pulling troops out, you know, and then troops were put back in. And then, you know — I’m trying to understand the timing of when this operation — how it fits —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I’ll tell you, from the first day I came to office — and now we’re getting close to three years — I would say, “Where’s al-Baghdadi? I want al-Baghdadi.” And we would kill terrorist leaders, but they were names I never heard of. They were names that weren’t recognizable and they weren’t the big names. Some good ones, some important ones, but they weren’t the big names. I kept saying, “Where’s al-Baghdadi?” And a couple of weeks ago, they were able to scope him out.
You know, these people are very smart. They’re not into the use of cellphones anymore. They’re not — they’re very technically brilliant. You know, they use the Internet better than almost anybody in the world, perhaps other than Donald Trump. But they use the Internet incredibly well.
And what they’ve done with the Internet, through recruiting and everything — and that’s why he died like a dog, he died like a coward. He was whimpering, screaming, and crying. And, frankly, I think it’s something that should be brought out so that his followers and all of these young kids that want to leave various countries, including the United States, they should see how he died. He didn’t die a hero. He died a coward — crying, whimpering, screaming, and bringing three kids with him to die a certain death. And he knew the tunnel had no end. I mean, it was a — it was a closed-end — they call it a closed-end tunnel. Not a good place to be.
Q So this was going on before you made the announcement that you’re pulling them out?
THE PRESIDENT: I’ve been looking for him for three years. I’ve been looking for him. I started getting some very positive feedback about a month ago, and we had some incredible intelligence officials that did a great job. That’s what they should be focused on.
Q And about what time did this operation start yesterday, sir? And have you notified the leaders on —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, this operation started two weeks ago, in terms of the real operation, because we had him scoped. We thought he’d be in a certain location. He was. Things started checking out very well. We were involved, on our own team, with some brilliant people who I’ve gotten to know. Brilliant people that love our country. Highly intelligent people. And we — we’ve had it pretty well scoped out for a couple of weeks.
But he tends to change immediately. He had a lot of cash. He tends to change, like, on a dime, where he’ll be going to a certain location. All of a sudden, he’ll go someplace else and you’ll have to cancel.
But this was one where we knew he was there. And you can never be 100 percent sure because you’re basing it on technology, more than anything else. But we thought he was there, and then we got a confirmation. And when we went in, they were greeted with a lot of firepower. A lot of firepower.
I’ll tell you, these guys, they do a job. They are so brave and so good. And, so importantly, many of his people were killed. And we’ll announce the exact number over the next 24 hours. But many were killed. We lost nobody. Think of that. It’s incredible.
Q And when you told the Russians, you requested permission —
THE PRESIDENT: Our dog was hurt. Actually, the K-9 was hurt, went into the tunnel. But we lost nobody.
Q And so you requested to the Russians to fly over this area they controlled. What did you tell them —
THE PRESIDENT: We spoke to the Russians.
Q What did you tell them you were going to do?
THE PRESIDENT: We told them we’re coming in.
Q Okay.
THE PRESIDENT: And they said, “Thank you for telling us.” They were very good.
Q But did you tell them why? No? You just —
THE PRESIDENT: No. They did not know why.
Q Was any other country given —
THE PRESIDENT: We did tell them, “We think you’re going to be very happy.” Because, you know, again, they hate ISIS as much as we do. You know what ISIS has done to Russia. So, no, we did not tell — they did not know the mission, but they knew we were going over an area that they had — they had a lot of firepower.
Q And have you notified the congressional leaders about this? Pelosi? Mitch McConnell?
THE PRESIDENT: We’ve notified some. Others are being notified now, as I speak. We were going to notify them last night but we decided not to do that because Washington leaks like I’ve never seen before. There’s nothing — there’s no country in the world that leaks like we do. And Washington is a leaking machine. And I told my people we will not notify them until the — our great people are out. Not just in, but out. I don’t want to have them greeted with firepower like you wouldn’t believe.
So we were able to get in. It was top secret. It was kept. There were no leaks, no nothing. The only people that knew were the few people that I dealt with. And again, Mark Milley and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were incredible. We had some tremendous backup. Robert O’Brien, Secretary Esper, Secretary Pompeo. Pence, I told you, he was great. There’s a very small group of people that knew about this. We had very, very few people. A leak — a leak could have cost the death of all of them.
Now, they’re so good that I think nothing was going to stop them anyway, if you want to know the truth. That’s how good they were. We had them also surrounded by massive airpower. Up in the air, yesterday, surrounded at very high levels. We were very low. We had tremendous airpower.
Q And you watched all this from the Sit Room? Who were you with in the Sit Room when you watched this?
THE PRESIDENT: Secretary Esper, a few of the Joint Chiefs, Mark Milley, some generals. We had some very great military people in that room. And we had some great intelligence people — Robert O’ Brien. It was really great.
Yes.
Q Was the pullout of the U.S. troops in Syria last month strategically tied in with this raid? Was it —
THE PRESIDENT: No, no, the pullout —
Q Is this a red herring?
THE PRESIDENT: Right. Sure. It’s a great question. And you’re doing a great job, by the way. Your network is fantastic. They’re really doing a great job. Please let them know.
Q Yes, sir. Thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: No, the pullout had nothing to do with this. In fact, we found this out at a similar time. It’s a very good question — because we found this out at a similar time.
No, we’re after these leaders. And we have others in sight, very bad ones. But this was the big one. This is the biggest one, perhaps, that we’ve ever captured, because this is the one that built ISIS, and beyond, and was looking to rebuild it again. Very, very strongly looking to build it again. That’s why he went to this province; this is why he went to this area.
You know, a lot of people — I was watching, this morning, and hearing, and they said, “Why was he there?” People were so surprised. Well, that’s where he was trying to rebuild from because that was the place that made most sense, if you’re looking to rebuild.
Yeah.
Q You sent out your tweet last night. At what moment did you decide to send that?
THE PRESIDENT: So, I sent that right after I knew they had landed safely.
Q When they had returned?
THE PRESIDENT: Right. And that was to notify you guys that you have something big this morning, so you wouldn’t be out playing golf or tennis, or otherwise being indisposed.
Q Where did they land? Where were they safe? Where had they landed?
THE PRESIDENT: I’d rather not say. But we landed in a very friendly port in a friendly country.
Q Does this give you any pause by your decision to withdraw the troops?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I think it’s great. Look, we don’t want to keep soldiers between Syria and Turkey for the next 200 years. They’ve been fighting for hundreds of years. We’re out. But we are leaving soldiers to secure the oil. And we may have to fight for the oil. It’s okay. Maybe somebody else wants the oil, in which case they have a hell of a fight. But there’s massive amounts of oil.
And we’re securing it for a couple of reasons. Number one, it stops ISIS, because ISIS got tremendous wealth from that oil. We have taken it. It’s secured.
Number two — and again, somebody else may claim it, but either we’ll negotiate a deal with whoever is claiming it, if we think it’s fair, or we will militarily stop them very quickly. We have tremendous power in that part of the world. We have — you know, the airport is right nearby. A very big, very monstrous, very powerful airport, and very expensive airport that was built years ago. We were in there — we’re in that Middle East now for $8 trillion.
So we don’t want to be keeping Syria and Turkey. They’re going to have to make their own decision. The Kurds have worked along incredibly with us, but in all fairness, it was much easier dealing with the Kurds after they went through three days of fighting, because that was a brutal three days. And if I — we would have said to the Kurds, “Hey, do you mind moving over seven miles?” Because, you know, they were in the middle, mostly. So you have seven or eight miles. “Could you mind moving over?”
Because, I have to say, Turkey has taken tremendous deaths from that part of the world. You know, we call it a safe zone. But it was anything but a safe zone. Turkey has lost thousands and thousands people from that safe zone. So they’ve always wanted that safe zone, for many years. I’m glad I was able to help them get it. But we don’t want to be there; we want to be home. I want our soldiers home or fighting something that’s meaningful.
I’ll tell you who loves us being there: Russia and China. Because while they build their military, we’re depleting our military there. So, Russia loves us being there. Now, Russia likes us being there for two reasons: because we kill ISIS, we kill terrorists, and they’re very close to Russia. We’re 8,000 miles away. Now, maybe they can get here, but we’ve done very well with Homeland Security and the ban, which, by the way, is approved by the United States Supreme Court, as you know. You know, there was a reporter that said we lost the case. And he was right, in the early court. He refu- — he didn’t want to say; just refused to say that we won the case in the Supreme Court. So, you know.
But we have a very effective ban, and it’s very hard for people to come to our country. But it’s many thousands of miles away, whereas Russia is right there, Turkey is right there. Syria is there. They’re all right there. Excuse me, Iran is right there. Iraq is right there. They all hate ISIS. So, we don’t — you know, in theory, they should do something.
And I’ll give you something else: The European nations have been a tremendous disappointment because I personally called, but my people called a lot. “Take your ISIS fighters.” And they didn’t want them. They said, “We don’t want them.” They came from France, they came from Germany, they came from the UK. They came from a lot of countries. And I actually said to them, “If you don’t take them, I’m going to drop them right on your border. And you can have fun capturing them again.”
But the United States taxpayer is not going to pay for the next 50 years. You see what Guantanamo costs. We’re not going to pay tens of billions of dollars because we were good enough to capture people that want to go back to Germany, France, UK, and other parts of Europe. And they can walk back. They can’t walk to our country. We have lots of water in between our country and them.
So, yeah. Go.
Q You mentioned that you met some — gotten to know some brilliant people along this process who really helped provide information and advice along the way. Is there anyone in particular, or would you like to give anyone credit for getting to this point today?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I would, but if I mentioned one, I have to mention so many. I spoke to Senator Richard Burr this morning. And, as you know, he’s very involved with intelligence and the committee. And he’s a great gentleman.
I spoke with Lindsey Graham just a little while ago. In fact, Lindsey Graham is right over here. And he’s been very much involved in this subject. And he’s — he’s a very strong hawk. But I think Lindsey agrees with what we’re doing now.
And, again, there are plenty of other countries that can help them patrol. I don’t want to leave 1,000 or 2,000 or 3,000 soldiers on the border.
But where Lindsey and I totally agree is the oil. The oil is, you know, so valuable for many reasons. It fueled ISIS, number one. Number two, it helps the Kurds, because it’s basically been taken away from the Kurds. They were able to live with that oil. And number three, it can help us because we should be able to take some also. And what I intend to do, perhaps, is make a deal with an Exxon Mobil or one of our great companies to go in there and do it properly. Right now, it’s not big. It’s big oil underground, but it’s not big oil up top, and much of the machinery has been shot and dead. It’s been through wars. But — and — and spread out the wealth.
But, no, we’re protecting the oil. We’re securing the oil. Now, that doesn’t mean we don’t make a deal at some point. But I don’t want to be — they’re fighting for 1,000 years, they’re fighting for centuries. I want to bring our soldiers back home. But I do want to secure the oil.
If you read about the history of Donald Trump — I was a civilian. I had absolutely nothing to do with going into Iraq, and I was totally against it. But I always used to say, “If they’re going to go in…” — nobody cared that much, but it got written about. “If they’re going to go in…” — I’m sure you’ve heard the statement, because I made it more than any human being alive. “If they’re going into Iraq, keep the oil.” They never did. They never did.
I know Lindsey Graham had a bill where basically we would have been paid back for all of the billions of dollars that we’ve spent — many, many billions of dollars. I mean, I hate to say it, it’s actually trillions of dollars, but many, many billions of dollars. And, by one vote, they were unable to get that approved in the Senate. They had some pretty big opposition from people that shouldn’t have opposed, like a president. And they weren’t able. If you did that, Iraq would be a much different story today because they would be owing us a lot of money. They would be treating us much differently.
But I will say, Iraq was very good with respect to the raid last night.
Q Sir, just to pin down the timing a little bit better here: You got back to the White House around 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Did you immediately go to the Situation Room?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I knew all about this for three days.
Q Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. We thought, for three days, this is what was going to happen. It was actually — look, nobody was even hurt. Our K-9, as they call — I call it a dog, a beautiful dog, a talented dog — was injured and brought back. But we had no soldier injured. And they did a lot of shooting, and they did a lot of blasting, even not going through the front door. You know, you would think you go through the door. If you’re a normal person, you say, “Knock, knock. May I come in?” The fact is that they blasted their way into the house and a very heavy wall, and it took them literally seconds. By the time those things went off, they had a beautiful, big hole, and they ran in and they got everybody by surprise.
Unbelievably brilliant, as fighters. I don’t — I can’t imagine there could be anybody better. And these, as you know, are our top operations people.
Q And Baghdadi apparently had been in bad health for some time. Was there any indication of that? Or —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we don’t know that. But he was the last one out, and his people had either been killed, which there were many, or gave up and came out. Because with the 11 children that came out, we were able to do that. We don’t know if they were his children. They might have been. But as I said, three died in the tunnel. And the tunnel collapsed with the explosion. But you had other fighters coming out also. And they’re being brought back. They’re being — they’re — right now, we have them imprisoned.
Q I was going to ask whose children they were, but do you remember what time you went into the Situation Room?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I started at five o’clock. We were pretty much gathered at five o’clock yesterday. We were in contact all day long through, hopefully, secure phones. I’ll let you know tomorrow. But nothing seemed to leak, so I guess they were secure, for a change.
But we gathered more or less at five. The attack started moments after that. The — the liftoff started moments after that. Again, the element of attack that they were most afraid of was getting from our base into that compound. Because there’s tremendous firepower that we were, you know, flying over.
And I won’t go into it, but you had a very big Russian presence in one area, you had a Turkish presence, you had a Syrian presence. And you’re flying low. It’s very dangerous. And there were shots made, but we think these were people that were shooting that were indiscriminately shooting. The helicopters took some shots, but we think that these were people that were just random people that don’t like to see helicopters, I guess.
Q Sir, was there any kind of DNA test done? Or where is the body? You know —
THE PRESIDENT: So, that’s another part of the genius of these people. They brought his — they have his DNA. More of it than they want, even. And they brought it with them with lab technicians who were with them. And they assumed that this was Baghdadi. They thought, visually, it was him. But they assumed it was him, and they did a site — an onsite test. They got samples.
And to get to his body, they had to remove a lot of debris because the tunnel had collapsed. But these people are very good at that. And — and they, as I said, they brought body parts back with them, et cetera, et cetera. There wasn’t much left. The — the vest blew up, but there are still substantial pieces that they brought back. So they did an onsite test because we had to know this. And it was a very quick call that took place about 15 minutes after he was killed, and it was positive. It was — it’s, “This is a confirmation, sir.”
Q There was also a report that his wife had detonated — or one of his wives had detonated a vest. Is that —
THE PRESIDENT: So, there were two women. There were two women. Both wives, both wearing vests. They had not detonated. But the fact that they were dead and they had vests on made it very difficult for our men, because they had vests on. And it made it very difficult for our men. Because you never know what’s going to happen. They’re lying, they’re dead. They never detonated. But they were dead.
Q And if (inaudible) on the successor — the possible successors, have you been briefed on who would possibly fill in the seats?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. We know the successors. And we’ve already got them in our sights. And we’ll tell you that right now, but we know the successors. Hamza bin Laden was a big thing, but this is the biggest there is. This is the worst ever.
Osama bin Laden was very big, but Osama bin Laden became big with the World Trade Center. This is a man who built a whole, as he would like to call it, “a country,” a caliphate, and was trying to do it again.
And I had not heard too much about his health. I’ve heard stories about he may not have been in good health. But he died a — he died in a ruthless, vicious manner. That, I can tell you.
Q Were any prisoners taken, sir? Were any adults taken for intel purposes?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, we have people that were taken. We have — many of the people died on the site. But we have people that were taken, yes. And — and the children, we are — we left them under care of somebody, that we understand.
Q Can you say how many? Or do you believe that these were —
THE PRESIDENT: Eleven children.
Q Eleven children. How many adults?
THE PRESIDENT: I’d rather not say. I’d leave that to the generals. But —
Q These were —
THE PRESIDENT: — a small group. More dead than alive.
Q Which operations teams were involved? Which Special Operations teams were involved?
THE PRESIDENT: Many of them, and at the top level. And people that were truly incredible at their craft. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Q And were there — as far as partnerships goes, were there any other forces involved? Or was this only American troops in this raid?
THE PRESIDENT: No, only American forces.
Q And did the U.S. —
THE PRESIDENT: Only American forces. But we were given great cooperation.
Q Did the U.S. rely on —
THE PRESIDENT: We told the Russians we’re coming in, because we had to go over them. And they were curious, but — but we said, “We’re coming.” How we said — one way or the other, “Hey, look, we’re coming.” But they were very cooperative. They really were good. And we did say it would be a mission that they’d like, too. Because, you know, again, they hate ISIS as much as we do.
Q Sir, I meant for intel purposes, was there any foreign intel that proved useful along the way in this operation?
THE PRESIDENT: So, we had our own intel. We got very little help. We didn’t need very much help. We have some incredible people. When we use our intelligence correctly, what we can do is incredible. When we waste our time with intelligence, that hurts our country, because we had poor leadership at the top. That’s not good.
But I’ve gotten to know many of the intel people, and I will say that they are spectacular. Now, they’re not going to want to talk about it. They want to keep it quiet. The last thing they want, because these are — these are great patriots. But the people that I’ve been dealing with are incredible people. And it’s really a deserving name: “intelligence.” I’ve dealt with some people that aren’t very intelligent, having to do with intel, but this is the top people and it was incredible. It was flawless. And it was very complicated.
But — so, I do appreciate Russia, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria, to an extent, because, you know, we’re flying into Syria, and a lot of Syrian people with lots of guns.
So we had good cover for probably the most dangerous part. It would not sound to — you know, when you fly in, it doesn’t sound like that would be the most dangerous when you’re going into shooting nests and all of the things that happened once they broke into that pretty powerful compound. That was a very strong compound and, as I said, had tunnels.
But the most dangerous part, we had great cooperation with.
Yes, ma’am.
Q Did you inform Speaker Pelosi ahead of time?
THE PRESIDENT: No, I didn’t. I didn’t do — I didn’t do that. I wanted to make sure this kept secret. I don’t want to have men lost — and women. I don’t want to have people lost.
Q Do you anticipate inviting the Special Forces teams to the White House after this?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yeah. They’ll be invited. I don’t know if they’ll want to have their faces shown, to be honest with you. You know, they want to — they’re incredible for the country. They’re not looking for public relations.
But they love doing what they’re doing. I’ve seen it. The First Lady was out there, recently, looking at what they do. She came back, she said, “Wow, I’ve never seen anything like that.” The training — you know, all of the training — and the power of the people. The men and women, the strength, the physical strength, the mental strength. These are incredible people. These are very unique individuals.
Q You mentioned whimpering. Could you hear that on your video hookup?
THE PRESIDENT: Mentioned what?
Q The whimpering of Baghdadi. Did you hear it?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t want to talk about it, but —
Q Okay.
THE PRESIDENT: — he was screaming, crying, and whimpering. And he was scared out of his mind.
And think of James Foley. Think of Kayla. Think of the things he did to Kayla; what he did to Foley and so many others. And for those people that say, “Oh, isn’t this a little violent? Think of how many times have you seen men — I think, in all cases, men, for the most part — but in terms of this, where you see the orange suits, and you see the ocean and they’re beheaded. Or how many of you got to see — because it was out there — the Jordanian pilot whose plane went down, they captured him, they put him in a cage, and they set him on fire.
And the King of Jordan actually attacked, very powerfully, when that happened. They’ve never seen anything like that. But he set him on fire. This was al-Baghdadi. And you should never, ever hopefully see a thing like that again.
Now, there’ll be new people emerged, but this was the worst of this particular world. This was the worst. Probably, in certain ways, the smartest. He was also a coward. And he didn’t want to die. But think of it: Everybody was out, and we were able to search him down and find him in the tunnel. We knew the tunnel existed. And that’s where he was.
Q And you’ve taken a lot of heat for the Syria pullout. Do you think this will change the standing — your standing —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t have a Syria pullout. I just don’t want to guard Turkey and Syria for the rest of our lives. I mean, I don’t want to do it. It’s very expensive. It’s very dangerous. They’ve been fighting for centuries. I don’t want to have my people — 2,000 men and women, or 1,000, or 28. We had 28 guards. And I said, “I don’t want them there anyway. I don’t want them.”
Now, I will secure the oil that happens to be in a certain part. But that’s tremendous money involved. I would love to — you know, the oil in — I mean, I’ll tell you a story. In Iraq — so they spent — President Bush went in. I strongly disagreed with it, even though it wasn’t my expertise at the time, but I had a — I have a very good instinct about things. They went in and I said, “That’s a tremendous mistake.” And there were no weapons of mass destruction. It turned out I was right. I was right for other reasons, but it turned out, on top of everything else, they had no weapons of mass destruction, because that would be a reason to go in. But they had none.
But I heard recently that Iraq, over the last number of years, actually discriminates against America in oil leases. In other words, some oil companies from other countries, after all we’ve done, have an advantage Iraq for the oil. I said, “Keep the oil. Give them what they need. Keep the oil.” Why should we — we go in, we lose thousands of lives, spend trillions of dollars, and our companies don’t even have an advantage in getting the oil leases. So I just tell you that story. That’s what I heard.
Q Did Gina Haspel play a role in this? Can you talk a little bit about that? And I saw your NSC counter-terrorism director out in the hallway. Was there a role with NSC counter-terrorism?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. Everybody. Gina was great. Everybody played a role. Joe was great. Gina was great. They were all great.
Q Just to follow up, did your Syria pullout, did that generate the intelligence that led to this operation?
THE PRESIDENT: No. We were looking at this — look, as I said, Steve, I’ve been looking at this — I’m here almost three years. I’ve been looking at this for three years. They’d come in, “Sir, we have somebody under…” — I said, “I don’t want somebody. I want al-Baghdadi. That’s the one I want.” They’d said, “Well, we have somebody else.” I said, “That’s great. Fine. Take them out. But I want al-Baghdadi. That’s who I want. I don’t want other people.”
And then I also wanted Hamza bin Laden because he’s a young man, around 30, looks just like his father. Tall, very handsome. And he was talking bad things, just like his father.
You know, if you read my book — there was a book just before the World Trade Center came down. And I don’t get any credit for this, but that’s okay. I never do. But here we are. I wrote a book — a, really, very successful book. And in that book, about a year before the World Trade Center was blown up, I said, “There is somebody named Osama bin Laden. You better kill him or take him out.” Something to that effect. “He’s big trouble.”
Now, I wasn’t in government. I was building buildings and doing what I did. But I always found it fascinating. But I saw this man — tall, handsome, very charismatic — making horrible statements about wanting to destroy our country. And I’m writing a book. I think I wrote 12 books. All did very well. And I’m writing a book. The World Trade Center had not come down. I think it was about — if you check, it was about a year before the World Trade Center came down. And I’m saying to people, “Take out Osama bin Laden,” that nobody ever heard of. Nobody ever heard of. I mean, al-Baghdadi everybody hears because he’s built this monster for a long time. But nobody ever heard of Osama bin Laden until, really, the World Trade Center.
But about a year — you’ll have to check — a year, year and a half before the World Trade Center came down, the book came out. I was talking about Osama bin Laden. I said, “You have to kill him. You have to take him out.” Nobody listened to me.
And to this day, I get people coming up to me, and they said, “You know what one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen about you? Is that you predicted that Osama bin Laden had to be killed before he knocked down the World Trade Center.” It’s true. Now, most of the press doesn’t want to write that, but you know — but it is true. If you go back, look at my book. I think it was “The America We Deserve.” I made a prediction, and I — let’s put it this way: If they would have listened to me, a lot of things would have been different.
Q Sir, can you talk about some of the difficult decisions you had along the way here in this operation? Anything that weighed on you or that you had to —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, just death. I mean, you know, I’m sending a large number of brilliant fighters. These are the greatest fighters in the world.
Q How many?
THE PRESIDENT: I’d rather let the generals tell you, but a large number. We had eight helicopters and we had many other ships and planes.
It was a large group. And again, this is a large group heading over very, very strong firepower areas where — that was decision one: Will they make it? And they made it, but they took fire, but they made it. They didn’t take — we don’t believe, again, it was nation fire; we believe it was individual group fire or gang fire, as they call it. So, they made it, so that was a big relief.
Then they went in, they blasted their way in — you’ve heard. They blasted their way in so quickly. It was incredible. Because this building was quite powerful, strong. They blasted their way in, and then all hell broke loose. It’s incredible that nobody was killed — or hurt. We had nobody even hurt. And that’s why the dog was so great. We actually had a robot to go in the tunnel, but we didn’t get it because we were tracking him very closely. But we had a robot, just in case. Because we were afraid he had a suicide vest on, and if you get close to him and he blows it up, you’re going to die. You’re going to die. He had a very powerful suicide vest.
Q Did you have to make any decisions in the moment, while troops were on the ground?
THE PRESIDENT: No, they had it just incredible. We were getting full reports on literally a minute-by-minute basis. “Sir, we just broke in.” “Sir, the wall is down.” “Sir,” you know, “we’ve captured.” “Sir, two people are coming out right now. Hands up.” Fighters. Then, the 11 children out. Numerous people were dead within the building that they killed.
Then, it turned out, they gave us a report: “Sir, there’s only one person in the building. We are sure he’s in the tunnel trying to escape.” But it’s a dead-end tunnel. And it was brutal. But it was over. And as I said, when he blew himself up, the tunnel collapsed on top of him, on top of everything — and his children. I mean, so he led his three children to death. So, you know —
Q And in the tunnel, that’s when the robot followed him in? That’s why no troops died?
THE PRESIDENT: The robot was set to, but we didn’t hook it up because we were too — they were moving too fast. We were moving fast. We weren’t 100 percent sure about the tunnel being dead-ended. It’s possible that there could have been an escape hatch somewhere along that we didn’t know about.
So we moved very, very quickly. I mean —
Q Was he being chased then?
THE PRESIDENT: — these people, they were moving — they were chasing, yeah. They were chasing. But again, because the suicide vest, you can’t get too close.
Again, one of the reasons with the wives is if they have a suicide vest, you know, you have to be very, very careful. These vests are brutal. Brutal. And they go for a long distance.
Yes, please.
Q Have you spoken or will you speak to the families, like the Foley family?
THE PRESIDENT: I’m calling the families now. It will be a pleasure to do that. The Foley family, who I know. We’ll be calling Kayla’s family. What — what he did to her was incredible. It’s a well-known story, and I’m not going to say it, but you know that. He kept her in captivity for a long period of time. He kept her in his captivity, his personal captivity. She was a beautiful woman, beautiful young woman. Helped people. She was there to help people. And he saw her and he thought she was beautiful, and he brought her into captivity for a long period of time and then he killed her. He was an animal, and he was a gutless animal.
Thank you all very much. I appreciate it. It’s a very great day for our country.
Have you ever seen anything like it? Our media is in full blown meltdown over Barr/Durham. Every now and then, it helps to get the perspective from 30K feet. On the day when Dems had a better turnout for a funeral than a rally, it seemed like a good day for an overview.
President Trump keeps winning. Despite all attempts from media, the base is completely committed to President Trump and supporting the MAGA agenda at historic percentages. Our economy keeps rolling along. Personal confidence in economy was up almost another 3 points yesterday. From FLEP, we get polling showing Repubs have an 11 point enthusiasm advantage over Dems… TO VOTE + historic approval ratings from black men and the entire hispanic community. The OIG report is looming over the swamp of DC. Durham and Barr went to Italy, Giuliani is worming around unseen, and Sidney Powell moves in for “the kill shot” on the FBI/DOJ to save our hero, Lt General Mike Flynn.
If the Deep State wants to get “spooky”, we can do spooky, too. Our President is ready, and we’ve been ready for over three years…., nah, the comeuppance for the bureaucrats has been decades in the making.
The media is afraid, possibly for the first time in our lives and they’re spinning hard. It’s fun to watch.
Remember the Romney advisor who appeared on MSNBC last week who claimed “20 Republicans have told me (in secret of course, and only he knows about it) they would vote for impeachment”. Remember that one? Well, Lindsey’s resolution was signed by 50 Repubs today. Looks like the majority of the Senate is a “no go” for the folly of impeachment. Original paid polling showing support for the “inquiry” has been replaced by real polling showing the voters don’t like what the Dems are doing.
So today, our political opposition decided to attack Bill Barr and John Durham……. cuz the probe turned into a criminal investigation…… which means there might be a crime. Oh My!! Naturally, in the minds of liberals, this means Bill Barr should go to jail immediately. This is hilarious.
This is John Mitchell's mug shot. He was Nixons AG. He was indicted & jailed 4 his role in the Watergate cover up. This is what lies ahead 4 Barr. He's 4gotten there's no "memo" stating a current AG can't b indicted & jailed. #ImpeachBarrpic.twitter.com/96XecVVMzO
Seth Abramson thinks the President of the United States is an enemy of America who has attacked the homeland……. but Barr is protecting him. Seth is a columnist for Newsweek, a lawyer and a professor. Seth has popped a fuse.
All Americans need to understand that the Attorney General of the United States is a dangerous rogue actor seeking to undermine rather than uphold U.S. rule of law
Bill Barr is working day and night to absolve America's enemies of responsibility for their attacks on our homeland
Rachel Maddow was serious, upset, at the mere idea the Attorney General would investigate the origins of 2016 Russia hoax/FISAGate, which might imperil her friends.
All morning and most of the afternoon, Twitter trended hashtag: #ImpeachBarr. That’s right. No longer content to impeach the President of the United States, more than 68,000 American PER HOUR wanted to impeach the Attorney General………for doing his job.
(Snark!) We at Q Tree, being the incredible front line news org that we are, immediately called Bill Barr’s office for a response on the record. Here’s what he said:
And little Miss Rachel thinks John Durham reads Twitter, and surely he will see her tweet, cuz Rachel is mad…..and…. all… stompy foot. Looks like Rachel has lost her compass. Can anyone help Rachel find her compass?
This one comes with a warning. It’s a doozy. This guy has it all figured out. Nevermind Russia, Romania, China, Ukraine, or a deep state coup on a duly elected President. He thinks it’s all the fault of “Right Wing Catholics”. I kid you not. Do you remember when the left thought Deplorables were crazy? Folks, this is our sign. We’ve been vindicated.
Anyone surprised that #JohnDurham, #BillBarr's sidekick on this new DOJ criminal investigation OF the Russia Investigation is also #Catholic?
Many giving him benefit fo the doubt, just as they did with Barr. Would be great if media looked into the agenda of Right wing Catholics.
This is our competition for the 2020 election? These are the people who think they “have what it takes” to lead our precious USA? I don’t think so. Not persuasive, not compelling….. more like desperation and screeching.
I would rather hang out with normal people and be a happy Trumpkin.
The next few months will be a tough time for our President. We need to support him more than usual. Please think about dropping a note, a postcard, a nice email to the WH, and don’t forget staff members as well. They need to know we’re thinking about them, too. Prayers are welcome, but a postcard, WITH a prayer, wins the day. He carries a heavy weight on those big shoulders.
It might take a few more late nights dealing with the Dems, the media, the Never Trumpers, and the usurpers like those at Foggy Bottom.
At the end of this battle, Lady Justice will prevail. She must win. When the smoke clears, we’ll huddle together in awe of what we witnessed and tell our grandchildren. The years will slip by, and we’ll talk about the time when the world was dark, before Trump ran for President and we thought we were alone, when we almost lost hope, when we thought justice was gone, when we thought America would recede and China would rise….. the days….. before the sun came out.
Many define our battle as a clash of good over evil. Yet, we hope and pray there is enough good left in our fellow countrymen to join us. Some are filled with such hate, it’s not healthy. There will be up days and down days, on the WolfMoon Rollercoaster of Trump Supporters, but we understand. Yes, we completely understand the seriousness what is at stake.
Yet, we don’t quit. We’ll never surrender.We’re going to to be fine. We going to stick together like glue and grab a few confused Democrats along the way to the voting booth in 2020. We’ve grown far too accustomed to winning to stop now…..
We learned from the best!
Happy Halloween, Happy Fall, and have a good weekend!
