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Trump Threatens 20% Tariffs On All Cars Coming Into US; Euro, Car Stocks Slide

Fiat Chrysler, Volkswagen, and BMW shares are sliding following the latest shot across the bow from President Trump in the global trade wars.

This time he took some time off from China and aimed at the European Union, threatening a 20% tariff on all cars coming into the US from Europe…

Of course, it is just this kind of escalation that most worried Goldman Sachs and as SocGen’s Albert Edwards notes below, this was not hard to foresee…

It doesn’t take a genius to see what’s coming down the line after completion of the current US probe into whether vehicle imports have damaged the US auto industry. President Trump has already told French President Macron to expect 25% tariffs on imported autos on the same “national security” grounds used to impose US steel and aluminium duties in March.

Currently, the US charges just 2.5% on car imports. This is lower than the EU’s 10% and China’s 25%, although the latter will lower its tariff to 15% from 1 July. And this is the key difference with China (and Japan) in its trade relations with the US. Both these countries will ‘play the game’ and make concessions as well as conciliatory noises. Germany, in my years of observation, will not. It will push back robustly and the legalistic bent of the European Commission will see tit-for-tat tariffs being implemented far faster than anything seen in the current US/China trade spat.

My own observation from a recent two-week trip driving around Lake Tahoe, Yosemite and Sequoia Park is that US automakers appear to have been virtually wiped out in the saloon car market there, and it seems about 80% of saloon cars on the road there are Japanese and South Korean rather than European. But maybe that is just a west coast thing.

The widely divergent 10% vs 2.5% tariff rate on autos between the EU and the US may indeed look like an anomaly in favour of the EU, but it is nothing compared to the 25% protection US light trucks and pick-ups receive (includes two-seat SUVs). No wonder US automakers are clucking all the way to the bank as they dominate this segment of the market.

And it’s not just automakers that are suffering, EUR is offered on the back of this…

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Migrants Boost Per Capita Incomes and Lower Unemployment Finds Yet Another Study

MigrantsJobsSilverblackDreamstimeMigrants and asylum seekers provide big net benefits to their host countries reports a new study in Science Advances by three French economists. The researchers used 30 years of data on migrant and asylum seeker flows into 15 western European countries. They were seeking to find what effect permanent migrants including refugees who sought and obtained asylum between 1985 and 2015 have had on subsequent GDP per capita, unemployment rates, government spending and tax collections in those countries.

Flows of asylum seekers and migrants varied between countries. For example, Austria received 2.35 asylum seekers and 4.06 migrants per 1,000 residents; Germany 1.51 and 3.79; France 0.68 and 1.14; Italy 0.27 and 2.56; and the United Kingdom 0.63 and 2.36 respectively. Portugal received the lowest of both at 0.03 and 0.47 per 1,000 residents. Over all, the flow of asylum seekers and migrants into the 15 countries averaged 1.13 and 2.57 per 1,000 residents respectively.

Once the economists crunched the numbers they found that migrant flows during the past 30 years have had substantial positive effects on European economies. Specifically, the researchers report that migrants “significantly increase per capita GDP, reduce unemployment, and improve the balance of public finances; the additional public expenditures, which is usually referred to as the ‘refugee burden’, is more than outweighed by the increase in tax revenues.”

The researchers add, “Our results suggest that the alleged migrant crisis currently experienced by Europe is not likely to provoke an economic crisis but might rather be an economic opportunity.” They do acknowledge that large flows of asylum seekers are posing political and diplomatic problems in many European countries. It is clearly the case that some politicians seek power by whipping up fears among native-borns about supposed irreconcilable cultural differences and economic competition from the newcomers. However, the researchers hope that “these political challenges may be more easily addressed if the cliché that international migration is associated with economic ‘burden’ can be dispelled.”

This new study bolsters the results of similar research on refugees and migrants in this country, including a review reportedly suppressed by the Trump administration last year, that finds that they increase incomes and are a net fiscal benefit.

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Italy’s Salvini: “We Need A Mass Cleansing, Street By Street, Quarter By Quarter” In The EU

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini continues to pile the pressure on Brussels and expose his more fascist credentials as he warned today that it will be decided within a year “whether a united Europe still exists or not,” according to Germany’s Der Spiegel.

“Whether the whole thing has no sense any more” will be seen in particular in talks on budget and within context of 2019 European Parliament elections.

On migrants, Salvini confirmed:

“We can’t take even one more, actually we want to hand over a couple,” adding that…

he is aware his stand on migrants could lead to fall of Chancellor Angela Merkel but this isn’t Italy’s intention “even though we’re very distant, not just on the migration issue.”

And finally, in a quite shocking comment during a BBC documentary on the Italian Interior Minister, Salvini says ominously:

“We need a mass cleansing. Street by street, quarter by quarter” in the EU.

Forward to 4:42 in the clip below…

All of which leaves Salvini’s call to NATO and the potential ‘help’ of the US 6th Fleet (as we discuss below) very much in play as Oriental Review’s Andrew Korybko details below,  President Trump may rescue Italy from the migrant crisis in order to further divide Europe.

Italy’s populist government that just came to power pledged to make the Migrant Crisis one of its main priorities, so it’s no surprise that it’s poised to take immediate action in delivering tangible results to the voters. Matteo Salvini, the head of the EuroRealist Lega party and Italy’s current Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister, said that:

“I am in favor of NATO, but we are under attack. We will ask NATO to defend us. There are many concerns about terrorist infiltrations. Italy is under attack from the south, not from the east.”

His statement importantly reaffirmed his country’s commitment to one of the pillars of Euro-Atlanticism but reinterpreted its purpose from the Establishment’s prevailing anti-Russian one to a more practical use in responding to human trafficking networks.

Proverbially putting his money where his mouth is, he refused to allow a boat full of hundreds of migrants to dock at any of Italy’s ports, writing instead on Facebook that “Malta takes in nobody. France pushes people back at the border, Spain defends its frontier with weapons. From today, Italy will also start to say no to human trafficking, no to the business of illegal immigration.”

His developing anti-migrant plan is therefore two-fold, with the first part dealing with external security in preventing the infiltration of more illegal migrants into Italy while the second one is domestically focused and concerns the fate of those who are already in the country.

It’s the international aspect of this campaign that Italy is seeking NATO’s help with, which is practical because the country is after all a member of the bloc and pays yearly dues to it.

The issue, however, is that the EU’s EuroLiberal Establishment is against any member state unilaterally taking a tougher stand against illegal migration, though it’s here where the ruling EuroRealists in Rome can take advantage of the developing Trans-Atlantic split between Washington and Brussels.

The US’ Sixth Fleet is based in Naples and has responsibility for all of the Mediterranean, and with Trump being on the same ideological wavelength as Salvini, it’s possible that the Pentagon could take the lead in this mission. The US’ interests would be served by this because it would be deepening its relations with Italy vis-à-vis a southern-focused patrolling mission against Africa just like it’s doing the same with Poland per the buildup against Russia, with these Southern and Eastern states replacing the Western ones of the UK, France, and Germany in strategic significance at the same time as their ties with America worsen over trade disputes.

Salvini’s invocation of NATO assistance in breaking up human smuggling rings might therefore actually provide the US with an opportunity to further break European unity as part of its multipronged asymmetrical offensive against the EU.

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No, the Sharing Economy Isn’t Dead: New at Reason

For years, we’ve heard about the growth of the sharing economy as online platforms like Uber continue to shape the U.S. economy. But how influential are they really?

A recent Bureau of Labor Statistics survey on alternative work arrangements claims that there are fewer independent contractors today than there were in 2005—back before Uber’s founding. Considering that the ubiquitous online platforms rely on independent contractors, this survey led some to declare the death of the sharing economy.

But don’t start writing the obituary for the side hustle yet. This new data doesn’t prove that the gig economy is dead, writes Jared Meyer.

View this article.

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Manufacturing PMI Plunges To 7-Month Lows: Orders Tumble As Prices Soar

Following a slight bump in EU Composite PMI this morning, US Composite PMI dipped in June (preliminary) data driven by a slump in manufacturing.

While Services PMI slipped lower, Manufacturing plunged to its weakest since Nov 2017.

More worrisome is that Stagflation is here –  New Orders tumbled to the lowest since September and inflation spiking with input costs at their highest since Sept 2013.

US continues to outperform according to the soft data surveys…

Commenting on the flash PMI data, Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at IHS Markit said:

“Price pressures remain elevated, however, widely blamed on a mix of rising fuel prices and tariff-related price hikes, as well as supplier’s gaining pricing power as demand outstrips supply for many inputs.

“Risks are tilted to the downside for coming months. Business expectations about the year ahead have dropped to a five month low, led by the weakest degree of optimism for nearly one and a half years in manufacturing. Exports are back in decline, showing the worst performance for over two years, causing factory order book growth to slump sharply lower compared to earlier in the year.

“For the first time this year, factory output is growing faster than order books, suggesting production may be adjusted down in coming months. Inflows of new business into the service sector have meanwhile cooled to the weakest since January. Finally, although employment is still rising strongly, even here there are signs of weakness, with the latest rise in payrolls being the lowest for a year.”

So surging prices are crushing orders and production is continuing to ignore it.. for now. That won’t end well.

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GM To Build Blazer In Mexico Despite Trump Anger

It appears the Trump touch – the President’s ability to browbeat individual companies into cancelling planned factory closures or expanding production in the US – is beginning to fade. To wit, General Motors on Friday openly defied President Trump, who has criticized automakers for building cars abroad, by revealing that it’s going to move ahead with plans to build the new Chevy Blazer SUV in Mexico, according to Reuters.

Trump has been pushing car companies to build more vehicles in the US as negotiations with Mexico and Canada over NAFTA have continued, despite increasing concerns on all sides that a deal to preserve the trade agreement might prove illusive. A spokesperson for GM said the company remains “committed” to working with the administration. “We remain committed to working with the administration on a modernized NAFTA,” GM spokesman Pat Morrissey said, adding the decision was made years ago.

Blazer

The new Chevy Blazer

Way back in January 2017, before Trump’s swearing-in, the then-president elect instigated a fight with GM, accusing the company of shipping Mexican-made cars into the US tax free, to be sold to US consumers.

In a tersely worded response, GM later explained that all Cruze sedans sold in the US market are built in the US, while Cruze models intended for global markets are manufactured in Mexico. Automakers have opposed the Trump administration’s push to renegotiate Nafta (after all, they’re the primary beneficiaries from the status quo). If certain of the Trump administration’s priorities are enacted – for example, stiffer content rules – these changes could prove immensely disruptive to automakers’ supply chains.

Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers Union said GM’s decision was “disappointing.”

The United Auto Workers union called the decision disappointing. “This is all happening while UAW-GM workers here in the U.S. are laid off and unemployed,” the union said in a statement.

Automakers have called NAFTA a success, allowing them to integrate production throughout North America and make production competitive with Asia and Europe.

The company unveiled the revival of the Blazer, which it hasn’t made since 2005, during an event in Atlanta on Thursday, CNNMoney reported. The car will go on sale next year.

We now wait to see if President Trump – who has been preoccupied lately with the collapsing push for immigration reform in Congress, a burgeoning trade war with China, and public outrage over his “zero tolerance” migrant detention policy – offers a response on twitter.

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Confusion Reigns As Government Contemplates What to Do with Immigrant Families: Reason Roundup

ProtestGovernment officials are planning to move as many as 20,000 illegal immigrants to military bases in order to keep families together, per President Trump’s recent executive order ending automatic separations of children and families. But the administration seems fairly confused as to how this will work, and wasn’t able to confirm whether the 2,300 children who were already separated from their families will be reunited. According to The New York Times:

The 20,000 beds at bases in Texas and Arkansas would house “unaccompanied alien children,” said a Pentagon spokesman, Lt. Col. Michael Andrews, although other federal agencies provided conflicting explanations about how the shelters would be used or who would be housed there.

It was unclear whether the military housing would also house the parents of migrant children in families that have been detained, and officials at the White House, Defense Department and Department of Health and Human Services said on Thursday they could not provide details.

The confusion is frustrating for folks inside the White House, POLITICO reports:

Frustrated White House aides said the damage created by the herky-jerky policy process is twofold. The president’s sudden decision to sign the executive order threw off a planned House vote that could have set in motion the permanent legislative fix the White House has been seeking.

More importantly, these aides said, the original zero-tolerance policy championed by senior presidential adviser Stephen Miller was not run through the Domestic Policy Council, which Miller oversees. Some in the White House are also unclear whether the executive order is legal, which is something that would have been determined by a regular policy process.

The government has been referring to the existing accomodatons for children under 12 as “tender age” housing. Psychologists say that keeping such young kids away from their parents is emotionally scarring, according to The Huffington Post:

The consequences of this continued separation, especially for infants and toddlers, could be dire. Not only are they separated from their parents — who have loved and cared for them since birth — but shelter caretakers stepping into the void have reportedly been compelled to withhold physical touch from the children.

“We have to recognize that youth makes you more vulnerable. It does not protect you from an event like this,” Ghosh Ippen said. “The No. 1 [priority] is to get these children back into the loving arms of a parent who can help them to calm down and regulate and who can really hold them as they express their feelings.”

Reports from tender-age shelters that hold the youngest migrants reveal that there are toddlers melting down in distress but that the caregivers are not allowed to pick up, hold or hug the children. One shelter staffer quit after being forced to tell children separated from their parents that they couldn’t hug one another.

Not to worry: both Stormy Daniels and Michael Avenatti are on the case.

FREE MINDS

Legendary conservative commentator Charles Krauthammer died yesterday after a battle with cancer. He was 68.

A frequent Fox News guest and Pulitzer Prize winner, Krauthammer was greatly admired. He survived a debilitating accident in his early 20s that left him paralyzed from the waist down, eventually becoming a psychiatrist, a speechwriter in the Carter administration, and then an editor at The New Republic. While his views moved rightward over time, he was widely respected in liberal circles. Real Clear Politics’ A.B. Stoddard, a close friend who appeared alongside him on Fox for a decade, wrote:

Being on the “Special Report” panel every week with Charles, from May of 2009 until August of 2017, was an honor and a privilege. He had a singular presence there, a towering intellect free of arrogance. But alongside his warmth and calm and ease, Charles concentrated intently because he cared deeply about his contribution to the topic at hand and the words millions would hang on. To focus himself, sometimes he mumbled quietly in French before we went live.

I’ve disagreed with plenty of things Krauthammer has written and said over the years. Still, I’ve found myself wondering what he would have said about the Trump administration over the past few months, had he been in better health. RIP.

FREE MARKETS

A San Francisco couple attempt to raise $1,500 on Facebook for immigrant children who were separated from their families by the U.S. government. In just four days, they raised $10 million. According to VICE:

“Most of us who donated today don’t know each other, but we were brought together by a common sense of what is right and what is wrong,” Charlotte Willner posted to the fundraiser’s page on the night it was launched. “That clear moral commonality is what will sustain us. It transcends almost everything. It is an enduring sense of what America ought to be about.”

Random people, coming together to voluntarily give money to needy children imprisoned by the government: sounds to me like a free market solution to a government failure.

QUICK HITS

  • What on earth was First Lady Melania Trump thinking when she donned a jacket bearing the message—”I REALLY DON’T CARE. DO U?”—for her trip to visit immigrant children? A spokesperson maintained that she wasn’t sending any kind of message, but… come on.
  • ABC’s Roseanne will return in the fall, minus Roseanne Barr. The network confirmed that it was working on a new sitcom featuring the various members of the Connor family who who aren’t portrayed by insane racists.
  • An inside look at how the Kirstjen Nielsen confrontation was organized.
  • The feminist scholar who asked, “Why Can’t We Hate Men?” responds to criticism.
  • The Federalist‘s Jesse Kelly throws a temper tantrum.

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Is This Why Germany Repatriated 583 Tons Of Gold?

Authord by Tom Lewis via GoldTelegraph.com,

Before declaring bankruptcy, Lehman Bros. had $639 billion in assets. It was thought to be too big to fail. Currently, Deutsche Bank has almost triple those assets, $1.7 trillion, but its future is in question. The bank’s net income plummeted by 80 percent from its 2017 level. The Federal Reserve has labeled Deutsche Bank’s US operation as troubled. And that might be an understatement.

The growing problems at Deutsche Bank, combined with unprecedented global debts, could spell economic and financial chaos. Deutsche Bank is only one of the major banks in trouble. Others are nipping at its heels.

Mismanagement has plagued Deutsche Bank’s U.S. operations for years. The Federal Reserve criticized it in 2014 for inaccurate reporting and regulatory violations. In 2015, 2016, and 2017, the Federal Reserve demanded corrections, but Deutsche Bank did not comply.

When Deutsche Bank’s stocks crashed, S&P downgraded the bank from A- to BBB+, a rating not far from junk. One of the problems cited by S&P was unstable and shifting leadership and generally poor performance.

Deutsche Bank is far from acknowledging any problems. Its new CEO Sewing spoke to his staff after the rating downgrade and reassured them of the bank’s inherent strength and future strategies. Following this speech, Deutsche Bank was forced to report a drop in revenues of 5 percent, and a decrease in income of 79 percent. Could Sewing have been a tad optimistic?

Its losses for 2017 were reported at 497 million euros, compared to the 290 million euros predicted by Reuters analysts. If Deutsche Bank is to survive, significant changes will have to be implemented. And so far, it’s not even acknowledging it has a problem.

While Deutsche Bank appears to be following in the footsteps of Lehman Bros., a comparison to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac may be more accurate. So far, the German government has denied any plans to bail out trouble Deutsche Bank, but this is likely change. Germany’s largest bank is more critical to its economy than Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were to the US. In addition, the German government would acquire Deutsche Bank’s assets at a fraction of their value. It is doubtful that Chancellor Merkel will be able to resist such temptation. Besides, allowing Deutsche Bank to fail could have catastrophic consequences for Germany and a bad effect on the global economy.

With a possible financial crisis looming, Germany has shown a renewed interest in gold. Gold has historically been the most reliable hedge against inflation, and Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, has repatriated583 tonnes, or $31 million worth, of gold recently, years ahead of schedule.

Deutsche Bank is not the only European bank with overvalued assets. If Deutsche Bank continues its path to a destructive downfall, other banks will be affected. That is the reason gold is looking like an excellent investment against any future financial ripple effect.

Deutsche Bank is suffering from a lack of faith for a reason. Gold could put investors’ minds at ease.

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With Bitter Parting Shot, CA State Senator Confirms Voters’ Wisdom: New at Reason

If voters had second thoughts about bouncing California state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) from office in a high-profile recall election held during the June 5 primary, his self-centered stem winder on the Senate floor should disabuse them of any such regrets.

this is wrong, this is an abuse of the recall process,” Newman said, comparing the recall to a “crazy dream.” He complained that some colleagues sat “idly by” while others “actively abetted” the recall. “Getting someone recalled, getting someone thrown out of their job, getting somebody like me who only wanted to serve, expelled—it’s pretty personal.”

Despite claims by the Democratic majority, which went all in to save a seat that gave them a Senate supermajority, there was nothing deceptive or unclear about the purpose of the recall. Newman cast a deciding vote in favor of a much-maligned and dramatic increase in gasoline taxes and the vehicle-license fee, writes Steve Greenhut.

View this article.

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Comey And Lynch Will Be Subpoenaed By Senate Unless Feinstein Obstructs

Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) says he’ll issue subpoenas for former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, but the panel’s top Democrat Dianne Feinstein (CA) has to agree to it per committee rules. Grassley also said he would be open to exploring immunity for Comey’s former #2, Andrew McCabe.

“I will want to subpoena him,” Grassley said of Comey during an appearance on C-SPAN’s Newsmakers.”

The Iowan added that committee rules require that he and Feinstein “agree to it, and at this point I can’t tell you if she would agree to it. But if she will, yeah, then we will subpoena.” –Politico

Feinstein may be hesitant to sign on, as she says she thinks Comey acted in good faith – which means she thinks Congress shouldn’t have a crack at questioning a key figure in the largest political scandal in modern history.

“While I disagree with his actions, I have seen no evidence that Mr. Comey acted in bad faith or that he lied about any of his actions,” said Feinstein during a Monday Judiciary panel hearing. Former Feinstein staffer and FBI investigator Dan Jones, meanwhile, continues to work with Christopher Steele and Fusion GPS on a $50 million investigation privately funded by George Soros and other “wealthy donors” to continue the investigation into Donald Trump.

Also recall that Feinstein leaked Fusion GPS founder Glenn Simpson’s Congressional testimony in January.

Comey skipped out on appearing before Grassley’s committee this week following the June 14 release of DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s (OIG) report on FBI conduct during the Hillary Clinton email investigation – which dinged Comey for being “insubordinate” and showing poor judgement. Horowitz is conducting a separate investigation into the FBI’s counterintelligence operation on the Trump campaign, including allegations of FISA surveillance abuse.

Maybe Comey also decided to bail after Horowitz admitted on Monday that he’s under a separate investigation for mishandling classified information after leaking a memo to the press documenting what he felt was President Trump obstructing the FBI’s probe into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn – which was conducted by the FBI under dubious circumstances, and for which evidence may have been tampered with. Comey’s memo was a key component in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s decision to launch a special counsel investigation headed by former FBI Director Robert Mueller. 

Loretta Lynch, on the other hand, was dinged in the IG report over an “ambiguous” incomplete recusal from the Clinton email “matter” despite a clandestine 30-minute “tarmac” meeting with Bill Clinton one week before the FBI exonerated Hillary Clinton.

All part of the bigger picture…

Despite IG Horowitz ultimately concluding that pro-Clinton / anti-Trump bias among the FBI’s top brass did not make its way into the Clinton email investigation, his report revealed alarming facts about FBI officials handling parallel investigations into each candidate who received vastly different treatment.

For starters, it’s clear that the FBI rushed to wrap up the Clinton email investigation before the election, while at the same time the agency launched an open-ended counterintelligence operation against those in Trump’s orbit. 

We also know that opposition research paid for by Hillary Clinton was used by the FBI to justify surveilling the Trump campaign – while new facts point to a multi-pronged campaign of espionage and deceit spanning several continents, governments and agencies which was deployed at the highest levels in an effort to undermine Donald Trump before and after the 2016 U.S. election.

Some have also suggested (Paul Sperry to be exact) that Cambridge professor and FBI “informant” (spy) Stefan Halper, may have had a much larger role in the operation.

Halper is a longtime spook whose ex-father-in-law, Ray Cline, was the former chief Soviet analyst and Deputy Director of the CIA from 1962 – 1966. Halper also spied on the Carter campaign during the 1980 election for Reagan – whose Vice President was former CIA director George H.W. Bush (Ray Cline denied the spying took place).

From 2012 – 2017, the Pentagon under Obama awarded Halper over $1 million in “research” contracts – nearly half of which was awarded during the 2016 US election. 

Award ID Recipient Name Start Date End Date Amount Awarding Agency
HQ003416P0148 HALPER, STEFAN 9/26/2016 3/29/2018 $411,575 Department of Defense
HQ003415C0100 HALPER, STEFAN 9/24/2015 9/27/2016 $244,960 Department of Defense
HQ003414C0076 HALPER, STEFAN 7/29/2014 7/31/2015 $204,000 Department of Defense
HQ003412C0039 HALPER, STEFAN 5/30/2012 5/29/2013 $197,626 Department of Defense

Then there’s the mysterious Maltese professor, Joseph Mifsud – a key witness in the Mueller investigation who disappeared last fall, and who told Trump aide George Papadopoulos that Russia had dirt on Hillary Clinton. Papadopoulos would drunkenly repeat the rumor to seasoned Australian diplomat (and Clinton ally) Alexander Downer in a London Bar, only to be construed by the FBI as potential collusion in order to justify their counterintelligence operation against Trump.

And just Monday Trump advisor Roger Stone said that a second FBI informant, Henry Greenberg, tried to entrap the Trump campaign with an offer to sell dirt on Hillary Clinton in exchange for $2 million.

While the entire mosaic of events is multi-faceted and requires perhaps the world’s biggest corkboard – here’s a basic timeline of various espionage or other spycraft conducted against the Trump campaign. 

April 26, 2016 – Maltese professor Joseph Mifsud – who told an Italian newspaper in November he’s a member of the Clinton Foundation, passed a rumor to Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Papadopoulos’ statement of offense also detailed his April 26, 2016, meeting with Mifsud at a London hotel. Over breakfast Mifsud told Papadopoulos “he had just returned from a trip to Moscow where he had met with high-level Russian governmental officials.” Mifsud explained “that on that trip he (the Professor) learned that the Russians had obtained ‘dirt’ on then-candidate Clinton.” Mifsud told Papadopoulos “the Russians had emails of Clinton.” –The Federalist

May 10, 2016 –  Papadopoulos tells this to former Australian Diplomat Alexander Downer during an alleged “drunken barroom admission.” 

Late May, 2016 – Roger Stone is approached by Greenberg with the $2 million offer for dirt on Clinton

July 2016 – FBI informant (spy) Stefan Halper meets with Trump campaign aide Carter Page for the first time, which would be one of many encounters. 

July 31, 2016  – the FBI officially launches operation Crossfire Hurricane, the code name given to the counterintelligence operation against the Trump campaign. 

September, 2016 – Halper invites Papadopoulos to London, paying him $3,000 to work on an energy policy paper while wining and dining him at a 200-year-old private London club on September 15. 

While the FBI has yet to find any evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, they were able to use information Mifsud planted with Papadopoulos to launch a counterintelligence operation.

And as new facts and revelations continue to emerge, and IG Horowitz continues to unravel the FBI’s counterintelligence operation on Donald Trump, several rank-and-file FBI employees say they want Congress to subpoena them so that they can step forward and testify against Comey and Andrew McCabe.

Funny – for two “innocent” people, Comey and Lynch want the exact opposite!

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