Mueller Targets Brother of Hillary’s Campaign Chief

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While Special Counsel Robert Mueller continues to investigate allegations of Trump administration collusion with Russia in the 2016 election, the probe has expanded to the Democratic lobbying firm run by the brother of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign manager, according to sources who spoke to NBC News.

The report comes on the heels of news that an FBI informant was blocked from testifying of Russian efforts to influence the Clintons and the Obama administration regarding the sale of Uranium One to a Moscow-controlled company, which effectively gave the Russians control of 20 percent of U.S. uranium reserves.

The Podesta Group, run by Tony Podesta, the brother of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta, has a tie to Uranium One, having received $180,000 from the company to lobby Hillary Clinton’s State Department, according to Open Secrets. The New York Times reported in April 2016 that “as the Russians gradually assumed control of Uranium One in three separate transactions from 2009 to 2013, Canadian records show, a flow of cash made its way to the Clinton Foundation.”

Meanwhile, the Daily Caller News Foundation reported Monday the secretive, Kremlin-linked, green-energy company for which John Podesta served as a board member, Joule Unlimited, apparently met its demise because of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 election loss.

WND reported last year that Joule received $35 million from a Putin-connected Russian government fund at the same time then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spearheaded the transfer of U.S. advanced technology, some with military uses, as part of her “reset” strategy with Russia, according to a report titled “From Russia With Money” by the Government Accountability Institute. (Read more from “Mueller Targets Brother of Hillary’s Campaign Chief” HERE)

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Steve Bannon Delivers Blistering Attack on Former President George W. Bush

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Steve Bannon delivered a withering attack on George W. Bush Friday night, bluntly questioning the former President’s intelligence and his grasp of the concepts that he outlined in a speech that he gave New York this week.

“There has not been a more destructive presidency than George Bush’s,” Bannon said during his dinnertime address at the convention banquet of the California Republican Party. He said Bush had “embarrassed himself” with a “high falutin” speech.

“It was clear he didn’t understand anything he was talking about,” Bannon said.

“He has no earthly idea of whether he’s coming or going,” Bannon said, implying that Bush had mindlessly given a speech written for him by a speechwriter, “just like it was when he was President of the United States.” (Read more from “Steve Bannon Delivers Blistering Attack on Former President George W. Bush” HERE)

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US Preparing to Put Nuclear Bombers Back on 24-Hour Alert

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The U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers back on 24-hour ready alert, a status not seen since the Cold War ended in 1991.

That means the long-dormant concrete pads at the ends of this base’s 11,000-foot runway — dubbed the “Christmas tree” for their angular markings — could once again find several B-52s parked on them, laden with nuclear weapons and set to take off at a moment’s notice.

“This is yet one more step in ensuring that we’re prepared,” Gen. David Goldfein, Air Force chief of staff, said in an interview during his six-day tour of Barksdale and other U.S. Air Force bases that support the nuclear mission. “I look at it more as not planning for any specific event, but more for the reality of the global situation we find ourselves in and how we ensure we’re prepared going forward.”

Goldfein and other senior defense officials stressed that the alert order had not been given, but that preparations were under way in anticipation that it might come. That decision would be made by Gen. John Hyten, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, or Gen. Lori Robinson, the head of U.S. Northern Command. STRATCOM is in charge of the military’s nuclear forces and NORTHCOM is in charge of defending North America.

Putting the B-52s back on alert is just one of many decisions facing the Air Force as the U.S. military responds to a changing geopolitical environment that includes North Korea’s rapidly advancing nuclear arsenal, President Trump’s confrontational approach to Pyongyang, and Russia’s increasingly potent and active armed forces. (Read more from “US Preparing to Put Nuclear Bombers Back on 24-Hour Alert” HERE)

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Trump to Allow Release of Classified JFK Assassination Docs

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President Trump announced on Twitter that he will allow the release of thousands of classified documents about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy after years of delays.

The unexpected move means the trove of never-before-seen documents are set to be released by the National Archives by Oct. 26.

“The President believes that these documents should be made available in the interests of full transparency unless agencies provide a compelling and clear national security or law enforcement justification otherwise,” a White House official said Saturday afternoon.

The National Archives has until Thursday to disclose the remaining files related to Kennedy’s 1963 assassination. The trove is expected to include more than 3,000 documents that have never been released to the public and more than 30,000 that have been previously released but with redactions.

Congress mandated in 1992 that all assassination documents be released within 25 years, but Mr. Trump has the power to block them on the grounds that making them public would harm intelligence or military operations, law enforcement or foreign relations. (Read more from “Trump to Allow Release of Classified JFK Assassination Docs” HERE)

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Bannon: ‘We’re Putting Together a Grass-Roots Army’

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Steve Bannon, the chief executive officer of the Donald Trump presidential campaign, told California Republicans the future of the nation is in their hands by putting together a grass-roots political army based on “big bold ideas” like stopping illegal immigration.

“And we’re putting together a grass-roots army,” he said Friday. “A grass-roots army that is going to go door to door. That shows that we don’t need to raise hundreds and millions of dollars. The future of the state is in your hands and I mean that.”

The opposition, Bannon said, “has overplayed their hand. And they’ve given the Republicans and the conservatives the one weapon they need to destroy them.”

Bannon said the coalition necessary for future victories includes “populists and nationalists and evangelical Christians and conservatives and establishment Republicans. We had to put our differences aside in order to win.”

“If you have the wisdom, the strength, the tenacity to hold that coalition together, we will govern for 50 to 75 years,” Bannon said. “And it’s not going to be easy.” (Read more from “Bannon: ‘We’re Putting Together a Grass-Roots Army'” HERE)

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Harvard Professor Sues to Change Presidential Election System

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As Democratic leaders such as Hillary Clinton call for elimination of the Electoral College, a Harvard professor who launched a brief, dark-horse Democratic presidential bid last year, is preparing to file a lawsuit challenging the way the nation elects its presidents.

Lawrence Lessig’s suit doesn’t propose getting rid of the Electoral College, which would require a constitutional amendment, but he contends the winner-take-all system used by 48 states in awarding electors unfairly focuses the presidential races on a handful of battlegrounds.

The professor – who tried to persuade 20 Trump electors to break rank and vote for Clinton a week before the Electoral College vote last December – wants to implement a system in which electors cast ballots based on a proportion of the popular vote a candidate receives.

“With a winner-take-all, most of America is ignored,” Lessig said, according to FoxNews.com, contending the system violates the 14th Amendment’s one-man-one-vote principle.

Currently, all but two states award all electors to the winner of the state’s popular vote. Lessig said 24 people have volunteered to be plaintiffs in his lawsuit. The Constitution doesn’t dictate how electors are awarded, and Maine and Nebraska award electors according to the vote in each congressional district. (Read more from “Harvard Professor Sues to Change Presidential Election System” HERE)

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Federal Judge Refuses to Erase Joe Arpaio’s Conviction Despite Trump Pardon

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A federal judge on Thursday shot down former sheriff Joe Arpaio’s bid to sweep his criminal record clean.

Arpaio, the controversial former lawman in Arizona’s Maricopa County, was granted a pardon by President Trump on Aug. 25. He had been found guilty of criminal contempt of a federal court order after a five-day bench trial earlier this year and faced the possibility of up to six months in jail. After the pardon, the 85-year-old Arpaio petitioned the court to clear his record and prevent the ruling from being used in future litigation.

The case raised the novel question of how far a presidential pardon actually reaches.

In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton said the pardon only freed Arpaio from possible punishment. In a four-page order offering a check on the president’s executive power, Bolton wrote that a pardon could not erase the facts of the case. (Read more from “Federal Judge Refuses to Erase Joe Arpaio’s Conviction Despite Trump Pardon” HERE)

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Papers Filed to Disbar James Comey Following ‘False Testimony to Congress’

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Ty Clevenger, the “crusading lawyer” who has been trying for months to get Hillary and several members of her campaign staff disbarred in every jurisdiction from Little Rock, Arkansas to New York, has now set his sights on a new target: Former FBI Director James Comey. According to the Washington Times, Clevenger filed a bar grievance in New York this week accusing Comey of lying to Congress and destroying potential evidence in the Clinton email scandal, in a process that could end up costing him his law license.

Ty Clevenger filed the grievance in New York, where Mr. Comey was a former U.S. attorney and is licensed to practice law.

Mr. Clevenger said Mr. Comey’s testimony to Congress that he did not predetermine the outcome of the FBI’s probe into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is belied by revelations this week that he in fact started drafting an exoneration months before even speaking with Mrs. Clinton.

“Insofar as Mr. Comey gave materially false testimony to Congress, it appears that he violated Rules 1.0(w), 3.3(a)(1), and 8.4 of the New York Rules of Professional Conduct,” Mr. Clevenger wrote.

Clevenger also asked to renew grievances in New York against former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, saying that Comey’s claim that she tried to pressure him to downplay the Clinton probe should subject her to scrutiny. (Read more from “Papers Filed to Disbar James Comey Following ‘False Testimony to Congress'” HERE)

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U.S. Fiscal Year Deficit Widens to $666 Billion

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The U.S. budget deficit widened to $666 billion for the fiscal year 2017 as record spending more than offset record receipts, the Treasury Department said on Friday.

The 2017 deficit increased to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product. The previous fiscal year deficit was $586 billion, with a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 3.2 percent.

The latest fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, straddled the presidencies of Barack Obama, a Democrat, and Donald Trump, a Republican.

Accounting for calendar adjustments, the 2017 fiscal year deficit was $644 billion compared with $546 billion the prior year.

Fiscal 2017 revenues increased 1 percent to $3.315 trillion, while spending rose 3 percent to $3.981 trillion. (Read more from “U.S. Fiscal Year Deficit Widens to $666 Billion” HERE)

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Democrat Launches Trump Impeachment Campaign

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Billionaire investor and Democratic backer Tom Steyer has launched a national campaign calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment, only nine months into the president’s term.

Steyer started the “Need to Impeach” initiative on Friday with an ad calling on Americans to urge their members of Congress to vote the president out of office. In a statement, the organization said it would launch an “eight-figure” television ad purchase and a “seven-figure” digital buy.

In a video, Steyer called Trump “a clear and present danger who is mentally unstable and armed with nuclear weapons.” He accuses the president of taking the U.S. “to the brink of nuclear war” and obstructing justice by firing former FBI Director James Comey, among other charges.

The former hedge-fund manager is funding the impeachment campaign, according to its website . . .

Steyer, 60, founded the hedge fund Farallon Capital before retiring in 2012. He then launched NextGen America, a political organization that supports liberal positions on climate change, immigration and health care, among other issues. (Read more from “Democrat Launches Trump Impeachment Campaign” HERE)

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