U.S. Led Coalition Shoots Down Syrian Warplane – Syria Calls Attack By “American Zionist Project”

A U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian government SU-22 on Sunday after Assad’s forces reportedly bombed positions held by the ‘Syrian Democratic Forces’ in the southern Raqqa countryside.

There are conflicting reports – with the Syrians claiming they were conducting counterterrorism missions, and the United States claiming they were defending a Coalition partner whose mission is to defeat ISIS. An independent Syrian journalist named Alaa Ebrahim reports that the Syrian government plane was engaging a fleeing ISIS convoy.

#Syria army: #US-led coalition shoots down1of our fighter jets that was engaging a fleeing #ISIL convey in Rusafah 30km southeast of Araqqa

— Alaa Ebrahim (@Alaa_Ebrahim_tv) June 18, 2017

Which, as ZeroHedge reports – comes just days after the U.S. military reported watching ISIS escape from Raqqa.

US Report on Sunday’s downing of Syrian plane

According to the United States, the Syrian government launched an attack on the Syrian Democratic Forces Sunday afternoon in the town of Ja’Din at approximately 4:30 p.m. Syria time, wounding a number of SDF fighters and driving them from the town.

The U.S. then reportedly contacted Russia and told them to get Syria to de-escalate the situation. When that did not happen, a little over two hours after the initial attack on the SDF, a Syrian government SU-22 dropped bombs near U.S. backed SDF fighters south of the town of Tabqah, and was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet.

In a statement issued by the U.S. backed Coalition, the mission of the SDF is to “defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The Coalition does not seek to fight the Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat.”

Syrian Report

According to the Syrian government, they were conducting a counterterrorism mission in the region when the U.S. shot down their plane. From a statement issued by the Syrian General Command of the Army and Armed Forces:

The International Alliance (IAAF) this afternoon called for the targeting of one of our fighter jets in the Rusafa area in the southern Rifqa district while carrying out a combat mission against an organization calling on the terrorist in the area, which led to the plane crash and the loss of the pilot.

This blatant attack confirms beyond doubt the reality of the US position supporting terrorism, which aims to try to influence the ability of the Syrian Arab army the only effective force with its allies that exercise their legitimate right to fight terrorism throughout the territory of the homeland, especially as this attack comes at a time that achieves In which the Syrian Arab Army and its allies made clear progress in fighting the organization calling on the terrorist who is being defeated in the Syrian desert on more than one direction.

It also affirms the existing coordination between the United States of America and the organization of the terrorist advocate, and exposes the malicious intentions of the United States of America in the management and investment of terrorism to achieve its objectives in passing the American Zionist project in the region.

The General Command of the Army and the Armed Forces, warning of the serious consequences of this blatant attack on counterterrorism efforts, affirms that such attacks will not discourage them from their determination and determination to continue the war against the terrorist organizations and groups associated with them and restore security and stability to all the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.

SyAAF Su-22 was lost in #Rasafa area while striking #ISIS positions

— Within Syria (@WithinSyriaBlog) June 18, 2017

You American bastards just shot down my cousin's aircraft (Ali) while taking out the scumbags of ISIS in the area.
Ali hope you are OK bro? pic.twitter.com/z6IKFgbtqJ

— Majd Fahd ?? (@Syria_Protector) June 18, 2017

Who and what are the Syrian Democratic Forces?

Established in 2015, the Syrian Democratic Forces is a coalition of 13 organizations established with the stated mission of fighting ISIS and other terrorist organizations. Not much else is known about the organization.

At the time of it’s founding, SDF spokesman Şêx Bender Himêdî El-Deham said all the forces joining the Democratic Syrian Forces herald the birth of future’s Syria, adding; “This democratic step will enable the democratic unity of all Syrian peoples on the basis of women’s freedom. Our basic objective is the founding of democratic Syria.”

Stay tuned as 4chan dissects this shadowy Coalition the United States is suddenly defending with acts of war.

Trump attorney Jay Sekulow had a heated exchange with host Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday while discussing the President’s June 16th tweet about being under investigation for firing former FBI Director James Comey.

I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2017

When Wallace asked whether or not Trump was under investigation, Sekulow responded that the President had not been notified of any, and that his tweet was in response to a Washington Post article based on five anonymous sources who allegedly leaked to the paper.

Sekulow: Nothing’s changed since James Comey said the President was not a target or a subject of investigation.

Wallace: Well, but, you don’t know that he isn’t under investigation now, do you.

Sekulow: No one’s notified us that he is, so I can’t read people’s minds, but I can tell you this – we have not been notified that there is an investigation of the President of the United States.

Wallace then pushed Sekulow over why the President’s tweet targeted deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for ‘telling him to fire’ Comey, when Trump said in an NBC interview that he had planned to fire Comey well before meeting with the Deputy AG.

Sekulow: There is a constitutional issue when you have this scenario. The President made a determination based on consulted advice he decided ultimately he’s the commander in chief – he gets to make that decision that James Comey had to go.

Here’s where it gets spicy

In answering Wallace’s question, Sekulow prefaced his response with “Here’s the constitutional threshold question,” which Wallace interpreted as an admission of an investigation:

Here’s the constitutional threshold question Chris – the President takes action based on numerous events, including recommendations from his Attorney General and the deputy Attorney General’s office. He takes the action that they recommended, and now he’s being investigated by the Department of Justice…  So he’s being investigated for taking the action that the AG and deputy AG recommended him to take, by the agency who recommended the termination. So that’s the constitutional threshold question here.

Wallace jumped on Sekulow like a bespectacled vulture:

Wallace: You just said that he’s being investigated.

Sekulow: No, Chris… Let me be crystal clear so you completely understand. We have not received nor are we aware of any investigation of the President of the United States. Period.

Wallace: Sir you just said two times that he’s being investigated!

Sekulow: No… I just gave you the legal theory, Chris, of how the constitution works. If in fact it was correct that the President was being investigated, he would be investigated for taking action that an agency told him to take. So that is protected under the constitution as his article 1 power. That’s all I said, so I appreciate you trying to re-phrase it.

Wallace: Jay, the tape will speak for itself. You said that he is being investigated. And its’ not just being investigated for firing Comey, there’s also the question of what he said to Comey when Comey was still the FBI Director.

Sekulow: Chris, let me be clear. You asked me a question about what the President’s tweet was… that’s what you asked me. And I responded to what that legal theory would be. So I do not appreciate you putting words in my mouth when I’ve been crystal clear that the President is not and has not been under investigation. I don’t think I could be any clearer than that.

Wallace and Sekulow then sparred over whether or not Assistant AG Rod Rosenstein should recuse himself based on “constitutional theory.”

Does the President think that Rosenstein – because you talked about this ‘constitutional theory’ that he took action on the advice of Rosenstein. Does he think that Rosenstein should recuse himself? And is he laying the groundwork to fire Rosenstein and Mueller?

Sekulow: Chris – let me tell you one thing about the ‘Constitutional Theroy” as you call it. It’s actually called the Constitution.

Wallace: You do call it Constitutional Theory sir.

Sekulow: Yeah, it is a Constitutional theory based on the Constitution. Not ‘so-called’… it’s part of the Constitution. Here’s what you’re trying to do Chris…

Wallace: Now you’re reading minds again! …don’t tell me what I’m trying to do because you don’t know what I’m trying to do. Actually what I’m trying to get is a straight answer out of you.

Indictment?

Wallace then shifts the conversation to indictment, asking Sekulow whether or not the President thinks he can be indicted.

Wallace: As a matter of law, does the President think he can be indicted?

Sekulow: The President can’t be indicted under the Constitution for the activities alleged in something like this. Of course not.

Wallace: Why is that?

Sekulow: Because there’s not an investigation!

Wallace: Oh boy. This is weird. You don’t know if there’s an investigation.

President’s Tweets

Wallace: Do you think he should stop tweeting about this case?

Sekulow: The President has changed the way in which engagement goes on. You’ve got great ratings, no doubt about it Chris – but let’s face it; the President speaks to 107 million people through social media platforms. He revolutionized the election process by utilizing media in a different way.

Nothing that he’s tweeted is causing me any issues whatsoever at his point – nothing.

Video below:

asdf

Mark Levin – Radio host and Editor-in-Chief at Conservative Review, elegantly laid out how the Democrats have orchestrated a kangaroo court to go after the Trump administration with the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel in the FBI investigation Russia and the Trump campaign – referred to by many including Trump as a “witch hunt.”

You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history – led by some very bad and conflicted people! #MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2017

For starters, Comey and Mueller personal friends…

John Legato is a former deep cover FBI special agent – and he writes that Comey and Mueller – their families have vacationed together, have had picnics together, hours spent at the office together, had a few cocktails after work. So Mueller can’t possibly be impartial here. Not when he’s very close friends with a key witness.

The point is this – he’s not independent.

Levin then brought up the four democrat-supporting attorneys Mueller has hired for the investigation – which Newt Gingrich tweeted about last week:

Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair. Look who he is hiring.check fec reports. Time to rethink.

— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) June 12, 2017

Michael Dreeben – donated to Obama and Clinton

Jeannie Rhee – deputy assist AG, Wilmer Hale, Donated to DNC, Obama, Clinton

James Quarles – asst. special prosecutor, Wilmer Hale, long history of Dem donations, Clinton

Andrew Weissman – oversees fraud at Justice. Donated six times to Obama PACs as well as DNC in 2006.

Noting the hypocrisy of it all…

I can assure you if the shoe were on the other foot, if Hillary Clinton was being investigated like she should have been and there was a special counsel, and that special counsel had a close relationship with a key witness against Hillary Clinton, a personal relationship – a professional realationship, and if that special counsel had hired four republicans who were prosecutors that donated heavily to a Trump PAC or Trump campaign or Bush campaign, you would never hear the end of this. Never.

The hypocrisy, the contradictions smack you in the face.

Mechanics of the setup

James Comey’s leaked memo resulted in the Special Counsel, which has morphed in scope from Russian interference to obstruction and collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow – as well as the finances of members of Trump’s team such as Jared Kushner.

And so now, because Mr. Comey leaked the memo information and Mr. Rosenstein buckled under the slightest Democrat pressure, the Russia investigation has moved from a counter intelligence investigation to a criminal investigation, and now Mr. Mueller is claiming authority over all the Russia investigation, the Flynn investigation, now he’s looking into financial relationship.

And MORE Hypocrisy!

He’s [Mueller] not looking into any of the financial relationships between the Clinton Foundation and Russia. Any of the violations of the espionage act by Hillary Clinton and if the Russians got a hold of any of those emails. Mr. Comey nicely and neatly closed that investigation.

So what do we have now?

What have the democrats and Mr. Comey succeeded in doing? Completely gumming up the works at the Justice dept. Gumming up the works at the WH, and trying to create a pretext for impeachment.

Clip below. Well worth 16 minutes and 32 seconds of your life, and for more of Levin’s show from Friday, click here.

a

Seven sailors are missing and feared dead after the US Navy Destroyer USS Fitzgerald was involved in a collision with a 29,000 ton Philippine merchant ship ACX Crystal off the coast of Japan yesterday. The cause of the collision is unclear.

In addition to the seven missing sailors, Captain Bryce Benson and two other crewmembers of the Fitzgerald were airlifted to the hospital

‘It was a was real fight by crew to keep the ship afloat. Our concerns now are with ship mates; seven sailors missing and 2 evacuees. When the news came we were all focused on the safety of or ship and the crew,’ a naval spokesman in Yokosuka told DailyMail.com. ‘We at the base are still reeling from the events.’  –Daily Mail

Images of the PH Container ship that collided with the #USSFitzgerald. https://t.co/Olg3UGXrwI pic.twitter.com/mRu8rBY4qG

— Robert Speta (@robertspeta) June 16, 2017

Aerial footage shows extensive damage to the 9,000 ton $1.5 billion destroyer.

Navy Statement

UPDATE 10:18PM ET. Search continues for seven missing @USNavy sailors. #USSFitzgerald pic.twitter.com/yl3cQsL876

— Gab.ai/Powerwave20 (@Powerwave20) June 17, 2017

President Trump has sent his thoughts and condolences to those affected:

Thoughts and prayers with the sailors of USS Fitzgerald and their families. Thank you to our Japanese allies for their assistance. https://t.co/d1l5ctjNyB

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 17, 2017

Photos

After NBC’s Megyn Kelly lied to Alex Jones about the scope and purpose of an upcoming Father’s Day airing of his sit-down interview for Sunday Night With Megyn Kelly, the Infowars host set the record straight on Thursday night – preempting Kelly’s segment with ‘leaked’ recordings of their conversations before she could smear Jones on Sunday.

The Setup

As Jones and Kelly began to discuss the details of the interview, Kelly played the part of earnest lawyer turned plucky journalist – batting her eyelashes and insisting her new show was about profiling ‘interesting people’ so the public can get to know them better.

I’m trying to create a different kind of program. I’ll ask you about some of the controversies, of course, and you’ll say what you want to say. But it’s not going to be some ‘gotcha’ hit-piece, I promise you that.

I just want to talk about you. I want people to know you.

Of course I’m going to do a fair interview – I’m going to be me, you know, I’m not going to go out there and be a Barbara Walters… you just trust me.

-Megyn Kelly

Lies!

In a highly edited promo released ahead of Sunday’s airing, Kelly made it clear that she was gunning for Jones, and was about to twist the Infowars host’s coverage of the Sandy Hook massacre into the centerpiece of an attempt at character assassination. In response to Kelly’s promo, both Alex Jones and the families of Sandy Hook victims urged Kelly to scrap the interview, while JP Morgan and other advertisers pulled spots scheduled to air during the segment.

Kelly has defended the interview, issuing an inflammatory statement that Jones’ ‘Sandy Hook hoax claim’ is ‘revolting.’ In fact, the New York Post reports that Kelly has doubled down and ‘completely overhauled’ the interview, re-editing it to be ‘tougher’ on Jones and inviting Sandy Hook families on the program.

Preemptive Strike

When Jones suspected the interview might be a hit-job, he began recording conversations with Kelly – and to that end, released a 30 minute video on Thursday night featuring a behind the scenes look at their pre-interview encounter and provides context to Jones’ claims.

Megyn Kelly waltzed in here in Austin, Texas, and told me that she wasn’t going to talk about Sandy Hook, she wasn’t going to talk about Pizzagate, she wasn’t going to talk about Chobani, she wasn’t going to talk about Islamic terror attacks – that she wanted to do a softball profile of Alex Jones. And when she got here with her crew of intelligence operatives, she did the opposite of what she said. And so I was recording the whole time.

Jones proceeds to set the record straight on a number of issues…

Sandy Hook

“She didn’t show in her promo video that I said I believe Sandy Hook happened and that I had war gamed the three views – that criminal groups went in and killed the kids, or it happened as they officially said, or they use actors.”

Iraq War Lies

“We saw in 1990 our congress being lied to by the daughter of the head of a PR firm about Saddam Hussein’s soldiers killing hundreds of babies – bashing their brains out. It’s not that Saddam was a good guy…. We were lied to with propaganda that they admittedly came out and told us was a fraud later.”

Misquoting Jones on Pizzagate

Alex lays out how the MSM edited and ran with an incomplete statement of his that Hillary Clinton “personally murdered and chopped up and raped” children. The MSM twisted this into an accusation of Clinton’s involvement in the pizzagate controversy, however what the MSM left out was second part of that statement in which the Infowars host makes clear he’s talking about Clinton’s foreign policy decisions as Secretary of State resulting in the massacre of Christians at the hands of terrorists.

Also discussed are Alex’s Custody Battle, Kelly’s overt schmoozing, and the total media circus that’s erupted out of the entire affair.

Video Below:  

In the aftermath of a politically charged Bernie Sanders supporter targeting and gunning down members of the GOP during a baseball practice session, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein issued a statement Thursday warning people not to blindly accept news “attributed to anonymous ‘officials,’ particularly when they do not identify the country – let alone the branch or agency of government – with which the alleged sources are supposedly affiliated.”

Rosenstein was involved in anonymously sourced story last month in the Washington Post, which claimed the Deputy AG had threatened to resign based on the word of a “person close to the White House, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

Except that this was fake news which Rosenstein flat out denied.

The dangers of Fake News

This week’s shooting at a GOP baseball practice session by a crazed liberal proves that fake news hysteria has real world consequences. As David French of National Review brilliantly laid out in a prescient February letter written to anonymous sources:

“You’ve led us astray more than once. You’ve offered competing and incompatible stories about the allegedly “botched” special-forces raid in Yemen. A Washington Post blow-by-blow detailing an alleged confrontation between the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, John Kelly, and Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon had to be significantly revised. And let’s not forget that one or more of you leaked an “excerpt” of a transcript of Trump’s call with Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto that made it appear that Trump had threatened to invade Mexico, after which American and Mexican officials alike denied that any such threats were made.

You’re helping build and sustain an atmosphere of national anxiety and even (in some quarters) outright hysteria. You’re leading us to believe that the nation is in the very worst of hands, with incompetent and malicious people at the helm, ready or even eager to plunge the nation into new wars and completely unable to handle new crises as they emerge.”

Instead of owning up, the left doubles down…

In the aftermath of this week’s GOP shooting, the left has once again refused to consider introspection – going so far as to blame Trump for the incident.

The New York Times came out after the shooting and attempted to remind everyone how ‘crazed conservative’ Jared Loughner targeted Democrat Gabby Giffords due to a map published by Sarah Palin with Giffords in stylized cross hairs. Except the story was a flat out lie and the NYT was forced to retract.

Next, look at how Politico writer Darren Samuelsohn’s responds to Rosenstein’s statement – failing to address the entire point of the memo and instead complaining that it was “so generic and didn’t actually specify which news reports it was addressing” that it “caught many in Washington off guard.”

Really Darren? You think that after 18 months of anonymously sourced MSM lie after anyone was caught off guard?

And look at this smug asshole, whose father Irving was the ‘Godfather’ of Neoconservatism…

The Rosenstein statement suggests there must be a heck of a Trump story coming based on alleged information from anonymous foreign officials

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 16, 2017

Heaven forbid the media discover integrity and report how violent social conditioning, anonymously sourced Fake News articles, and a MSM which promotes and defends the destruction of democracy amounts to sedition.

After striking out on collusion and proffering another weak obstruction case, the deep state (via the Washington Post) reports that Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is trying to justify his existence by digging into the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner – President Trump’s son-in-law and advisor.

Speculation that Kushner had become a focus of the probe surfaced nearly a month ago when the Washington Post reported that a senior advisor to the President was under suspicion. Contributor to New York magazine, GQ, and HuffPo – Yashar Ali, dropped a bit of insider info (someone keep an eye on this guy):

It's jared Kushner have confirmed this with four people. I'm not speculating

— Yashar Ali (@yashar) May 19, 2017

Kushner may be in a sticky situation over meetings with Russian government and banking officials at a time when the Kushner family sought financing for a $1.8 billion office building on Fifth Avenue in New York.

The White House has said that the subsequent meeting with the banker was a pre-inauguration diplomatic encounter, unrelated to business matters. The Russian bank, Vnesheconombank, which has been the subject of U.S. sanctions following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, has said the session was held for business reasons because of Kushner’s role as head of his family’s real estate company. -WaPo

More recently, Kushner came under fire for reportedly trying to establish a diplomatic ‘back channel’ with Russia (which suggests there was none to begin with, libtards.)

Is this it for the Kush? Is his career as Israel’s most important asset in the White House up in smoke? This, and more, on the next episode of DC Witch Hunt.

Now we know why Jared Kushner insisted that James Comey be fired. Kushner was a focus of the FBI investigation. Who's the "nut job" now?

— Andy Jones (@andyojones) May 19, 2017

President Trump has been dropping MOABs over Twitter, blasting his enemies for what he called the “single greatest WITCH HUNT In American political history” while nothing is being done about the fact that “Crooked H destroyed phones w/ hammer, ‘bleached’ emails, & had husband meet w/AG days before she was cleared – & they talk about obstruction?”

Trump raised the question as to why he’s being investigated for what he calls “non-dealings” with Russia, while completely ignoring the cozy relationship between the Clintons, the Podestas, and Russian banking and energy interests.

As ZeroHedge reports:

[Trump] seems to have a point on this one.  Last summer, we reported fairly extensively on the Hillary email scandal while it was virtually glossed over by the mainstream media.

And, like many people, we were astonished when FBI Director Comey made the unilateral assessment that, despite Hillary’s “extreme carelessness,” no “reasonable” prosecutor would bring charges against her. 

Unlike the current “Russia probe” which has revealed precisely zero tangible evidence, the FBI’s own reports from last summer revealed that Hillary and her staff intentionally destroyed official State Department emails despite confirming they were aware of the existence of a federal subpoena demanding the preservation of those emails (we covered it extensively here:  The “Oh Shit” Moment: Hillary Wiped Her Server With BleachBit Despite Subpoena).

Let’s add a bit more color and review the Clinton’s actual shady ties to Russia. From the NYT:

Between 2008 – 2010, Uranium One / UrAsia investors donated $8.65 Million to the Clinton Foundation.

June 2009, Russian State Nuclear Agency Rosatom (through a subsidiary) takes a 17% stake in Uranium One.

June 2010, Russian State Nuclear Agency Rosatom takes majority ownership of Uranium One, which Hillary Clinton’s State Department signed off on.

June 29th, 2010, Bill Clinton earns $500,000 for a speech in Moscow to a Russian Investment bank that assigned a “buy” rating to Uranium One stock.

January, 2013: Rosatom State Nuclear Agency now owns Uranium one and takes it private.

Wait, you say – that Uranium deal had to go through an adviiiisory committee (Michael Savage voice). Know what? That committee is a joke…

“The committee almost never met, and when it deliberated it was usually at a fairly low bureaucratic level,” Richard Perle said. Perle, who has worked for the Reagan, Clinton and both Bush administrations added, “I think it’s a bit of a joke.” –CBS

Let’s talk transparency:

Clinton failed to disclose the $2.35 Million in donations (made in installments) from Uranium One chairman Ian Telfer to a nebulous slush fund subsidiary of the Clinton Foundation, set up by mining executive Frank Guistra (whose company merged with Uranium One). Guistra donated $31 Million to the Clinton Foundation. How charitable! (read more here in the New Yorker)

Let’s not forget – Russia’s largest bank – Sberbank – paid the Podesta group $170,000 over a 6 month period to lobby against 2014 economic sanctions put in place by the Obama administration:

Podesta’s efforts were a key part of under-the-radar lobbying during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign led mainly by veteran Democratic strategists to remove sanctions against Sberbank and VTB Capital, Russia’s second largest bank.

The two Russian banks spent more than $700,000 in 2016 on Washington lobbyists as they sought to end the U.S. sanctions, according to Senate lobbying disclosure forms and documents filed with the Department of Justice.

The Podesta Group charged Sberbank $20,000 per month, plus expenses, on a contract from March through September 2016.

What’s more – Podesta forgot to register as a “Foreign Agent” while doing so!

So let’s get this straight; White House regular and creepy art aficionado Tony Podesta, brother of John Podesta (who would be Secretary of State today if Hillary had won), took money from the Russians during the US election in exchange for Washington influence.

This is not the first time the Podesta group has taken Russian money:

The Podesta group made $180,000 lobbying for Uranium One (source – you have to add up the years). These donations were made over the same time period that the Clinton Foundation was receiving millions from UrAsia / U1 interests. Tony Podesta also sat on the board (along with senior Russian officials) of a small energy company called Joule. Two months after Podesta joined the board, Joule landed a sweet $35 Million contract from Vladimir Putin’s Rusnano investment fund – which Podesta failed to disclose as required by law. Oh, and before joining the Clinton Campaign, John Podesta transferred 75,000 shares of Joule to his daughter through a shell company with her address. Maybe the optics didn’t look good or something? 

Given all that – do you think Hillary and associates would be under congressional investigation right now if she had been elected President?

Nope.

Bitcoin and other “cryptocurrencies” have been kneecapped after jumping as much as 30% in June to all time highs. Investors are spooked over recent cyberattacks, uncertainty surrounding a Bitcoin platform upgrade, and proposed legislation which adds cryptocurencies a list of reportable assets under existing anti-money laundering laws.

Cyber attack

As CNBC reports, major bitcoin exchanges were hit with multiple cyberattacks this week. Bitfinex, the largest U.S. dollar based bitcoin exchange, announced it was under ‘distributed denial-of-service’ attacks (DDOS) which slowed the service down.  The attacks come at a time when consumer interest in bitcoins have also led to heavier than normal traffic on the exchanges, compounding the attacks.

We are currently running slow due to a DDoS attack, hang tight while we make some adjustments to speed it up. #bitcoin #localbitcoins

— LocalBitcoins.com (@LocalBitcoins) August 16, 2016

Platform upgrade

On August 1st, the bitcoin platform will be undergoing a protocol upgrade labeled BIP148, meant to solve the block size debate – an argument over the size of bitcoin’s ‘blocks’ (a record of transactions on the public ledger – the ‘blockchain’). The planned improvements are supposed to help ‘scale’ bitcoin for future growth, lower fees, and speed up transaction times –  however the upgrade is not without risks, and the Bitcoin community is divided.

#Bitcoin scaling negotiations / compromises are over.
Either we support BIP148 and save Bitcoin from destruction or 8 years gone to waste. ?

— Hisham Fahmy (@fahmyeu) June 14, 2017

Whether we like it or not, at this point not supporting BIP148 is the dangerous path. With most risks being to miners & services, not users.

— Neo M. Atrix (@RedPillTrading) June 4, 2017

Inclusion in Anti-Money Laundering Bill

Last but not least, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have co-sponsored bill S.1241 (Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Counterfeiting Act), which adds language to existing anti-money laundering provisions to include digital wallets, prepaid access devices, and other ‘digital currency exchangers’ if they contain over $10,000 of cryptocurrency.

Also included in the bill are cell phones, flash drives, and computers containing information on holdings which will need to be declared and reported upon entry into the U.S.

In other words, the notion of using digital currency to transact anonymously will become much less attractive if this bill is signed into law.

Demand for cryptocurrencies has skyrocketed over the last few months, beginning with Japan recognizing bitcoin as legal currency in April. Other countries including South Korea and Malaysia are reportedly set to follow suit.

Where to from here?

While Bitcoin grapples with technological hurdles and legislation which would reduce the appeal of digital wallets, it’s anyone’s guess where cryptocurrencies are headed in the near term – though some say much lower if it continues to break below key support levels.

That said, if more firms follow Goldman Sachs’ lead and start covering Bitcoin – and perhaps even become involved in the exchanges, digital currencies stand to gain general acceptance as a store of value. If so, it will be interesting to see what happens to digital fiat currencies if we enter into another period of financial shock and awe (Euro edition?).

After almost an entire year of fruitless investigation into whether or not Russia meddled in the US election, the Washington Post is reporting that FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller widened the scope of his Russia investigation shortly after former FBI Director James Comey’s firing on May 9th to determine whether or not President Trump attempted to obstruct justice – according to FIVE (!?) anonymous sources.

Spoiler alert; it’s about Trump allegedly asking two other intelligence officials to drop the Flynn investigation – one of whom said he ‘never felt pressured to intervene.’

Mueller’s team is reportedly set to interview Daniel Coats, the current director of national intelligence, Mike Rogers, head of the NSA, and Richard Ledgett – Rogers’ departed deputy, about an alleged meeting Trump held which may have been inappropriate.

Coats was attending a briefing at the White House with officials from several other government agencies. When the briefing ended, as The Washington Post previously reported, Trump asked everyone to leave the room except for Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.

Coats told associates that Trump had asked him whether Coats could intervene with Comey to get the bureau to back off its focus on former national security adviser Michael Flynn in its Russia probe, according to officials. Coats later told lawmakers that he never felt pressured to intervene.

A day or two after the March 22 meeting, Trump telephoned Coats and Rogers to separately ask them to issue public statements denying the existence of any evidence of coordination between his campaign and the Russian government.  –WaPo

Officials say Coats and Rogers refused to comply with the president’s requests – while Ledgett wrote an internal NSA memo documenting the call between Rogers and Trump.

Striking Out

After nearly a year of investigation, the FBI wasn’t able to find any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin – and James Comey testified that President Trump wasn’t personally being investigated. Moreover, Comey, Dan Coats and Mike Rogers – if the WaPo report and it’s 5 anonymous sources is accurate – all said they never felt pressured to end the Flynn investigation. The definition of a nothingburger.

Don’t worry though #NeverTrumpers – once this Mueller story is exhausted the deep state will shift to the recently filed lawsuit over Trump’s business entanglements. Doesn’t it seem like they’re obstructing the President at this point?