The Morning Briefing: Text Message Recovery, DACA Deal, FISA Fight and Much, Much More

Good Thursday morning.

Here is what’s on the President’s agenda today:

The President arrives at Zurich Airport
The President departs Zurich, Switzerland, en route to Davos, Switzerland
The President arrives at Intercontinental Davos Landing Zone
The President departs Intercontinental Davos Landing Zone en route to RON
The President departs RON en route to World Economic Forum Congress Centre
The President arrives at World Economic Forum Congress Centre
The President participates in a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The President participates in a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the State of Israel
The President meets with Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
The President attends a reception hosted by Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum
The President has dinner with European Business Leaders
The President departs World Economic Forum Congress Centre en route to RO

Hide and go seek, text messages edition

Thousands of FBI phones, not just the FBI’s hottest “it” couple’s phones, were affected by some hocus-pocus that prevented agency text messages from being archived during the most convenient time frame possible if agency employees were plotting a coup against the President. The good news is that the DOJ is recovering the messages.

Fox News’ Sean Hannity said Wednesday night on “Hannity” that the Justice Department has started recovering some of the missing texts between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, citing DOJ sources.

We’ll see.

Dispatches from the RUSSIA investigation

Yesterday, the president seemed to indicate he will talk to Grand Inquisitor Mueller. “I’m looking forward to it actually. Just so you understand. There’s been no collusion whatsoever. There’s no obstruction whatsoever. And I’m looking forward to it,” Trump said. Yikes, the president is a chatterbox, which will not serve him well in this situation. We have also learned that Mueller has interrogated more than 20 White House aides.

Anti-Trump forces were atwitter when it was revealed the president asked then-acting FBI Deputy Director “Andy’s office” McCabe who he voted for in the 2016 election, which was immediately interpreted as a loyalty test by detractors. It was probably a casual joke, but the left has no sense of humor, so IMPEACH. The president says he doesn’t remember asking McCabe this. Just to make sure you are keeping track of all the absurdities surrounding this investigation, McCabe’s wife took almost $700,000 for a failed political campaign in Virginia from Clinton chum and VA governor Terry McAuliffe, WHILE McAuliffe was under investigation by the feds for accepting campaign donations from shifty sources. These folks are above reproach, I tell ya’.

DACA, DACA, DACA

The White House will release its own DACA bill next Monday, according to Press Secretary Sara Huckabee Sanders.

“This framework will fulfill the four agreed-upon pillars: securing the border and closing legal loopholes; ending extended-family chain migration; canceling the visa lottery, and providing a permanent solution on DACA,” Sanders’ statement said.

Schumer says he will continue to obstruct the Dreamers from achieving legal protection in favor of advantageous political optics. He said on MSNBC: “God forbid, but the pictures of people being deported will rally the nation, and these more mainstream Republicans — admittedly, not a majority of the Republican Party, but enough — when they add them to Democrats, could pass the bill.”

So how many Dreamers will be deported because Schumer wants a 2018 political advantage? These Democrat folks are not interested in your welfare, Dreamers, I hope you see that. The New York Times reports that Trump is open to a path to citizenship for the Dreamers but that’s not good enough when Schumer has his eye on the real prize: partisan optics.

“Over a period of 10 to 12 years,” Mr. Trump said, “somebody does a great job, they work hard — that gives incentive to do a great job. Whatever they’re doing, if they do a great job, I think it’s a nice thing to have the incentive of, after a period of years, being able to become a citizen.”

FISA fight continues

The battle over the House Intel committee’s (HPSCI) memo about FISA abuse continues. The DOJ sent a letter to HPSCI warning that it would be”reckless” to allow the American people see what kind of shenanigans are going on within the highest levels of Justice.

In a letter sent Wednesday to California Rep. Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), Justice Department official Stephen Boyd argued that it would be “extraordinarily reckless” for the committee to release the memo without first consulting the Justice Department and FBI.

Boyd asserted that the “unprecedented” move could create national security risks and damage future investigations.

Leaker Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who basically live-tweeted Donald Trump Jr.’s closed-door confidential testimony before HPSCI, is out trying to spin the GOP memo, saying it is a “profoundly misleading set of talking points drafted by Republican staff attacking the FBI and its handling of the investigation.” The Democrats’ line is that the GOP is interfering with the Mueller investigation, which I remind you, began when fired FBI director James Comey leaked classified information to his friend/”lawyer” for the express purpose of launching an investigation into Trump. Gee, why are people skeptical the investigation is on the up and up?

Schiff says the Democrats have drafted a response to the memo, “setting out relevant facts and exposing the misleading character of the Republicans’ document.” He said the GOP memo “seeks to selectively and misleadingly characterize classified information in an effort to protect the President at any cost.”

No word on whether Schiff thinks he can get a sign-off from the intelligence committee to release his propaganda or if he will just release it without declassifying it. Probably the latter.

Meanwhile, still no evidence of RUSSIAN collusion.

Historical picture of the day:

President Ronald Reagan addresses a Joint Session of Congress and the nation by television in the House Chamber giving his State of the Union speech, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 1984, Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty)

Other morsels:

Satanist group challenges Missouri law on abortions

Woman in Los Angeles alleges Russell Simmons raped her in 2016

North Korea calls for unification of Korean Peninsula

GOP Sen. Gardner’s message to ‘Dreamers:’ There won’t be ‘mass deportations’

Trump administration presses ‘sanctuary cities’ for documents

Trump lashes out at mayors boycotting White House event

Gay couple sues State Dept for denying surrogate child’s citizenship

Report: John Kerry Contacted Palestinians, Ordered Them To Not Work With Trump

Cecile Richards to depart Planned Parenthood

Ariel Sharon allegedly ordered Yasser Arafat’s assassination

Toys R Us will close 180 stores across United States