One could be forgiven amid the protests and continuing coronavirus crisis for forgetting that in Washington, DC, this week, Congress is looking into serious allegations that Barack Obama's Department of Justice was spying on the Trump campaign. In normal times, it would be the biggest news story in America, and Wednesday's shocking admissions by former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would be an absolute bombshell.

The key moment came in questioning from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who asked, "If you knew then what you know now, would you have signed the warrant application?," referring to a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant renewal concerning Trump campaign aide Carter Page.

"No," testified Rosenstein, "I would not."

And just like that, it became clear that the national torture of three years of the Russian collusion investigation simply should not have occurred. The problems were myriad. In Rosenstein's words, the FBI "was not following the written protocols, and that significant errors appeared in applications." What has emerged from the recent inspector general's report and this testimony is that the Obama administration's efforts to investigate and prosecute Trump administration officials wasn't based on facts, but negligence or malice.

What we are witnessing in these riots is the destruction of the Democrat Party. Staging these protests was their Hail Mary, their half-court three point shot as the clock hits zero. These events are only meant to divide the people, create a breakdown of order, and create chaos.

From that chaos we would find a public reaction to the state's actions that is blamed on the Oval Office, when it was local police chiefs appointed by Democrat mayors or National Guards under the orders of Democrat mayors who provoked the public the most.

Of course the policemen in the big cities, and guards are not themselves liberal. They aren't particularly conservative either, at least not in their propensity to resort to violence first; here they are liberal with violence.

They are neither left nor right, the big city cops love big public spending when its on their toys and weapons of public terrorism. They loved the militarization of the force that Obama backed with all his power.

Just set them loose against the public, and the Democrats play good cop bad cop. Allow corruption and institutional misanthropy to fester while departments pretend to conduct 'sensitivity training', and then set them loose on the people after order is allowed to break-down on purpose. Then try to channel all those frustrations against 'right wing things' to support more Democrats who make 'left wing promises'. Rinse, and repeat.

The Department of Justice on Monday unloaded on the antics of the rogue federal judge overseeing the Michael Flynn trial, accusing him of usurping the constitutional authority of the executive branch to make prosecutorial decisions and ignoring both statutory law and federal court precedent requiring him to dismiss the case against Flynn.

After Judge Emmet G. Sullivan refused to grant the unopposed DOJ motion to dismiss the charges against Flynn after the government unearthed and relevant reams of evidence that the government had abused its power and unlawfully targeted Flynn, Flynn's attorney Sidney Powell filed a writ of mandamus with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia asking it to order the trial court to dismiss the charges against Flynn. The appellate court ordered Sullivan to respond by close of business on June 1 and invited DOJ to file its own response as well.

In a sign of how important DOJ views the underlying constitutional issues in the case, the formal brief to the appellate court wasn't just signed by the line attorney managing the government's case. Instead, it was signed by Noel J. Francisco, the Solicitor General of the United States who is tasked with representing the U.S. government in the most important appellate cases across the country; Brian A. Benczkowski, the Assistant Attorney General and head of DOJ's entire criminal division; Deputy Solicitors General Jeffrey B. Wall and Eric J. Feigin; assistants to the Solicitor General Frederick Liu and Vivek Suri; Michael R. Sherwin, the acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia; Kenneth C. Kohl, the acting Principal Assistant United States Attorney for D.C.; and Jocelyn S. Ballantine, the line prosecutor handling the Flynn case at trial.

"The Constitution vests in the Executive Branch the power to decide when — and when not — to prosecute potential crimes," DOJ argued in its brief. Rules of federal criminal procedure, cited by Sullivan in support of his gambit to appoint himself both judge and prosecutor in the inquisition against Flynn, "do[] not authorize a court to stand in the way of a dismissal the defendant does not oppose, and any other reading of [those rules] would violate both Article II and Article III" of the constitution, DOJ wrote.

The media ignored only the second joint US-Russia statement in four years, to talk about silly hair and small hands.

"April 25, 2020, marks the 75th Anniversary of the historic meeting between American and Soviet troops, who shook hands on the damaged bridge over the Elbe River. This event heralded the decisive defeat of the Nazi Regime."

Thus reads the first paragraph of a joint statement by President Donald J. Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

This statement correctly is called "rare" by two of the very few mainstream media articles addressing it. Props to Reuters and the New York Post for this one.

The only other time the US and Russia issued a joint statement or declaration was when Putin and Trump met in Helsinki back in July 2018.

MI6's shadowy role in four separate Russia-related fake news scandals in recent years strongly suggests that it's being groomed to be the CIA's proxy for stopping Europe from moving towards Russia once Nord Stream II is completed.

The Looming EU-Russian "New Detente"

The impending completion of the Nord Stream II pipeline between Russia and the EU's de-facto German leader is one of the most important geopolitical developments in the continent today, leading to credible speculation that the bloc will inevitably enter into a "New Detente" with Moscow with or without Washington's support sometime after the project is finished. Should Trump win re-election, then the US might very well "approve" of this considering his recently reinvigorated relations with President Putin as of late, but even in that scenario, his "deep state" (permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies) might still try to foil his peacemaking plans. If Biden wins, however, then it's almost a sure bet that the US will do everything it can to undermine Europe's rapprochement with Russia. In any case, the "deep state" is still interested in retaining direct or indirect leverage over EU affairs so as to influence this process to the best of its ability.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that he does not support invoking the Insurrection Act, a law from 1807 that would allow President Donald Trump to deploy active-duty U.S. troops to respond to civil unrest in cities across the country.

"I say this not only as Secretary of Defense, but also as a former soldier and a former member of the National Guard, the option to use active-duty forces in a law enforcement role should only be used as a matter of last resort, and only in the most urgent and dire situations. We are not in one of those situations now. I do not support invoking the Insurrection Act."

Meanwhile, NBC News, citing two White House officials, reported that Trump is backing off the idea of invoking the act, at least for now.

Cyber extortionists have stolen confidential documents possibly containing information about the United States Minuteman III nuclear deterrent, according to reports.

The hackers retrieved the files via Westech International, a US Air Force maintenance and engineering subcontractor working on the LGM-30G Minuteman III land-based intercontinental ballistic missile, Sky News revealed.

The Minuteman III is a key nuclear deterrent system that controls thermonuclear warheads that can travel more than 6,000 miles (9,656km).

The information was reportedly stolen after the hackers managed to infect Westech International's computer network with ransomware. In classic ransomware fashion, the hackers then proceeded to leak documents online.

The group leaked personal information as well as email communications and payroll data to show Westech that it had been breached. Although the operation was achieved via ransomware, the sheer value of the information means that it is unlikely it will ever be retrieved, even if the ransom is paid.

During a briefing Wednesday afternoon, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany explained to reporters, specifically CNN's Jim Acosta, that the police and other law enforcement officers have the right to defend themselves. Her comments came after the Trump administration was accused of having "peaceful protestors" tear gassed and physically removed from Lafayette Park on Monday evening.

"No tear gas was used and no rubber bullets were used," McEnany explained. "No-one was tear gassed, let me make that clear. That's been confirmed by DOD and Park Services as well."

"Let me go back and address what happened, there has been a lot of misreporting," she continued. "The protestors were told three times over loud speaker that they needed to move and what happened was it grew increasingly unruly, there were projectiles being thrown at officers, frozen water bottles were being thrown at officers, various other projectiles and the offers had no other choice than in that moment to act and make sure that they were safe and that the perimeter was pushed back because as we all know a church was burning in that very area the night before so the appropriate action was taken...It's absolutely uncalled for to throw bricks. Absolutely uncalled for to throw water bottles that are frozen at police officers."

The UN rights chief on Wednesday decried "structural racism" in the United States, and voiced alarm at the "unprecedented assault" on journalists covering protests across the country after George Floyd's death in custody. Michelle Bachelet insisted that the grievances at the heart of the protests that have erupted in hundreds of US cities needed to be heard and addressed if the country was to move forward.

"The voices calling for an end to the killings of unarmed African Americans need to be heard. The voices calling for an end to police violence need to be heard. And the voices calling for an end to the endemic and structural racism that blights US society need to be heard."

Her comments came as thousands across the United States defied curfews for another night of rallies against police racism following the death of Floyd, an unarmed African American who stopped breathing as a police officer was filmed kneeling on his neck.

Bachelet stressed the need for clear and constructive leadership to bring the country through the crisis.

"Especially during a crisis, a country needs its leaders to condemn racism unequivocally; for them to reflect on what has driven people to boiling point; to listen and learn; and to take actions that truly tackle inequalities."

The US Federal Reserve's balance sheet could skyrocket to more than $9 trillion by the end of this year, amid massive interventions to shield the economy from the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Financial Times.

RT's Keiser Report looks at the chart, showing that in 2007 there was "barely anything" on the Fed's balance sheet. "The crisis hit in 2008 and you see the injustice of bankers getting bailed out when the rest of the economy was getting nothing," says Stacy Herbert.

Max Keiser says: "We know almost without doubt that it is going to over $20 trillion, it is going to go to $23-25 trillion and higher. We know that right now, that's not even up for debate."

He explains that "in 2008 the economy died and the only thing left was to print money to support the centillionaire class, and the only play left is to buy their stocks for them. That's it, that's all we got left."