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Author: Mary Chastain

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Mary Chastain

Mary is the resident libertarian. She covers stories in every vertical, but her favorite thing to do is take on the media. She saw its bias against the right when she was a socialist.

Mary loves the Chicago Cubs, Chicago Blackhawks, tennis, cats, Oxford comma, Diet Coke, and needlework.

The Committee to Defend the President (CDP), a pro-Trump PAC, has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for allegedly ignoring complaints of a supposed money laundering scheme used by failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's campaign and the DNC. CDP alleges that the campaign and DNC "used state chapters as strawmen to launder as much as $84 million in an effort to circumvent campaign donation limits, and the Federal Election Commission ignored complaints exposing the practice."

While Democrats may see momentum ahead of the November 2018 midterms, voter registration may have them pull back their excitement just a little bit. The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that the number of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents registered to votes has fallen to 75% from 84% in November.

In March, ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in the UK. He became the 15th exiled Russian poisoned in the UK, which set off new investigations into the previous deaths. Russian whistleblower Alexander Perepilichny was one of those who received a lot of attention after his death in 2012. Officials opened an inquest into his death after Skripal was poisoned. People have long thought someone poisoned Perepilichny, but a cardiologist told the inquest it could have been bad seafood. Really?

British intelligence officer Mark Sedwill penned a letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about the country's investigation into the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. The letter includes reasons why the UK believes Russia performed the attack, but also says that the Kremlin spied on Yulia's emails for years.

Last night, President Donald Trump announced that he ordered America's armed forces to target places in Syria associated with chemical weapons. A chemical weapon attack on Douma last weekend killed 70 people and injured at least 500 others. Minutes later, videos emerged of bombings in Syria. The Pentagon stated this morning that the coalition "successfully hit every target" in Syria.

As much as I dislike the United Nations, it's wonderful to hear Ambassador Nikki Haley shove the truth in Russia's face for everyone to hear. Last weekend, a chemical attack in Douma, Syria, killed dozens of people and injured many more. Syria blames Israel while Russia insists that the chemical attack was staged. Haley had no time for that crap and reminded Russia that no one believes them. She also told Russia if it had done its job then Assad wouldn't have these weapons.

The DOJ Inspector General dropped its report (pdf.)(full embed at bottom of post) on former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe and it's a doozy. It turns out that McCabe authorized a leak to the Wall Street Journal in an attempt to boost himself, but lied to investigators and former FBI Director James Comey. Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe in March due to recommendations from a department senior official and early reports on McCabe's behavior.

President Donald Trump has pardoned former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff Scooter Libby, who received a conviction of lying to the FBI and obstruction of justice in 2007.

The Republican National Committee published a website that will fact check a book by former FBI James Comey. From Fox News:
The RNC’s new website is www.LyinComey.com, where the GOP plans to fact check Comey’s book and use “rapid response” to highlight any “misstatements” or “contradictions” in it, according to an RNC official.

John Solomon, the vice president of digital video at The Hill, appeared on The Ingraham Angle last night to discuss the double standard of attorney-client privilege when it comes to President Donald Trump and failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The FBI recently raided the offices of Michael Cohen, Trump's lawyer, which led the president to declare that attorney-client privilege is dead in America. Many called him a whiner and found excuses to make an exception for this case, but weirdly enough, they and the FBI appeared to back the privilege when it came to Hillary.

Iran has stirred the pot even more with Israel by threatening the Jewish state after an airstrike on Monday killed several Iranian military personnel at an air base near Homs, Syria. Reuters reported that Israel faces even more security concerns over the possibility of US airstrikes in Syria after President Donald Trump threatened Russia over its support of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

PressTV, which is affiliated with the Iranian regime, has reported that the government has revealed a plan to change to the Euro "as its official reporting foreign currency" as the country's rial continues to plummet. The rial's problems have caused citizens to rush to the banks to take out US dollars. This week, 60,000 rials could be purchased for just one American dollar.

In a speech on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the country will open its markets and slash tariffs on auto import. It appears to be a concession to President Donald Trump, who has threatened tariffs on Chinese goods, which has led to fears of a trade war.

The New York Times has reported that the FBI raided the office of President Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen. They seized documents related to a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who claims she had an affair with Trump, along with other material after they received a referral from Special Counsel Robert Mueller.