Trump’s VP Pick

posted by J. Robert Smith at American Thinker 

Donald Trump knew what he had to do nearly eight years ago. As a political outsider, he played the smart card. Trump, the GOP’s presidential nominee, picked a stiff as his running mate, someone that, first, reassured the Republican establishment. That stiff was Mike Pence. No, no, no… Set aside hindsight. Pence was a solid choice in July 2016.

Trump wanted to build a Team of Rivals. Pence was meant as a bridge to the Ryans and McConnells and the broader D.C. establishment. That move failed bigly. The establishment didn’t want a bridge. Accommodation? Nah, unless Trump sold his soul.

Now it’s 2024. Trump doesn’t owe the rotting establishment a blessed thing -- other than payback (alternatively called justice). His veep pick this go-round won’t have anything to do with making nice to D.C. lifers. Trump has been emancipated by the very elites who have worked overtime to trip him up and destroy him. The irony is richer than Mark Zuckerberg.

What scares elites is that Trump as 47 would be “one and done.” His 48-month lease on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would expire at high noon on January 20, 2029, no exceptions. No looking ahead to a second term. No worrying about reelection. Trump unleashed makes elites tremble.

Of course, Trump has to get elected. Given the crummy state of the nation and Biden’s feebleness and corruption, Trump wins a fair fight. But the fight coming will be anything but fair, that we know. We’re in for a heckuva brouhaha. Victory isn’t guaranteed.

Last Sunday, Trump downplayed who he’d pick as his running mate. He told Fox News’ Brett Baier (via The Hill) that “People won’t be that surprised.” Of course, Trump knows a wee bit about marketing. Is it possible that he’s underselling? Everything is timing, so maybe Trump is planning a surprise.

Trump also said: “Well, it’s [the VP pick] never really had that much of an effect on an election, which is an amazing thing, both election and primary.”

True that mostly, particularly when Trump is centerstage. Trump rivets. The man is a phenomenon in politics. Otherwise, voters are wondering if the ‘24 elections explode. It’s kind of a morbid fascination. Add to the mix the establishment’s fiendish attempts to railroad 45. If lawfare doesn’t work, the elites will hatch other schemes to try to waylay Trump. By comparison, a VP pick may seem incidental, but it’s not, not this go-round.

In fact, for Democrats, the veep choice wasn’t an afterthought in 2020. Cast your mind back four years. Elites insisted that addled Joe Biden run with acid-tongued, birdbrained Kamala Harris. She’s of-color and identifies as female, though that ranks lower than trans, nonetheless… Brains, talent, temperament? Small stuff.

If Biden is incapacitated or dies, does anyone this side of box checking progressives and googly-eyed suburban women believe that President Kamala would imperil the Republic?

Reports the Guardian: a new book out on January 24 quotes a top-level Harris 2020 campaign staffer as saying, “This person [Harris] should not be president of the United States.”

No gray area there.

Plenty of former Harris staffers have poor-mouthed Kamala. SFGATE, December 6, 2021, quotes an ex-staffer as saying: "With Kamala you have to put up with a constant amount of soul-destroying criticism and also her own lack of confidence. So you’re constantly sort of propping up a bully and it’s not really clear why."

X22, And we Know, and more- January 26

 

Trump: America’s ‘Coat’ for a Globalist Winter

posted by J.B. Shurk at American Thinker 

Market researcher and financial cycle analyst Charles Nenner has described Donald Trump in an insightful way.  In an interview earlier this month, Nenner predicted that we are simultaneously entering both a devastating global war cycle and a damaging downward financial spiral that cannot be stopped and will likely cause more human misery than the world has endured for quite some time.  While lamenting that this economic and social catastrophe is all but certain, he returned to his emphasis on cycles by saying, “You have summer and then you have winter,” and the best that anybody can do before winter arrives is to “buy a coat.”  When asked how Donald Trump’s return to the presidency might change things, he answered directly, “Trump is going to be the winter coat.  I think he can make it less bad.”

Trump is America’s winter coat.  What an apt metaphor for a man who takes all the bad weather around him in stride as he trudges up and over each new hill.  Trump is a man for all seasons, to be sure, but he seems singularly built for withstanding the fiercest winter storms.  As the global “elite” angrily watch President Trump become the Republicans’ presumptive nominee once again, some will wonder how this real estate titan and television celebrity whom they have long scorned has managed to survive endless partisan witch hunts, two farcical impeachments, outright bureaucratic sabotage, an onslaught of civil lawsuits targeting his wealth and reputation, a news media establishment that relentlessly impugns his character with outrageous lies, and a Deep State–directed “justice” system that seeks his death in prison.  The simplest answer is that Americans have long been searching for a leader not only willing to confront the D.C. Leviathan’s malevolent corruption, but also of sufficient grit to persevere against the “ruling class’s” inevitable vengeance.  

The Deep State’s worst strategic blunder has been its insistence on ruthlessly punishing Donald Trump for choosing to be the voice of tens of millions of forgotten Americans.  By throwing one challenge at him after the next and giving him the opportunity to prove his strength and determination, the D.C. Leviathan has cemented Trump’s reputation as a man of uncommon fortitude.  People sometimes have trouble distinguishing between heroes and villains.  When a man is endlessly tormented for the ideas and people he represents, and when the government engages in a punitive campaign of lawfare and lies to cut him down, nobody struggles to spot the good guy fighting back against evil.  Americans were looking for a warrior, and Donald Trump accepted the challenge.  The entrenched bureaucracy responded by erecting a nightmarish gauntlet certain to leave anyone bloodied and bruised.  To the D.C. despots’ amazement, Trump continues to run through an inferno of injustice that would have incinerated most.  Ironically, it is the Deep State that has proved the president’s mettle.

From the way global “elites” continue to disparage him, it would seem that they have not learned a thing.  As unindicted co-conspirators met for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting of crime families intent on stealing wealth and freedom from anyone not invited, the topic of conversation on the tip of every tyrant’s tongue was Donald Trump.  Could he really win re-election even if convicted in Merrick Garland’s kangaroo courts?  Would he really bring peace to Europe before BlackRock and Western politicians could make fortunes from their investments in Ukraine’s demise?  Would he wreck their plans to use pandemics and cyber-attacks to herd Westerners into digital pens?  Would he commit heresy on the global stage by calling out “climate change” communism as nothing more than a manufactured fear campaign intended to induce national populations into handing over their personal freedoms and their countries’ sovereignties?  Would he — egad! — take a strong position in defense of national borders, freedom of religion, and free speech?  For the Marxist globalists who either already own slaves or are busily constructing a “new world order” so that they may soon have some, the idea that Donald Trump might return as an American president committed to the protection of human liberty is downright terrifying!

Speaking after President Trump’s landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses last week, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo of Belgium concluded before a sullen E.U. Legislature, “If 2024 brings us ‘America first’ again, it is really more than ever ‘Europe on its own.’”  In trying to lift the spirits of a European “ruling class” that has depended on America’s security umbrella while it invests in Marxist socialism, De Croo urged the Old Guard not to “fear this perspective,” but rather to “embrace it.”  That’s a long overdue revelation.  For eighty years, American taxpayers have subsidized a European political class that has insisted on steering the continent toward the same tyrannical totalitarianism that Americans fought and died to vanquish during WWII.  Perhaps a little European self-sufficiency will do some good for the millions of ordinary Europeans whose desire for freedom from government oppression could be aided by lifting America’s purse from a scale unfairly tipped in the socialists’ favor.  

Strangely enough, it was President Trump who demanded that European member-states pay their financial commitments to NATO’s military alliance, and it was President Trump who encouraged Germany to become less dependent on Russian energy for survival.  In both instances, the European “ruling class” laughed in his face.  It is all the more strange, then, that Europe’s “elites” continue to paint Trump as an existential threat when he has tried to save them from their own follies.  In truth, Trump is dangerous only to a “ruling class” that refuses to change or respect the rights and liberties of the people.  

Nenner is correct that “winter is coming.”  Inflation, illegal immigration, and violent crime are destroying society while an illegitimate “ruling class” desperately divides and distracts the people by inciting racial prejudices and inventing imaginary forms of “hate.”  Not content with merely impoverishing the middle class, “elites” wish to crush Westerners’ spirits by leading an all-out attack against religious belief, self-determination, and free speech.  Paradoxically, the “ruling class” believes it can save itself by sacrificing Western civilization.  

People see what’s happening.  They know that global “elites” are working to establish central bank digital currencies before decades of reckless money-printing and spending precipitate economic collapse.  They know that the World Economic Forum seeks to own everything, while ordinary people are left with nothing.  They know that Big Tech companies conspire with national spy agencies to track the public’s movements and speech.  They know that the COVID “vaccines” were neither safe nor effective, and they know that the “ruling class” insists on ignoring that truth and mandating even more experimental treatments in the future.  They know that “climate change” communism has more to do with population control than environmental conservation.  And they know that their governments are working to institute digital IDs, social credit scores, and universal government welfare as part of a technocratic effort to leave humanity in chains.

A watershed moment in Western history approaches.  It is why, as William Brooks writes, the “enraged neo-Marxists” have unleashed an “era of Kafkaesque absurdity” in which “no one is safe.”  President Trump, he notes, “has endured some of the most savage and desperate partisan assaults in U.S. history.”  It is why George Soros’s son, Alex, appears to have called for an assassin to take Trump’s life.  The “ruling class” is desperate because, as Newt Gingrich recognizes, Trump alone is “standing and representing all of us who need protection from an out-of-control left-wing government, and ... that gives him a strength that we have probably not seen in modern times.”

President Trump remains the “winter coat” that Westerners desperately need.  He cannot prevent the cold weather ahead, but he can help us endure the worst of it.

Peter Navarro's Sentencing Has People Talking About This Subpoena-Dodger

Rebecca Downs reporting for Townhall 

As Leah covered earlier on Thursday, former Trump adviser Peter Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison and ordered to pay a $9,500 fine for his refusal to honor a subpoena from the January 6 select committee. Such a setencing had people not only talking about Navarro and the select committee, but about Hunter Biden. The first son was supposed to have appeared for closed-door testimony on December 13, but instead gave a press conference on the Senate side of the Capitol and then went on his way. 

In addition to "Peter Navarro," there's been trends over X such as "And Hunter" and "Where's Hunter" to highlight people's concerns with such unequal treatment when it comes to defying subpoenas. "Eric Holder" has also trending, as the Republican-controlled House voted in 2012 to hold Obama's attorney general in contempt of Congress after he refused to turn over documents in the Fast and Furious scandal. His Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to bring charges though.

Last year, Hunter had received subpoenas to appear for closed-door testimony. He offered to appear for public testimony, but House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) shot down that idea. Comer, along with House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) made clear to Hunter and his attorney Abbe Lowell that Hunter was still expected to appear for his December 13 testimony.

Instead, Hunter Biden showed up to the Senate side of the Capitol that day, gave prepared remarks to the press without taking questions, and left. The space was reserved by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), who is actually a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

On January 10, the Oversight and Judiciary Committees held markups to hold Hunter in contempt, with Lowell later calling upon the chairmen to reissue subpoenas. 

Hunter's "sugar brother," friend, and attorney Kevin Morris provided testimony last week. That transcript was made public on Tuesday, and towards the end of the interview, Morris was asked about though he would not speak to the documentary project that Morris and Hunter Biden are working on. 

This included when asked "did you do any filming at all when you were on the Capitol Hill on December 13th of 2023 instead of Hunter Biden being at the deposition?" Morris’ attorneys insisted that that was privileged. Counsel conducting the interview did point out that that "also… goes to the question of, you know, obstructing our work" when it comes to the committees looking to hear from Hunter.

Morris said that he had been filming for legal proceedings, but he and "partners" have not yet decided if it will be used for the documentary project. 

Although Morris was with Hunter during his brief appearance at the House Oversight Committee’s markup on January 10 to hold him in contempt, his attorney Bryan Sullivan claimed that "that is outside of the scope." Morris wouldn’t even speak to when he learned that Hunter decided to make that appearance, again citing attorney-client privilege, although he and his attorneys teased that he might "someday" be able to, "[i]f Hunter lets him." Morris and his attorneys would not answer as to if there was any filming at the December 13 press conference or when Hunter appeared for the markup. 

Other transcribed interviews from Mervyn Yan and Rob Walker are expected to be released soon. 

What's the latest with Hunter? He's set to provide testimony on February 28. He already caved by agreeing to show up. Continuing to focus on holding him in contempt would seem particularly tempting to send a message, but it's also key to get his testimony when it comes to any insight he may be able to provide about the Biden crime family. In an episode of "The Verdict" from earlier this month, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) urged House Republicans to focus on getting the testimony, with Cruz emphasizing that the focus ought to be on President Joe Biden.

Report: The Obamas 'Working' to Take Biden 'Out' of Race, Barack Telling Him to Quit

Nick Arama reporting for RedState 

There have been multiple reports about Barack Obama and his aides being worried about how Joe Biden and his teams were conducting their campaign. 

Obama was supposedly worried about the strength of Donald Trump and that the Biden campaign wasn't hitting the ground running. Obama aides put a sharper point on that, admitting that the "bromance" with Joe Biden was always exaggerated and that the Biden campaign "didn’t have its s--- together,"

There were also suggestions from some, like Cindy Adams, that Michelle Obama might wiggle into the race and that she was "terrified" of what could happen. 

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Obama Aides Dish More on Biden's Campaign, Claim It Doesn't 'Have Its Shit Together'

Obama Worried About 2024 Biden Campaign, Aides Dish on Tension Between Camps

Is Michelle Obama About to 'Wiggle Into' the 2024 Presidential Race?

---

Now, interestingly, the Obama reports are getting more pointed in the attacks on Biden, as our sister site PJ Media explained, citing a report from Radar Online.

Insiders "snitched" that tensions exploded between Obama and Biden when an "irate Obama rushed to a secret meeting and confronted Biden about his fading chances to fend off surging Republican candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming November election." 

"Obama read Joe the riot act," spilled a Beltway insider to the National Enquirer. "He told him to up his game or step aside for a candidate who can win the race." [....]

In desperation, sources said Obama bellowed at bumbling Biden to go on the attack — and make sure trusted aides are constantly by his side on the campaign trail to keep them from committing the disastrous gaffes that have defined his presidency. [....]

"The Obamas are convinced Joe's lost his grip," confided the insider. "He looks more feeble and clueless every day, and they know he's lost the confidence of the public."

After the "frightening episode" when Biden forgot what he was doing while placing a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and had to be directed by soldiers on duty, sources say Obama huddled with David Axelrod. 

"Obama is letting Axelrod be his public mouthpiece about Joe's incompetence and declining mental capacities," dished the insider. "Meanwhile, he and Michelle are working behind the scenes to take him out."

Axelrod, of course, has been warning that Joe should get out and that he may lose if he doesn't. Biden alleged referred to him as a "prick." 

Biden's confusion and problems are now going to get a lot more attention as the race heats up, and the pressure on the Democrats to do something to save the race is going to heat up as well. I believe the rumors about Michelle Obama about replacing Biden because why should she? She now has fame and a ton of money without having to be bothered  But expect more pressure and stories as Democrats cast around to figure out how to get out of the mess they have created for themselves. 

Big Daddy Government Wants to Install Governors to Prevent Cars From Speeding

Matt Funicello reporting for RedState 

On Wednesday, California State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Fransisco) introduced a slate of proposed legislation, all under the guise of highway safety, including one measure that would limit any vehicle's ability to go more than 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit. Senate Bill 961, which was part of a package named the Speeding and Fatality Emergency Reduction on California Streets, or SAFER California Streets, would require all vehicles manufactured and sold in California to have a speed governor or limiter installed that would restrict the vehicle's speed to 10 mph above the legal limit. 

According to Wiener's press release regarding his slate of bills, he states that a third of the traffic deaths in California from 2017 to 2021 were caused by speeding. The data provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety on page 36 states that between 2017 and 2021, speed-related deaths account for roughly one-third of the total deaths for each calendar year. Wiener uses this as his justification for introducing SB961, along with the rest of the bills in the SAFER California Streets package. 

The specifics of SB961, on the surface, appear innocent enough, but when you take a deeper dive into it and read between the lines, you should be concerned about a few things. First off, we do not know the specific costs of the bill. For example, no projected costs related to enforcement and or implementation of the law are included. Additionally, the text of the bill only describes the intent and language of the new vehicle code; it makes no mention of methods of enforcement, punishments for violations (other than listing them as criminal offenses), etc.  

The most important piece of information that is missing is how Wiener, and by definition, the state, intends to implement an enforcement mechanism. Meaning: How do they intend to be able to initiate the speed governor or limiter when the vehicle goes more than 10 miles an hour over the posted speed limit? If passed, will the state then begin construction on all roads and highways to emplace equipment that is capable of electronically monitoring the roads and highways, with the additional ability to wirelessly disable a vehicle's throttle? According to Wiener's press release, he mentions what the limiters are and how they function. The parts in bold should concern you. 

Speed governors, also referred to as speed limiters or Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA), are vehicle technologies that prevent vehicles from exceeding a certain speed. Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) refers to systems that use GPS technology and sometimes on-board cameras to determine the speed limit on a specific roadway, issuing driver warnings through audio, visual, or vibration signals and/or limiting vehicle speeds accordingly. 

It means that the Big Daddy government will have the ability to constantly monitor your vehicle's speed AND LOCATION — at all times. Now, this may not seem like a big deal for some, but it is a big deal for me, knowing that the government knows where I am in my vehicle at all times. I will concede the point that while I am in public, on a public road or highway, I do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Meaning that anybody can see me and my vehicle, including an officer of the law. They can all see how slow or fast I am driving, and at any time, if an officer of the law sees a violation, they can stop me to conduct an investigation and then send me on my way. The point is that this is all just temporary, whereas a GPS monitor in your vehicle would be the same thing as someone on probation or house arrest wearing a GPS monitor; it is constant and unending. When asked about his legislation, Wiener said what any politician would say about government surveillance laws — it's not an overreach at all; these are simply "commonsense actions" for public safety.  

"I don't think it's at all an overreach, and I don't think most people would view it as an overreach, we have speed limits, I think most people support speed limits because people know that speed kills."

When they say it's not an overreach, it is most definitely an overreach. Because even while the engine is off, some modern vehicles' electrical systems are passively monitoring things. Most modern GPS tracking units have an internal capacitor to keep them in a passive state, even after power is cut off, to remain discoverable by satellites. Modern cell phones also have this ability, as long as there is power in the battery, even while powered off, the phone can and does broadcast and receive location information from GPS systems in short bursts. Meaning that the state will possibly have the capability, if the law passes, to know where you are at all times, even if you aren't driving. That is, by definition, an overreach.  

I understand that speed can and does cause serious bodily injury and or death. High speeds are inherently dangerous and come with their inherent risks when abused. Deaths caused by speed are almost always a byproduct of inexperience, ignorance of the weather and/or traffic conditions that made the speed unsafe — or a blatant criminal or negligent act. In plain speak, it's almost always people who are driving way beyond their abilities or experience, they are drunk/high, or they are running from the police. 

It all boils down to the point of being free from government surveillance when I am driving my vehicle. I do not trust the state, or the federal government for that matter, to not abuse the abilities and capabilities of this bill if it were to become law. Time and time again, the government has shown that it will abuse the law, or at the very least, push the boundaries of the law, to achieve a goal of their making. This is just one more law that makes Big Daddy government that much bigger and that much more abusive.

Tucker Gives “Freedom” Speech in Canada – Justin Not Happy with Talk of “Freedom”

Justin from Canada is oh not too happy with Tucker Carlson for traveling to Calgary (rebellious audience 4,000) and then stadium show for 8,000 rebels in Edmonton.  Apparently, Justin does not like it when Tucker comes to Canada.   WATCH:

[JUSTIN is Big Mad – Article Here]

The English-speaking world is reaching its limit. Our speech in the Oilers arena in Edmonton. pic.twitter.com/CdKydy6RM7

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) January 25, 2024

Report: America’s ‘Weak’ Military Is Unable To Juggle Multiple Regional Conflicts At Once

Shawn Fleetwood reporting for The Federalist 

The U.S. military is “weak” and at serious risk of being unable to address significant regional conflicts simultaneously should they arise, a new report found.

Released on Wednesday, The Heritage Foundation’s 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength report revealed how America’s premiere fighting force is ill-equipped to protect U.S. national interests. The 2024 analysis represents the second consecutive year Heritage’s index rated the U.S. military as “weak.”

“As currently postured, the U.S. military is at significant risk of not being able to defend America’s vital national interests,” the document reads. “This is the inevitable result of years of prolonged deployments, underfunding, poorly defined priorities, wildly shifting security policies, exceedingly poor discipline in program execution, and a profound lack of seriousness across the national security establishment even as threats to U.S. interests have surged.”

In assessing the military’s effectiveness, Heritage analyzed the “capacity,” “capability,” and “readiness” of every branch of the armed services and provided each with an “overall” score. From worst to best, the scale used to rate each branch is: very weak, weak, marginal, strong, or very strong.

While the Army and Space Force were classified as “marginal,” the Navy and Air Force were graded as “weak” and “very weak,” respectively. The report specifically highlighted the Navy’s waning fleet size and inability to repair ships in a timely fashion as major problems facing America’s maritime power. Similarly, the analysis noted the Air Force’s failure to maintain at least 1,200 “active-duty, combat-coded fighter aircraft” needed to “manage more than a single major conflict” as a factor contributing to its poor score.

The Marine Corps garnered a “strong” classification, making it the best-rated branch scored by Heritage. The report noted this was because “the Corps’ capacity is measured against a one-war requirement rather than two (to which the other services are held) and because the Corps sustained its efforts to modernize … and enhance its readiness during the assessed year.”

Heritage also rated U.S. nuclear capabilities as “marginal.”

The Marine Corps and Space Force were the only branches of the U.S. military to meet their 2023 fiscal year recruiting targets. The Army, Navy, and Air Force missed their goals by roughly 10,000, 7,400, and 2,700 recruits, respectively.

In addition to assessing the military’s internal problems, the Heritage report examined the force’s operating environment in various regions of the world and America’s biggest adversaries. The analysis highlighted China as the nation that represents the “most comprehensive and daunting national security challenge” facing America domestically, regionally, and internationally, and specifically noted the People’s Liberation Army’s increasingly aggressive behavior and expanding warfare capabilities.

“The Chinese military can no longer be viewed as a distant competitor,” the report reads. “If current trends persist, the gap between the Chinese and U.S. militaries will likely narrow further, and the idea that China might surpass U.S. capabilities in some fields will seem far less implausible.”

Other international antagonists detailed in the analysis include Russia, Iran, North Korea, and a “broad array of terrorist groups.”

“The 2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength sounds a loud alarm on the decade-long saga of our military’s decline—a perilous path marked by years of overextension, deployments, and a lack of prioritizing defense spending on what is needed to fight and win America’s wars,” Heritage’s Rob Greenway and Dakota Wood said in a statement. “Yet, the chance to restore American military might remains—if we heed the urgency and act decisively.”

Ukraine Intelligence Officer Confirms Russian Claim of Airplane Shoot Down Filled With POW’s

Sundance reporting for Conservative Treehouse 

On Wednesday, Russia claimed an IL-76 transport aircraft carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs was shot down en route to a POW exchange in the Belgorod region.

Western media, particularly those with a vested anti-Russia narrative, expressed skepticism of the Russian statement, including the claim that Ukraine had shot down the plane.  However, the BBC has an outline [SEE HERE] based on a conversation with a Ukrainian intelligence official that seems to directly corroborate the Russian statements.

Oddly, but perhaps not unexpectedly, the BBC article is framed to retain the skepticism; however, if you read the article carefully, what you will notice is the details are generally confirmed.

Yes, there was a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine military that was supposed to take place in Belgorod on Wednesday, at the exact time the plane was shot down.   Yes, for some unknown reason the prisoner exchange did not take place as the POWs never arrived.  Yes, there was a previous POW exchange that took place in this exact same Belgorod location, and yes, a Russian IL-76 aircraft was previously used to transport the Ukraine POWs.

(Via BBC) – … [Ukraine Intelligence Officer] Andriy Yusov stressed that Russia had provided no proof to back its claims there were. “There is no clear information about prisoners of war. There are only statements by Russia, of a political and propagandist nature,” he said. “Who or what was on board needs to be clarified.”

Mr Yusov, who is the first Ukrainian official interviewed by the BBC since the incident on Wednesday, accused Moscow of “hiding” information, with limited images from the crash site – including of any dead.

Here’s where the article seems to confirm the Russian story:

“Russian air defence was working against them. Belgorod is also potentially within the range of Ukrainian air defence systems.” … “On the prisoner swap, he confirmed an exchange had been planned on Wednesday “around lunchtime”. But it was meant to take place in the Sumy region, west of Belgorod.” … “He said the two sides implemented a ceasefire in Sumy, as agreed. “Unfortunately, the exchange did not happen.” … “On 3 January, during the previous swap, he said Ukraine was informed that Russia would use a plane. On Thursday, Ukraine’s Air Forces chief stressed that the country had the right to defend itself against attack by Russia and would continue to do so.”  (link)

If you take out all the narrative engineering from the article, then just take those excerpts from Ukraine intelligence in total, they seem to confirm everything Russia outlined about the transport of 65 Ukrainian POWs to Belgorod.

Why would Russia have to tell Ukraine again how the POWs would arrive, when they already told them the first time – and they were simply repeating the same process.

The plane never arrived, and the 65 POW exchange never happened, because Ukraine shot down the Russian transport plane.