Diane is a perfectionist. She enjoys searching the internet for the hottest events from around the world and writing an article about it. The details matter to her, so she makes sure the information is easy to read and understand. She likes traveling and history, especially ancient history. Being a very sociable person she has a blast having barbeque with family and friends.
Julian Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks,
has been arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The Metropolitan Police arrests Assange for
“failing to surrender to the court” over a warrant issued in 2012. He
is found guilty and faces up to 12 months in prison, as well as extradition
over US charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.
Julian Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 to avoid
extradition to Sweden over an assault case that has since been dropped.
At Westminster Magistrates’ Court on April 11, he was found guilty of
failing to surrender to the court.
Julian Assange now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the
largest ever leaks of government secrets.
The UK will decide whether to extradite him, in response to allegations by
the DoJ that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning
to download classified databases.
Julian Assange, 47, faces up to five years in US prison if convicted on the
charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.
His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said they would be fighting the extradition
request. She said it set a “dangerous precedent” where any journalist
could face US charges for “publishing truthful information about the
United States”.
Jennifer Robinson said she had visited Julian Assange in the police cells
where he thanked supporters and said: “I
told you so.”
Julian Assange had predicted that he would face extradition to the US if he
left the embassy.
After his arrest, the Australian national was initially taken to a central
London police station before appearing in court.
Dressed in a black suit and black polo shirt, Julian Assange waved to the
public gallery and gave a thumbs up. He pleaded not guilty to the 2012 charge
of failing to surrender to the court.
Finding him guilty of that charge, District Judge Michael Snow said Julian
Assange’s behavior was “the behavior of a narcissist who cannot get beyond
his own selfish interest”.
He sent Julian Assange to Southwark Crown Court for sentencing, where he
faces up to 12 months in prison.
The court also heard that during Assange’s arrest at the embassy he had to
be restrained and shouted: “This is
unlawful, I am not leaving.”
Julian Assange set up WikiLeaks in 2006 with the aim of obtaining and
publishing confidential documents and images.
WikiLeaks hit the headlines four years later when it released footage of US
soldiers killing civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.
Chelsea Manning was arrested in 2010 for disclosing more than 700,000
confidential documents, videos and diplomatic cables to the anti-secrecy
website.
She said she only did so to spark debates about foreign policy, but US
officials said the leak put lives at risk.
Chelsea Manning was found guilty by a court martial in 2013 of charges
including espionage. However, her jail sentence was later commuted.
She was recently jailed for refusing to testify before an investigation into
WikiLeaks’ role in revealing the secret files.
The indictment against Julian Assange, issued last year in the state of
Virginia, alleges that he conspired in 2010 with Manning to access classified
information on Department of Defense computers. He faces up to five years in
jail.
Chelsea Manning downloaded four databases from US departments and agencies
between January and May 2010, the indictment says. This information, much of
which was classified, was provided to WikiLeaks.
The DoJ described it as “one of the largest compromises of classified
information in the history of the United States”.
Cracking a password stored on the computers, the indictment alleges, would
have allowed Manning to log on to them in such a way as to make it harder for
investigators to determine the source of the disclosures. It is unclear whether
the password was actually broken.
Julian Assange had been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012,
after seeking asylum there to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation.
The investigation into the alleged rape, which he denied, was later dropped
because he had evaded the arrest warrant. The Swedish Prosecution Authority has
said it is now considering whether to resume the inquiry before the statute of
limitations runs out in August 2020.
Scotland Yard said it was invited into the embassy on April 11 by the
ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum.
Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno said his country had “reached its
limit on the behavior of Mr. Assange”.
The president said: “The most
recent incident occurred in January 2019, when WikiLeaks leaked Vatican
documents.
“This and other publications have
confirmed the world’s suspicion that Mr. Assange is still linked to WikiLeaks
and therefore involved in interfering in internal affairs of other
states.”
Lenin Moreno’s accusations against Julian Assange also
included blocking security cameras at the embassy, accessing security files and
confronting guards.
President Donald Trump says he has spoken to
Attorney General William Barr about tracing the origins of the inquiry that cleared
him of colluding with Russia.
The Republican president described the investigation by former FBI director
Robert Mueller as “an attempted coup”.
William Barr meanwhile said he believes US authorities did spy on the Trump
campaign.
US intelligence officials have previously said they were spying on the
Russians, not the Trump campaign.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on April 10, President Trump railed
against the Department of Justice inquiry into whether the Trump campaign had
conspired with the Kremlin to sway the 2016 election.
The investigation cleared him and his aides of collusion, making no
determination on whether they had tried to obstruct justice.
President Trump said: “This was
an attempted coup. This was an attempted take-down of a president. And we beat
them. We beat them.
“So the Mueller report, when they
talk about obstruction we fight back. And do you know why we fight back?
“Because I knew how illegal this
whole thing was. It was a scam.
“What I’m most interested in is
getting started, hopefully the attorney general, he mentioned it yesterday.
“He’s doing a great job, getting
started on going back to the origins of exactly where this all started.
“Because this was an illegal
witch hunt, and everybody knew it. And they knew it too. And they got caught.
And what they did was treason.”
While President Trump was flying off to Texas, William Barr was appearing
before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The attorney general was asked whether spying occurred on the Trump campaign
during the 2016 White House race.
“I think spying did occur,”
he said.
“The question is whether it was
adequately predicated.
“I’m not suggesting it was not
adequately predicated, but I need to explore that.”
William Barr said he did not understand why intelligence officials chose not
to warn the Trump campaign that it could be vulnerable to infiltration.
He praised the “outstanding” FBI as a whole, but told the panel: “I think there was probably a failure
among the group of leaders.”
He added: “I feel I have an
obligation to make sure government power is not abused.”
President Trump and his conservative allies have repeatedly suggested the
Obama administration planted a mole in his presidential campaign to undercut
his candidacy.
The former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper was asked on ABC
in May 2018 if the FBI had indeed snooped on the Trump team.
James Clapper replied: “No, they were not. They were spying on – a term
I don’t particularly like – but on what the Russians
were doing.
“Trying to understand were the
Russians infiltrating, trying to gain access, trying to gain leverage and
influence which is what they do.”
The same day in an interview with CNN, James Clapper said: “The objective here was actually to
protect the campaign by determining whether the Russians were infiltrating it
and attempting to exert influence.”
According to the New York Times last year, the FBI sent an informant, an unnamed US academic who teaches in the UK, to speak to two low-level Trump aides, George Papadopoulos and Carter Page, after the agency became suspicious of the pair’s Russian contacts.
Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to secure a record
fifth term as Israel’s prime minister after almost complete results from the
country’s election suggested a new right-wing coalition.
The prime minister’s Likud party is expected to finish with the same number
of seats as former military chief Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White
alliance.
A coalition between Likud and smaller right-wing and religious parties could
control 65 of the Knesset’s 120 seats.
In a late-night speech to supporters Benjamin Netanyahu claimed a
“colossal victory”.
Exit polls had earlier predicted a tight race with no clear winner.
If he can form a new governing coalition, Benjamin Netanyahu could become
Israel’s longest-serving prime minister this summer, overtaking the country’s
founding father David Ben-Gurion.
However, the prime minister could be indicted in three corruption cases in
the coming months.
Benjamin Netanyahu told cheering supporters at Likud’s headquarters: “It will be a right-wing government,
but I will be prime minister for all.
“I’m very touched that the people
of Israel gave me their vote of confidence for the fifth time, and an even
bigger vote of confidence than previous elections.
“I intend to be the prime
minister of all citizens of Israel. Right, left, Jews, non-Jews. All of
Israel’s citizens.”
No party has ever won a majority in Israel’s parliament and it has always
had coalition governments.
President Donald Trump has the right
to keep his tax returns private and Democrats’ demands to see them are
“harassment”, his lawyer, William Consovoy, has said.
The lawyer’s statement hints at the
shape of a possible future legal battle over the issue.
On April 4, a Congressional tax
committee demanded to see six years of Donald Trump’s returns, saying it was
necessary to ensure accountability.
Unlike previous presidents, Donald
Trump has refused to publish his tax details.
On April 5, the president said he
believed that the law was “100% on my side”.
President Trump has maintained his
business interests during his presidency, prompting questions about possible
conflicts of interest. Questions also remain about his net worth, tax profile
and past financial dealings.
The Democrats gained control of the
House of Representatives in mid-term elections last year, giving them the
ability to launch investigations into President Trump’s administration and
business affairs.
William Consovoy said the tax
committee did not have a valid legislative reason to see President Trump’s tax
returns.
“His request is a transparent effort by one political
party to harass an official from the other party because they dislike his
politics and speech,” the
lawyer said of tax committee chairman Bill Neal.
William Consovoy said the request was a “misguided attempt” to
politicize tax laws and could also end up interfering with audits. He said the
US Treasury should not comply with the demand.
President Trump has in the past said that he is unable to release his tax
returns because they were being audited by the IRS.
However, the IRS has said that he could release the returns even if they are
under audit.
In February the president’s former lawyer Michael Cohen suggested during
testimony to Congress that Donald Trump’s taxes were not under audit during the
2016 presidential campaign – when Donald Trump said they were.
President Trump had not wanted to release the tax returns because the resulting scrutiny could have led to an audit and “he’ll ultimately have taxable consequences, penalties and so on”.
Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika
has decided to resign after weeks of mass protests, state media report.
The 82-year-old, who has been in
power for 20 years, had already dropped plans to seek a fifth term as
opposition to his rule grew.
The Algerian army had called for the
president to be declared incapable of carrying out his duties.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika suffered a
stroke six years ago and has rarely appeared in public since.
Car horns could be heard in the
streets of the capital, Algiers, as hundreds celebrated the announcement.
People waved Algeria’s national flags
and sang.
News of the resignation came in a statement carried on state news agency
APS.
The statement read: “The
president of the republic, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has officially notified the
president of the constitutional council of his decision to end his mandate as
president of the republic.”
State TV then reported that this
would be with immediate effect.
According to the constitution, the Senate speaker should take over as
interim president until fresh elections are held. The chairman of the upper
house of parliament, Abdelkader Bensalah, is expected to become caretaker
president for three months until elections.
Pressure had been building since
February, when the first demonstrations were sparked by President Bouteflika’s
announcement that he would be standing for a fifth term.
Tens of thousands protested across
the country on March 1. Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s promise not to serve out a fifth
term if re-elected, along with a change of prime minister, failed to quell the
discontent.
Leaders of the protests also rejected President Bouteflika’s offer this week
that he would go by the end of his current term – April 28 – as not quick
enough.
It seems the powerful military agreed. Its chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Gaed Salah,
said on April 2: “There is no more
room to waste time.”
The protesters have also called for the whole political system, in which the
military plays a significant role, to be overhauled.
Many of the demonstrators are young and say they want a new system of
government.
There were accusations that Abdelaziz Bouteflika was being used as a front
by “le pouvoir” – a group of businessmen, politicians and military
officials – to retain their power.
Elections originally scheduled for April 18 were postponed and the governing
National Liberation Front (FLN) vowed to organize a national conference on
reforms.
The FLN has ruled Algeria since 1962, when the country won independence from
France after seven years of conflict.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who came to power in 1999, strengthened his grip after a bloody civil war against Islamist insurgents which left 150,000 dead.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
governing party, the AKP, has lost control of the capital, Ankara, in local
elections, in a blow to his 16-year rule.
According to figures published by Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, the
main opposition party, the CHP, is also slightly ahead in the contest for mayor
of Istanbul.
The AKP party is challenging the result in both cities.
Municipal elections were held across Turkey on March 31 and an AKP-led
alliance won more than 51% of the vote.
The elections, considered a verdict on President Erdogan’s rule, have been
taking place during an economic downturn.
Following the vote’s preliminary results, Turkish lira has been losing value
recently and the economy went into recession in the last three months of 2018.
The AKP – Justice and Development Party – alleges “invalid votes and
irregularities in most of the 12,158 polling stations in Ankara”.
AKP’s general secretary Fatih Sahin said on Twitter: “We will use our legal rights to the fullest, and we will not
allow the will of our citizens to be altered in Ankara.”
The party says it will also
challenge the result in Istanbul – the largest city – and the eastern province
of Igdir.
Commenting on the results in a
speech on March 31, President Erdogan looked ahead to national elections in
2023: “We have a long period ahead
where we will carry out economic reforms without compromising on the rules of
the free-market economy.
“If there are any shortcomings, it is our duty to
correct them.”
More than 57 million voters were
registered to vote for mayors and councilors. Turnout was high at just under
85%.
According to officials, the
opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) candidate Mansur Yavas won in Ankara.
With almost all votes counted, he was on nearly 51% and the AKP’s Mehmet
Ozhaseki had won the support of just over 47%.
Both CHP and the AKP claim victory
in Istanbul, which has been in the hands of parties linked to President Erdogan
since 1994, when he was elected the city’s mayor.
The election commission said the
CHP’s Ekrem Imamoglu was leading there by less than 0.5%, but that the results
of more than 80 ballot boxes were being challenged. Results carried by Anadolu news
agency put the margin even narrower, at less than 0.25%.
The AKP had been saying its candidate, former PM Binali Yildirim, was ahead
by 4,000 votes. He later conceded his opponent had a narrow lead, only for the
AKP to again claim victory.
The third largest city, Izmir, went to the CHP.
This was the first municipal vote since Recep Tayyip Erdogan assumed
sweeping executive powers through last year’s presidential election.
The AKP, with its roots in political Islam, has won every election since
coming to power in 2002.
President Erdogan, whose two-month campaign included 100 rallies, said the
poll was about the “survival” of the country and his party.
With most media either pro-government or controlled by President Erdogan’s
supporters, critics believe opposition parties campaigned at a disadvantage.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s rallies dominated TV coverage.
The opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) said the
elections were unfair and refused to put forward candidates in several cities.
Some of the HDP’s leaders have been jailed on terrorism charges, accusations they reject.
Ukraine is voting in the first round of
presidential elections with current leader Petro Poroshenko seeking re-election
but the surprise front-runner is a comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, along with former PM Yulia
Tymoshenko, have expressed largely pro-European views during campaigning.
None of the pro-Russian candidates are seen as serious contenders.
If no candidate gets more than 50% on March 31, the top two will fight it
out in a second round on April 21.
A total of 39 candidates are on the ballot paper, but only the three
front-runners are considered to have any chance of victory.
President Poroshenko has significant powers over security, defense and
foreign policy and the ex-Soviet republic’s system is described as
semi-presidential.
The current leader, one of Ukraine’s wealthiest oligarchs, was elected in a snap
vote after former pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was toppled in the
February 2014 Maidan Revolution, which was followed by Russia’s annexation of
Crimea and a Russian-backed insurgency in the east.
The next president will inherit a deadlocked conflict between Ukrainian
troops and Russian-backed separatists in the east, while Ukraine strives to
fulfill EU requirements for closer economic ties.
The EU says that about 12% of Ukraine’s 44 million people are
disenfranchised, largely those who live in Russia and in Crimea, which Russia
annexed in March 2014.
Separatist-controlled areas are boycotting the election.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, is aiming to turn his satirical TV show – in which
he portrays an ordinary citizen who becomes president after fighting corruption
– into reality.
He has done no rallies and few interviews, and appears to have no strong
political views apart from a wish to be new and different.
The comedian’s extensive use of social media appeals to younger voters.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s readiness to speak both Russian and Ukrainian, at a
time when language rights are a hugely sensitive topic, has gained him support
in Ukraine’s largely Russian-speaking east.
Opinion polls suggest Volodymyr Zelenskiy will have a clear lead over Petro
Poroshenko and Yulia Tymoshenko in the first round, and would retain it in a
run-off against either of them.
Petro Poroshenko, 53, aims to appeal to conservative Ukrainians through his
slogan “Army, Language, Faith”.
The current president says his backing for the military has helped keep the
separatists in eastern Ukraine in check. He also negotiated an Association
Agreement with the EU, including visa-free travel for Ukrainians. During his
tenure the Ukrainian Orthodox Church has become independent of Russian control.
However, Poroshenko’s campaign has been dogged by corruption allegations,
including a scandal over defense procurement, which erupted last month.
The third main contender is Yulia Tymoshenko, 58, who has served as prime
minister and ran for president in 2010 and 2014. She played a leading role in
the 2004 Orange Revolution, Ukraine’s first big push to ally itself with the
EU.
The front-runner among the pro-Russian candidates, Yuriy Boyko, says he
would “normalize” relations with Russia.
Zuzana Caputova has become Slovakia
first female president after winning the second round of the vote.
The 45-year-old divorcee and mother
of two, who has almost no political experience, defeated high-profile diplomat
Maros Sefcovic, who was nominated by the governing party.
Zuzana Caputova framed the election
as a struggle between good and evil.
The election follows the murder of investigative
journalist Jan Kuciak last year.
The journalist was looking into
links between politicians and organized crime when he was shot alongside his
fiancée in February 2018.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the sudden move
to drop charges against actor Jussie Smollett over a hoax attack has made a
fool of the city.
The state’s attorney’s office maintains Jussie Smollett has not been
exonerated, while the actor’s lawyers say his record has been wiped clean.
Rahm Emanuel told ABC News: “They
better get their stories straight because this is actually making a fool of all
of us.”
Police maintain Jussie Smollett staged a racist and homophobic attack.
The actor has insisted throughout that he is innocent of all these
allegations.
Speaking on Good Morning America on March 27, Mayor Emanuel pilloried Jussie Smollett, saying he “abused the city of Chicago”.
“You have the state’s attorney’s
office saying he’s not exonerated, he actually did commit this hoax. He’s saying
he’s innocent and his words aren’t true.”
Rahm Emanuel says he wants the court records unsealed so that all the
evidence gathered by Chicago Police could be seen.
The mayor said he also wants prosecutors to explain why they made such a
sudden reversal.
He said police had evidence that Jussie Smollett had made up claims that he
was attacked on January 29 in downtown Chicago by two masked men who he claimed
shouted racist and homophobic slurs, poured bleach on him and put a rope round
his neck.
Illinois prosecutor Joe Magats made the decision to drop charges against
Jussie Smollett on March 26 in a move that blindsided police – but he maintains
that the TV actor is guilty.
He told CBS News: “Our priority
is violent crimes and the drivers of violence.
“Jussie Smollett is neither one
of those.”
He added that community service and a fine is a common outcome for such a
case. When asked if those penalties were sufficient for Mr Smollett, he said:
“I feel that it is.”
Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney, told
NBC News: “The charges were dropped
in return for Mr. Smollett’s agreement to do community service and forfeit his
$10,000 bond to the City of Chicago.
“Without the completion of these
terms, the charges would not have been dropped.”
Police, however, have disagreed, with Supt Eddie Johnson saying if Jussie
Smollett “wanted to clear his name, the way to do that was in a court of
law so that everyone could see the evidence”.
A Chicago police union on Tuesday renewed calls for a federal inquiry
looking into what role the state’s prosecutor Kimberly Foxx, who recused
herself, played in the case.
In a statement to NBC, the Fraternal Order of Police said they are
“outraged…but not surprised”.
The union said Kimberly Foxx had “transformed the prosecutor’s office
to a political arm of the anti-police movement”.
The Fraternal Order of Police said their demand was based on reports of
texts between Kimberly Foxx and a former Obama aide about the case.
State’s Attorney Kimberly Foxx recused herself from the Smollett case last
month, citing a conflict of interest “based upon familiarity with
potential witnesses in the case”.
According to local media, attorney Tina Tchen, former chief of staff to
First Lady Michelle Obama, connected Kimberly Foxx with Jussie Smollett’s
family in the days following the alleged attack.
Earlier this month, the Chicago
Sun-Times reported that Tina Tchen had texted Kimberly Foxx on February 1
that Jussie Smollett’s family had “concerns about the investigation”.
Kimberly Foxx later told the Chicago Sun-Times that those worries were regarding leaked information about the case from “police sources”, and that the family felt the FBI would keep a “tighter lid on the information”.
According to a summary of Special Counsel
Robert Mueller’s report submitted to Congress on March 24, President Donald Trump’s
campaign did not conspire with Russia during the 2016 election.
The summary did not draw a conclusion as to whether Donald Trump illegally
obstructed justice, but did not exonerate the president.
The report was summarized for Congress by the attorney general, William
Barr.
Donald Trump tweeted in response: “No
Collusion, No Obstruction.”
The president, who has repeatedly described the inquiry as a witch hunt, said
on March 24 that “it was a shame that the country had to go through
this”, describing the inquiry as an “illegal takedown that
failed”.
The report is the culmination of two years of investigation by Robert
Mueller.
He wrote in his report: “While
this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also
does not exonerate him.”
The summary letter by William Barr
outlines the inquiry’s findings relating to Russian efforts to influence the
2016 presidential election.
He concluded: “The special counsel did not find that any US person or Trump
campaign official conspired or knowingly co-ordinated with Russia.”
The second part of the letter addresses
the issue of obstruction of justice. William Barr’s summary says the special
counsel report “ultimately determined not to make a traditional
prosecutorial judgment”.
The letter read: “The Special Counsel therefore did not
draw a conclusion – one way or the other – as to whether the examined conduct
constituted obstruction.”
William Barr says that the evidence
was not sufficient “to establish that the president committed an
obstruction-of-justice offence”.
The attorney general ends his letter
to Congress by saying he will release more from the full report, but that some
of the material is subject to restrictions.
William Barr wrote: “Given these restrictions, the schedule
for processing the report depends in part on how quickly the Department can
identify the [grand jury] material that by law cannot be made public.
“I have requested the assistance of the Special Counsel
in identifying all information contained in the report as quickly as
possible.”
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders described the findings of the
report as “a total and complete exoneration of the president”.
President Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said the report was “better
than I expected”.
Congressman Jerry Nadler, the
Democratic Chair of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, emphasized
that the attorney general did not rule out that President Trump may have
obstructed justice.
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Senate’s Judiciary
Committee, said that while there was a lack of evidence to support “a
prosecutable criminal conspiracy”, questions remained over whether
President Trump had been compromised.
Republican Senator Mitt Romney welcomed the “good news”, tweeting that it was now “time for the country to move forward”.
Former Vice-President Joe Biden appeared to
announce his candidacy for the 2020 presidential election, before immediately
correcting himself.
Joe Biden made the slip while addressing 1,000 Democrats at a dinner in his
home state of Delaware.
The democrat said his record was the most progressive “of anyone
running for the United-” before correcting himself and saying,
“anybody who would run”.
The audience stood up and chanted “run Joe run”, while the
76-year-old crossed himself and said: “I
didn’t mean it!”
Addressing party brokers and leaders in the city of Dover, Joe Biden said
that it was time to restore the country’s “backbone”, but that they
needed political consensus to move beyond what he called today’s
“mean”, “petty” and “vicious” political
landscape.
“I’m told I get criticized by the
new left,” Joe Biden said, referring to a group of popular new
left-wing Democrats that includes congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“I have the most progressive record of
anybody running for the United- “
The former vice-president then corrected himself, saying: “Anybody who wouldrun.”
As the diners rose to their feet and
chanted “run Joe run”, Joe Biden laughed and insisted: “I didn’t mean it!”
“Of anybody who would run,” he continued.
“Because folks, we have to bring this country back
together again.”
Joe Biden, who was vice-president
from 2009 to 2017, added that the 2020 election will be the most important vote
in a century.
Speculation that Joe Biden would
announce his candidacy has reached feverish levels.
If he were to run, Joe Biden would
be entering an increasingly crowded race – with 15 other Democrats having
already declared their bids.
Among them are senators Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders, who ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke joined the race last week.
Thousands of people have taken the
streets in Moscow and similar demonstrations in two other Russian cities were
called as the government plans to introduce tighter restrictions on the
internet.
Last month, Russian parliament
backed the controversial bill.
The government says the bill, which
allows it to isolate Russia’s internet service from the rest of the world, will
improve cyber-security.
However, campaigners say it is an
attempt to increase censorship and stifle dissent.
Activists say more than 15,000
people gathered in Moscow on March 10, which is double the estimate given by
the police.
Some protesters chanted slogans such
as “hands off the internet” and “no to isolation” while
others gave speeches on a large stage.
Opposition figures said that a number of protesters were detained in Moscow,
but the police have not confirmed this.
The government says the so-called digital sovereignty bill will reduce
Russia’s reliance on internet servers in the US.
The bill seeks to stop Russia’s internet traffic being routed through
foreign servers.
If it is passed, the bill will eventually need to be signed by President
Vladimir Putin.
Russia has introduced a swathe of tougher internet laws in recent years. On
March 7, parliament passed two bills outlawing “disrespect” of
authorities and the spreading of what the government deems to be “fake
news”.
Last year, campaigners took to the streets to protest the media watchdog’s
attempt to shut down the encrypted messaging service, Telegram.
Russia’s main security agency, the FSB, said at the time that Telegram was the messenger of choice for “international terrorist organizations in Russia”.
An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 Max-8 has
crashed shortly after take-off from Addis Ababa, killing all on board.
According to the airline, 149 passengers and eight crew members were on
flight ET302 from the Ethiopian capital to Nairobi in Kenya.
Ethiopian Airlines said 32 Kenyans, 18 Canadians, 8 Americans and 7 British
nationals were among the passengers.
The crash happened at 08:44 local time, six minutes after the plane took
off.
Another jet of the same model was involved in a crash less than five months
ago, when a Lion Air flight crashed into the sea near Indonesia with nearly 190
people on board.
The cause of the disaster is not yet clear. However, the pilot had reported
difficulties and had asked to return to Addis Ababa, Ethiopian Airlines said.
“At this stage, we cannot rule
out anything,” Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam told
reporters at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.
“We cannot also attribute the
cause to anything because we will have to comply with the international
regulation to wait for the investigation.”
Recovery operations were under way
near the crash site around the town of Bishoftu, which is 37 miles south-east
of Addis Ababa.
The plane was delivered to Ethiopian
Airlines on November 15, 2018. It underwent a “rigorous first check
maintenance” on February 4, the airline tweeted.
Tewolde Gebremariam said at news
conference that passengers from more than 30 countries were on board the
flight.
He said they included 32 Kenyans, 18
Canadians, 9 Ethiopians, 8 Italians, 8 Chinese, 8 Americans, 7 Britons, 7 French
citizens, 6 Egyptians, 5 Germans, 4 Indians and four people from Slovakia.
Three Austrians, 3 Swedes, 3 Russians, 2 Moroccans, 2
Spaniards, 2 Poles and two Israelis were also on the flight.
There was also one passenger each from Ireland, Nepal, Saudi Arabia,
Djibouti, Belgium, Indonesia, Somalia, Norway, Serbia, Togo, Mozambique,
Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Yemen.
One person held a UN passport, Ethiopian Airlines said. The airline believed
some passengers could have been heading to a session of the UN Environment
Assembly which begins in Nairobi on March 11.
A UN source also told AFP that “at least a dozen of the victims were
affiliated with the UN”, and that this may include freelance translators.
World Food Program executive director David Beasley said seven members of agency staff had died in the crash.
President Donald Trump has arrived in Vietnam’s
capital, Hanoi, ahead of his second summit with North Korean leader, Kim
Jong-un.
Air Force One landed at Noi Bai airport hours after Kim Jon-un reached Hanoi
by train and car.
The summit, which is due to take place between February 27 and 28, follows a
historic first round of talks in Singapore in 2018.
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un are expected to discuss progress towards
ridding the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons.
Ceremonial guards had lined a red carpet laid out for Kim Jong-un as he
arrived at Dong Dang border station on February 26. He was then driven to
Hanoi, where heavy security and flag-waving crowds were waiting for him.
Kim Jong-un is thought to be
travelling with his sister Kim Yo-jong and one of his key negotiators, former
General Kim Yong-chol, both familiar faces from the previous summit with PresidentTrump.
The journey from Pyongyang to Hanoi
took more than two days and traversed about 2,500 miles.
As Kim Jong-un’s train passed
through China, roads were closed and train stations shut down. Chinese social
media was abuzz with road closures, traffic congestion and delayed trains.
Vietnam’s Dong Dang station was also
closed to the public ahead of his arrival.
Kim Jong-un is now being driven
around 100 miles to Hanoi by car.
The North Korean leader chose to
take the train as this is how his grandfather, Kim Il-sung, travelled when he
went to Vietnam and Eastern Europe.
Kim Jong-un’s private green and
yellow train has 21 bulletproof carriages and is luxurious, with plush pink
leather sofas and conference rooms so the journey would not have been
uncomfortable.
Air Force One left Andrews Air Force
Base in Maryland, landing in Hanoi on Tuesday night local time.
Details of their schedule are only
just becoming clear. President Trump will meet Kim Jong-un for a brief
one-on-one conversation on February 27 and then they will have dinner together
with their advisers, according to White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders. On
February 28, the leaders will meet for a series of back-and-forth meetings.
The Hanoi meeting is expected to
build on the groundwork of what was achieved at the Singapore summit in June
2018.
The first summit produced a vaguely
worded agreement, with both leaders agreeing to work towards denuclearization –
though it was never made clear what this would entail.
However, little diplomatic progress
was made following that meeting.
This time round, both leaders will
be very conscious that expectations will be high for an outcome that
demonstrates tangible signs of progress.
However, President Trump appeared to
be managing expectations ahead of the summit, saying he was in “no
rush” to press for North Korea’s denuclearization.
He said: “I don’t want to rush anybody. I just don’t want testing. As long
as there’s no testing, we’re happy.”
Vietnam has been chosen for many
reasons. It has diplomatic relations with both the US and North Korea, despite
once having been enemies with the US – and could be used by the US as an
example of two countries working together and setting aside their past
grievances.
Ideologically, both Vietnam and North Korea are communist countries – though Vietnam has rapidly developed since and become one of the fastest growing economies in Asia, all while the party there retains absolute power.
Politics is an extremely tricky subject. Everyone thinks
they understand and no one actually does. However, politics and its close
cousin religion are quite often impossible to avoid in your day-to-day
interactions.
However, in all cultures, politics is highly personal.
Passions can easily run high, and for some people, it is a subject worth
destroying relationships for. Of course, you always have the option of not
engaging in any political discussion at all, though that’s sometimes easier
said than done.
There are good arguments both for engaging or avoiding
politics. Here are some of them.
Arguments for openly discussing
politics
1.) It allows you a
better understanding of the local culture
In most instances, it can be advantageous to understand what
makes your host culture tick. Not only will you avoid social pitfalls and find
it easier to be accepted, you may also find that your host culture’s ways of
thinking have much to offer you. You might even find that it makes more sense
to you than how your own native culture tends to see things.
While you can learn much simply from observation, it’s
impossible to truly understand any culture without examining how power
relationships are handled in it. For that, engaging in respectful political
discussion is necessary.
2.) Discussing
politics allows you to better understand events as they are
Current events are quite often tied to politics and your
fate as an expat may very well hinge on your understanding of the local
political climate. Events on the international and local level often have consequences
you may not have considered unless you actually talk to a person on the ground
about. Sometimes, it’s only because of these discussions that you can weigh
correctly whether you should stay in the country, or leave altogether.
Arguments against openly discussing
politics
1.) You don’t
necessarily need a perfect understanding of local culture to be productive
Let’s face it. Many expats know almost nothing about their
host country’s history and culture even after years of living in it. If you
yourself are an expat, you probably know quite a number of these people. They
probably manage to still be productive and happy without engaging in politics
or understanding whatever is going on around them.
While some of us may be repulsed at the idea that not everyone feels that they
need to know everything that’s going on, it’s a perfectly valid decision. This
is especially true if you do not feel that you have the energy to spare
discussing politics or understanding your host culture in depth. There are some
drawbacks, sure. It rarely pays to be ignorant. But at least you can spend more
time doing what other things you decide are actually more important.
2.) Locals may see
you as meddlesome or condescending
It can be difficult to avoid sharing your own perspectives
once any political discussion has started. And when you do, locals may see it
as you being a pushy know-it-all foreigner, even if that isn’t the intent. This
can be especially true if your own culture handles political discussions
differently from your host culture.
If your country also has had a rocky history with your host
country, there may still very well be a lot of people who will only tolerate
you so long as you don’t step out of line when it comes to political
discussions. In these cases, it may be prudent to avoid discussions altogether.
Regardless of what you think about politics, it’s best to get expat health insurance before leaving your home country for an extended period. You may not always know what the situation in your host country will be a year from now, but it’s important to at least be prepared as far as your health is concerned.
Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders has
announced his second bid for presidency in 2020.
Bernie Sanders, 77, became a
progressive political star in 2016 although he lost his candidacy bid.
His campaign says it raised $1 million
within three and half hours of launching.
An outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, the Vermont senator has described him as a “pathological liar” and “racist”.
Bernie Sanders – an independent who
caucuses with the Democrats – is one of the best-known names to join a crowded
and diverse field of Democratic candidates, and early polls suggest he is far
ahead.
His calls for universal
government-provided healthcare, a $15 national minimum wage and free college
education electrified young voters, raised millions of dollars in small
donations and are now pillars of the party’s left wing.
Bernie Sanders, who lost the 2016
Democratic primary to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said in his
email: “Three years ago, when we
talked about these and other ideas, we were told that they were ‘radical’ and
‘extreme’.
“Together, you and I and our 2016 campaign began the
political revolution. Now, it is time to complete that revolution and implement
the vision that we fought for.”
Republicans and Democrats have
reached an agreement in principle over border security to fund the government
and avoid another partial shutdown.
The deal was struck in a closed-door meeting in Washington on February 11
after several hours of talks.
However, the agreement contains only
a fraction of the money President Donald Trump wants for his promised border
wall and does not mention a concrete barrier.
The deal still needs to be approved
by Congress and signed by the president.
Speaking on February 12, President
Trump said of the deal: “I can’t say
I’m happy, I can’t say I’m thrilled.”
The president told reporters he
would have a meeting about the agreement later today.
The Democrats – who now control the
House of Representatives – have refused to approve the $5.7 billion for
President Trump’s wall on the border with Mexico, one of his key campaign
pledges.
Lawmakers expressed optimism that a bill
would be approved by February 15 when funding runs out for some federal
agencies.
The longest shutdown in US history
lasted 35 days and cost the country’s economy an estimated $11 billion.
Details have yet to be released but
aides familiar with the negotiations say it includes $1.375 billion in funding
for 55 miles of new fencing at the border, a small part of the more than 2,000
miles promised by President Trump.
The wall would be built in the Rio
Grande Valley, in Texas, using existing designs, such as metal slats, instead
of the concrete wall that Donald Trump had demanded.
According to recent reports, there
was also an agreement to reduce the number of beds in detention centers to
40,250 from the current 49,057.
The talks had reached an impasse earlier with Republicans strongly rejecting
Democrats’ demands for a limit to the number of undocumented migrants already
in the US who could be detained by immigration authorities.
Republican Senator Richard Shelby said on February 11: “We got an agreement on all of it.
“Our staffs are going to be
working feverishly to put all the particulars together. We believe that if this
becomes law, it’ll keep open the government.”
However, by yesterday, some of President Trump’s conservative allies had
already denounced the deal, with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity calling it a
“garbage compromise”.
House Freedom Caucus leader Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina said the agreement failed “to address the critical priorities outlined by Border Patrol Chiefs”.
President Donald Trump is “in very good
health”, the White House doctor, Sean Conley, said after a four-hour
physical examination.
Dr. Sean Conley added: “I
anticipate he will remain so for the duration of his presidency and
beyond.”
He and other 11 medical specialists put President Trump through a series of
tests in a Washington suburb.
Donald Trump, 72, had previously been asked to lose at least 10lb and there
is no evidence that he has done so.
White House aides report that the president is eating more fish than he used
to, according to Reuters.
However, according to spokesman Hogan Gidley, President Trump
“admits” he has not followed his diet and exercise plan
“religiously”.
No further details on President Trump’s health have been released.
At the first physical of his presidency, which took place last year, Donald
Trump was found to weigh 239lb and have a cholesterol level that is slightly
higher than recommended.
President Trump is known to take medication for heart health and against
cholesterol and male pattern hair loss.
His body mass index (BMI) indicates he is overweight but not obese.
Donald Trump’s health has attracted
attention before. During his campaign he produced a letter that said he would
be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency”.
However, the doctor named as its author later said Donald Trump had written the
letter himself.
In 2018, Dr. Ronny Jackson said the
president had “incredible genes” and it was not a matter of concern
that he only slept for four or five hours a night because this was “just
his nature”.
However, Donald Trump has been reported to eat large amounts of fast food and steaks, washed down by up to 12 cans of Diet Coke a day.
President Donald Trump has refused to respond
to a request from Congress to provide a report determining who killed the Saudi
journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In October 2018, senators wrote a letter demanding the murder be
investigated and that the White House give more information.
A Trump administration official said the president was within his rights to
decline to act.
Jamal Khashoggi was killed after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in
October last year.
The journalist was a strong critic of the Saudi government. His body was
reportedly dismembered and has still not been found.
US intelligence officials have reportedly said such an operation would have
needed the approval of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
However, Saudi officials insist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by a
“rogue” team of Saudi agents not acting on the prince’s orders.
An administration statement said President Trump “maintains his
discretion to decline to act on congressional committee requests when
appropriate”.
However, Democratic senators told the New
York Times President Trump was in breach of the so-called Magnitsky Act, which
requires a response within 120 days to requests from Senate committee leaders.
That deadline passed on February 8.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has written to Senate leaders describing actions
taken against individuals.
However, the documents do not indicate who was responsible for Jamal Khashoggi’s
death, as demanded by the senators.
The US has imposed sanctions on 17 Saudi officials, including Saud
al-Qahtani, a former adviser to the crown prince who, it alleged, was
“part of the planning and execution of the operation” that led to Jamal
Khashoggi’s murder.
However, President Trump has faced criticism from senators for failing to condemn the Saudi crown prince directly.
A group of 14 Canadian diplomats along with
their families is suing the government for C$28 million ($21.1 million) after
they succumbed to a mysterious illness in Cuba.
The group says the Canadian government took too long to warn, evacuate and
treat them.
In 2018, Canadian and US officials were recalled from Cuba after complaining
of dizziness and migraines.
The cause of the illness is unknown, but Canada has discounted the idea of a
“sonic attack” on its embassy.
In a statement, the group said: “Throughout
the crisis, Canada downplayed the seriousness of the situation, hoarded and
concealed critical health and safety information, and gave false, misleading
and incomplete information to diplomatic staff.”
According to CBC, staff at the Canadian embassy began experiencing symptoms
of the so-called “Havana syndrome” in spring 2017.
Several families were subsequently moved from Cuba, but until April 2018 Canada
continued to post new staff to Havana despite warnings from US counterparts who
had received similar complaints.
The US withdrew most of its non-essential personnel from Cuba in September
2017 and said 21 embassy employees had been affected.
Last month, Canada said it would be cutting its embassy staff by up to half.
At a news conference in Washington, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister
Chrystia Freeland said she was aware of the lawsuit.
She said: “I am not going to
comment on the specifics, but I do want to reiterate that I have met with some
of these diplomats and, as I said to them, their health and safety needs to be
our priority.”
Cuba has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incident.
Cuba’s Foreign Minister, Bruno Rodriguez, said US claims were a “political manipulation” aimed at damaging bilateral relations.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has apologized
after his 1984 student yearbook page emerged, showing a picture featuring men
in racist costumes.
The Democrat governor said in a statement: “I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in
this photo and for the hurt that decision caused then and now.”
Black politicians in Virginia called the image “disgusting” and
Republicans urged Ralph Northam to resign.
The picture showed a man in blackface and another man in Ku Klux Klan robes.
The image appeared on a page with other photos of Ralph Northam, who was
aged about 25 at the time, as well as personal details about him.
Ralph Northam did not elaborate on which costume he was wearing, but said he
appeared in a photograph that was “clearly racist and offensive”.
His yearbook page, which came from the pediatric neurologist’s time at
Eastern Virginia Medical School, was first published by conservative website
Big League Politics.
The Virginian-Pilot newspaper
tweeted a picture of the page which it said it obtained from the medical school
library.
An official from the medical school
verified the photo and told the Huffington
Post it came from a “student-produced publication”.
The yearbook page, which features
Ralph Northam’s full name and photos of the future doctor and politician, also
included a quote from a Willie Nelson song that read: “There are more old drunks than old doctors in this world so I
think I’ll have another beer.”
In his statement, issued after the
image was made public, the governor said:
“This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have
fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public
service.”
He added: “But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes
Virginians’ faith in that commitment.
“I recognize that it will take time and serious effort
to heal the damage this conduct has caused. I am ready to do that important
work.
“The first step
is to offer my sincerest apology and to state my absolute commitment to living
up to the expectations Virginians set for me when they elected me to be their
governor.”
Ralph Northam later released a video statement via Twitter in which he said
he was “deeply sorry” for the offence the image had caused.
He said: “I accept responsibility
for my past actions and I am ready to do the hard work of regaining your trust.”
Before he was elected governor, Ralph Northam served for a decade as a
Virginia state legislator.
Ralph Northam’s responsibilities as governor include implementing state laws, restoring voting rights for individuals who have had them withdrawn and issuing pardons.
Ex-Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has said he is
“seriously considering” running for president in 2020.
Howard Schultz, who stepped down as Starbucks’ boss in 2018, says he is
considering running as a centrist independent candidate in 2020.
In a series of tweets, he said the current two political parties in the US
were “more divided than ever”.
During an interview with CBS’ 60
Minutes, Howard Schultz said he had been a “lifelong Democrat”
but criticized the current two-party dominated system.
He said: “We’re living at a
most-fragile time not only the fact that this president is not qualified to be
the president, but the fact that both parties are consistently not doing what’s
necessary on behalf of the American people and are engaged, every single day,
in revenge politics.”
Democratic presidential candidate
Julián Castro is among those who have criticized the move.
Julián Castro told CNN that Howard
Schultz’s potential run could give President Donald Trump the “best hope
of getting re-elected” by splitting the opposition vote.
He said: “I would suggest to Mr. Schultz to truly think about the negative
impact that might make.”
Howard Schultz rebuffed that
criticism during his CBS interview, insisting: “I wanna see the American people win.
“I don’t care if you’re a Democrat, Independent,
Libertarian, Republican. Bring me your ideas and I will be an independent
person, who will embrace those ideas. Because I am not, in any way, in bed with
a party.”
Howard Schultz, a former espresso
machine salesman, grew up in public housing in Brooklyn, New York.
He started working for the original
Seattle Starbucks chain back in 1982 when it only had 11 outlets selling coffee
beans.
Howard Schultz, now 65, acquired the
company in 1987 and by the time he stepped down in 2018, it had grown to 28,000
cafe in 77 countries around the world.
He frequently used his position to speak out on social issues like
immigration and gun control.
He now has an estimated fortune of about $3 billion and is a regular donor
to Democrat campaigns, including that of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Howard Schultz’s departure as CEO of Starbucks last year sparked rumor of
his political ambitions.
His comments on January 27 prompted coffee-themed criticism by some on
social media.
The Washington State Democrats posted a photograph, without
comment, of a Starbucks cup with: “Don’t do it Howard” written on.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has fired the
country’s ambassador to China, John McCallum.
The move follows controversial comments John McCallum made about an
extradition case involving a senior executive from the Chinese telecoms giant
Huawei.
PM Trudeau said in a statement he had asked John McCallum to step down, but
did not offer a reason.
The detention of Huawei’s CFO Meng Wanzhou, at the request of the US,
angered China and soured Canada’s relations with Beijing.
Meng Wanzhou is accused by the US of evading sanctions on Iran. Both she and
Huawei deny those allegations.
She was arrested on December 1 in
Canada’s western city of Vancouver at the request of the US.
Meng Wanzhou was later granted a
C$10 million ($7.6 million) bail by a local court. But she is under
surveillance 24 hours a day and must wear an electronic ankle tag.
In a statement, Justin Trudeau said:
“Last night I asked for and accepted
John McCallum’s resignation as Canada’s ambassador to China.”
The veteran diplomat, Justin Trudeau
added, had served Canadians honorably and with distinction with many positions
in cabinet.
The prime minister also thanked John
McCallum and his family for their service.
John McCallum caused controversy on
January 22 when he publicly argued that the US extradition request for Meng
Wanzhou was seriously flawed.
The next day the ambassador issued a
statement saying that he “misspoke” and regretted that his comments
had created “confusion”.
However, on January 25, John
McCallum was quoted as saying it would be “great for Canada” if the
US dropped the request.
Nastya Rybka, who said she had evidence of
Russian collusion with Donald Trump’s election campaign, has been detained by
Russian police.
The 27-year-old Belarusian model, real name Anastasia Vashukevich, was
arrested at Moscow’s main airport after being deported from Thailand for
soliciting.
Her lawyer posted a video on Instagram which, he says, shows her arrest.
The video shows a woman resembling Nastya Rybka and looking sedated
struggles as four men push her into a wheelchair, then carry her.
The video clip posted by lawyer Dmitry Zatsarinsky has now been tweeted by
Russian broadcasters and anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny.
Dmitry Zatsarinsky said the model had planned to get a connecting flight to
Minsk, the Belarusian capital, but had been seized and dragged from the transit
zone on to Russian territory, then whisked away to a police station.
The lawyer called the Russian action “an international scandal”.
A Russian interior ministry statement, quoted by local media, says Nastya Rybka
and three others detained with her at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport are accused
of “luring into prostitution and practicing it”. The crime can be
punished with up to six years’ jail.
Among the four held is Belarusian Alexander Kirillov, who was in custody
with Nastya Rybka in Thailand.
They spent nine months in custody
before a Thai court handed them a suspended 18-month sentence for soliciting.
Thailand deported them on January 17, taking account of their time spent in
custody.
They and five others – both
Belarusians and Russians – pleaded guilty, after which they were deported.
While in custody, Nastya Rybka and Alexander
Kirillov sought help from the US embassy, fearing extradition to Russia.
Nastya Rybka said she had evidence
of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election campaign,
allegedly obtained through an acquaintance with Russian billionaire
industrialist Oleg Deripaska.
Oleg Deripaska denied the allegations
and successfully sued both Nastya Rybka and Alexander Kirillov.
The billionaire is on the list of
Russian oligarchs and politicians subject to US sanctions for alleged
“malign activities” around the world.
President Donald Trump has denied working for
Russia, playing down a Washington Post
report that he had concealed a translation of a meeting with Vladimir Putin.
Addressing reporters at the White House as he
left for Louisiana, the president said: “I
never worked for Russia.”
According to the New York Times
meanwhile, the FBI launched a hitherto unreported inquiry into the president.
According to the newspaper, the FBI’s suspicions were raised after President
Trump fired its director, James Comey, in May 2017.
That FBI inquiry, reports the New York
Times, was taken over by justice department special counsel Robert Mueller.
Robert Mueller is leading an ongoing investigation into whether the Trump
campaign colluded with the Kremlin to influence the 2016 presidential election.
On January 14, asked outside the White House if he was working for Russia,
President Trump denied it outright before adding: “I think it’s a disgrace that you even ask that question because
it’s a whole big fat hoax.”
President Trump was posed the same
question by a Fox News host on January 12, and called it “the most
insulting thing I’ve ever been asked”.
The New York Times
notes in its own report no evidence has emerged publicly that President Trump
took direction from Russian government officials.
On January 13, the president said
his dismissal of James Comey was “a great service I did for our
country”, while railing against FBI investigators as “known
scoundrels” and “dirty cops”.
It was also reported at the weekend
that President Trump had confiscated the notes of his own interpreter after a
meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to the Washington Post, President Trump ordered
the translator not to discuss the details of what was said.
However, on January 14, President Trump
defended his nearly hour long discussion with President Putin in July 2017 on the
sidelines of a G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.
“It’s a lot of fake news,” he said, as he left to address a farming convention in New
Orleans.
“That was a very good meeting. It was actually a very
successful meeting.”
President Trump said he and Vladimir
Putin discussed Israel and a German-Russian pipeline, adding: “We have those meetings all the time no
big deal.”
ABC News reports that Democratic
congressmen are considering issuing subpoenas to interpreters who attended
President Trump’s meetings with Vladimir Putin.
On January 14, former Democratic White House candidate Hillary Clinton could not resist reminding Twitter users that during a campaign debate she had called Donald Trump the Russian leader’s puppet.
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