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.
Japan’s has cleared the way for Emperor Akihito’s abdication after the parliament has passed a one-off bill.
Akihito, 83, is the first emperor to abdicate in 200 years.
In 2016, he said that his age and health were making it hard for him to fulfill his official duties.
However, there was no provision under existing law for Akihito to abdicate.
The government will now begin the process of arranging his abdication, expected to happen in late 2018, and the handover to Crown Prince Naruhito, 57.
Akihito, who has had heart surgery and was treated for prostate cancer, has been on the throne in Japan since the death of his father, Hirohito, in 1989.
Image source Wikipedia
In a rare address to the nation in 2016, Akihito said he was beginning to feel “constraints” on his health which were making it hard for him to fulfill his official duties.
The emperor is constitutionally barred from making any political statements, so he could not say explicitly that he wanted to stand down as that would be considered comment on the law.
The newly passed law says that on abdication, the emperor’s son, Naruhito, will immediately take the Chrysanthemum Throne, but that neither he nor his successors would be allowed to abdicate under the law.
The government is yet to set a date for the abdication, but the bill says it must take place within three years of the law coming into effect.
The handover is widely expected take place in December 2018.
The emperor has no political powers but several official duties, such as greeting foreign dignitaries. Japan’s monarchy is entwined in the Shinto religion and the emperor still performs religious ceremonies.
Most support the emperor’s desire to abdicate – a survey by the Kyodo news agency after Akihito suggested he wanted to step down found more than 85% saying abdication should be legalized.
A discussion about whether or not a woman would be able to ascend the throne was triggered in 2006 when the emperor had no grandsons, but was postponed after a boy was born to the imperial family.
Former FBI Director James Comey told Congress that the Trump administration’s comments about him and the agency were “lies plain and simple”.
James Comey told a Senate committee they were wrong to denigrate the FBI and its leadership.
The ex-FBI chief was also “confused” by the “shifting explanations” for his sacking, which came as he led a probe into any links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
President Trump later said he never sought to impede the inquiry.
Donald Trump’s attorney, Marc Kasowitz, said in a statement James Comey’s testimony “finally confirmed publicly” that the president was not under investigation as part of any probe in Russian political meddling.
In the statement, President Trump also denied asking James Comey for his loyalty or to drop an investigation into fired national security adviser Michael Flynn during private meetings.
Image source Flickr
In his testimony, James Comey said President Trump had repeatedly told him he was doing a “great” job.
The former FBI chief also suggested he was fired to “change the way the Russia investigation was being conducted”.
He remained largely composed throughout almost three hours of testimony but became impassioned when delivering his opening remarks.
James Comey told the panel that the White House “chose to defame me, and more importantly the FBI” by claiming the agency was “poorly led”.
“Those were lies, plain and simple. And I’m so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them,” James Comey continued.
“The FBI is honest. The FBI is strong. And the FBI is and always will be independent,” he said in his opening remarks.
James Comey was leading one of several Russia investigations before President Trump fired him.
US intelligence agencies believe Moscow interfered in the US election and they are investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
However, there is no known evidence of collusion and President Donald Trump has dismissed the story as “fake news”.
On June 8, Donald Trump’s spokeswoman Sarah Sanders hit back at James Comey, saying: “I can definitively say the president is not a liar.”
During today’s testimony, James Comey emphasized that Russia’s political meddling was “not a close call”, adding: “There should be no fuzz on this whatsoever.”
When asked by the Senate Intelligence Committee whether the president tried to stop the Russia investigation, James Comey said: “Not to my understanding, no.”
He said he it was not for him to say whether Donald Trump’s actions were an obstruction of justice.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, the committee’s vice chairman, pressed James Comey on why he decided to keep a record of his conversations with President Trump.
“I was honestly concerned that he might lie about the nature of our meeting” he said.
James Comey, who published his prepared remarks a day before the hearing, detailed one meeting with Donald Trump in which the president asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions and White House aide Jared Kushner to leave the Oval Office.
“I knew something was about to happen that I needed to pay very close attention to,” James Comey said.
“I remember thinking that that was a very disturbing development.”
During another meeting with Donald Trump, James Comey said the president appealed to him to “let go” an investigation into fired national security adviser Michael Flynn and his ties to the Kremlin.
After media reported the conversation, the president warned James Comey in a tweet, saying he “better hope there are no <<tapes>> of our conversations”.
James Comey told the committee he hoped there were tapes, calling on President Trump to release them.
“The president surely knows whether he taped me, and if he did my feelings aren’t hurt. Release all the tapes, I’m good with it,” he said.
The White House has refused to say whether any such tapes exist.
After President Trump’s tweet about potential tapes, James Comey said he realized it was important to release his own account of the story.
James Comey revealed that he asked a “good friend of mine” who is a professor at Columbia Law School to share contents of the memo with a reporter, in order to build pressure for a special counsel.
As a result of this episode, former FBI chief Robert Mueller was appointed as special counsel to lead an independent investigation into the Trump campaign’s potential ties to Russia.
James Comey said he was “sure” Robert Mueller was also looking at whether President Trump obstructed justice.
Donald Trump attacked James Comey for leaking the documents, saying it showed that members of the US government are “actively attempting to undermine this administration”.
Voting is under way in the UK at more than 40,000 polling stations across the country.
Polls opened at 07:00 BST on June 8, with counting starting once voting ends at 22:00 BST.
A total of 650 Westminster lawmakers will be elected, with about 46.9 million people registered to vote.
That is up from the last general election, in 2015, when there were 46.4 million registered voters.
Some votes have already been cast, through postal voting, which accounted for 16.4% of the total electorate at the 2015 general election. People with an undelivered postal vote can still deliver it by hand to their local polling station.
Two years ago, when the Conservatives won 331 out of 650 seats, overall turnout was 66.4%, up from 2010.
Most polling stations are in schools, community centers and parish halls, but pubs, a launderette and a school bus have been used in the past.
Police have increased security at polling stations, including patrols by armed officers in some areas, following the recent terror attacks.
A handful of seats are expected to be declared by midnight, with the final results expected on June 9.
Unusually, no local elections are taking place at the same time, so results might come through earlier than in recent general elections.
In 2015, the first seat to declare was Houghton and Sunderland South, at 22:48 BST.
To form a majority in the House of Commons one party must win 326 seats – in 2015 a Conservative majority was not confirmed until 13:34 BST.
Polls close at 22:00 BST, but officials say anyone in a polling station queue at this time should be able to cast their vote.
Former FBI chief James Comey will testify before Congress on June 8.
James Comey is expected to say that President Donald Trump wanted a “patronage relationship” and asked for his “loyalty”.
According to his opening statement, James Comey will also testify the president asked him to drop an inquiry into fired National Security Adviser Mike Flynn.
The former FBI chief says President Trump called the Russian probe “a cloud” over him.
James Comey also says he had told Donald Trump three times he was not under scrutiny, confirming the president’s account.
Reacting to the prepared testimony on June 7, President Trump’s private legal counsel on the Russia inquiry, Marc Kasowitz, said the president was “pleased” James Comey had confirmed he was not in investigators’ crosshairs.
“The president feels completely and totally vindicated,” Donald Trump’s lawyer said.
Two national security officials, NSA Director Mike Rogers and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, earlier testified to senators that they never felt pressured by the White House to do anything illegal.
However in today’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, James Comey will detail how President Trump made him uncomfortable during a series of encounters leading up to the FBI director’s firing on May 9.
It is one of several congressional panels that, along with the Justice Department, is investigating US intelligence assessments that Russian hackers meddled in last November’s presidential election in an effort to help Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton.
The inquiries are also investigating whether any Trump campaign officials colluded with the alleged Kremlin plot, which Moscow has repeatedly denied.
According to seven pages of prepared testimony, James Comey will say his first meeting with President Trump occurred on January 6 in a conference room at Trump Tower, where Comey briefed him alone on “salacious and unverified” allegations about him.
Image source Wikipedia
A dossier compiled by a former British intelligence official had claimed the Russian security services possessed compromising material on Donald Trump, including that he had been recorded consorting with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel.
James Comey’s says the president “expressed his disgust for the allegations and strongly denied them” during a subsequent meeting.
That denial came in a one-to-one dinner on January 27 at the White House, James Comey will say, adding that he had a “very awkward conversation” with the president that evening.
Donald Trump asked the FBI director during the discussion in the Green Room whether he wanted to stay in his job, James Comey will testify.
He will say he found this “strange” because President Trump had already told him twice in earlier conversations that he hoped he would not step down.
James Comey will testify the question “concerned me greatly” because he felt the dinner was an effort to “create some sort of patronage relationship”.
The former FBI director will say: “A few moments later, the president said, <<I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.>>
“I didn’t move, speak, or change my facial expression in any way during the awkward silence that followed. We simply looked at each other in silence.”
In testimony, James Comey will detail his next encounter with President Trump, during a meeting attended by intelligence chiefs at the White House on February 14.
President Trump accepted Michael Flynn’s resignation as national security adviser just 24 days into the job after he misled the White House about his conversations with the Russian ambassador.
James Comey will say President Trump told him: “I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy.”
The former FBI director will testify that he offered no such assurance.
James Comey will also say the president phoned him on March 30 and said the Russia investigation was “a cloud that was impairing his ability to act on behalf of the country”.
He will testify that President Trump “said he had nothing to do with Russia, had not been involved with hookers in Russia”.
James Comey will say he assured Donald Trump during their discussions on January 6, January 27 and March 30 that the president himself was not under investigation.
He will testify that President Trump told him during the March 30 phone call: “We need to get that fact out.”
James Comey will say President Trump phoned him again on April 11 to press him on this matter. It was the last time they spoke.
He will say he told the president the White House should contact the Department of Justice.
The former FBI director notes that he spoke with President Barack Obama only twice during the more than three years that their time in office overlapped.
However, James Comey can recall nine one-on-one conversations with Donald Trump in four months, three in person and six on the phone.
President Donald Trump has claimed credit for the isolation of Qatar by its Gulf neighbors who accuse it of supporting terrorism in the region.
The president said his recent visit to Saudi Arabia was “already paying off” and the development might mark the “beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism”.
President Trump’s recent speech in Riyadh, in which he blamed Iran for instability in the Middle East and urged Muslim countries to take the lead in combating radicalization, is seen as likely to have emboldened Gulf allies to act against Qatar.
Image source Wikimedia
He tweeted on June 6: “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar – look!”
The president later added: “So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding… extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!”
Qatar is home to the biggest US military air base in the Middle East, with about 8,000 personnel based at al-Udeid.
The official statement from White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the US was in communication with all parties “to resolve issues and restore co-operation”.
In the same week as Donald Trump’s Riyadh speech, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE blocked Qatari news sites, including Al Jazeera.
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on June 6 that the economic measures should persuade Qatar to change its policies and behave “like a normal country”.
Speaking in Paris, he called on Qatar’s rulers to end their support for the Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and what he called “hostile media”.
“We believe that common sense and logic and will convince Qatar to take the right steps,” Adel al-Jubeir said.
The emir of Kuwait – one of the Gulf countries not involved in the dispute – traveled to Saudi Arabia on June 6 in an attempt to mediate. He later left after a “brotherly visit” but there was no word on the outcome of the talks.
Qatari nationals in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been given two weeks to leave.
Qatar denies backing militants and its foreign minister has called for “a dialogue of openness and honesty”.
Egypt has announced it was closing off its airspace to Qatar from 04:00 GMT on June 6 “until further notice”.
Travel disruption is expected as the airport in Doha, Qatar’s capital, is a major hub for international flight connections.
Image source Wikipedia
Airlines affected will include Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways and Emirates.
When avoiding the massive neighbor to the west, Saudi Arabia, Qatari planes will inevitably have to take longer routes leading to longer flight times.
However, Qatar’s Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, told broadcaster Al Jazeera the country would “still have access to the world through international sea lanes and international airspace”.
An anonymous Somali official told AP at least 15 Qatar Airways flights had used Somalia’s airspace on June 5, many more than on a normal day.
The states joining the move against Qatar, a tiny but gas-rich peninsula, on June 5 include some of the biggest powers in the Arab world.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE closed all transport ties by air, land and sea to Qatar.
They gave all Qatari visitors and residents two weeks to leave their territory, and banned their citizens from travelling to Qatar.
The UAE and Egypt expelled Qatari diplomats, giving them 48 hours to leave.
Saudi Arabia closed down a local office of Al Jazeera, but said Qatari citizens would still be allowed to take part in the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
Egypt, Yemen, Libya’s eastern-based government and the Maldives later followed suit in severing diplomatic ties.
At least 36 bodies have been recovered from a casino and hotel complex in the Philippine capital, Manila, where a lone gunman opened fire overnight.
According to officials, most of the dead suffocated in thick toxic smoke after the man set fire to casino tables.
The attacker, whose nationality is not yet known, began shooting in the casino in Resorts World Manila in the early hours on June 2.
Police said the gunman later killed himself by setting himself on fire.
Authorities initially said there were no casualties, but appear to have only found the bodies while sweeping the complex after the gunman’s body was recovered.
Photo AP
Officials insisted that the incident was a robbery attempt, and was not terrorism-related despite a claim by ISIS.
ISIS, which posted the claim on June 2 via the messaging app Telegram, offered no further details.
The gunman, who has yet to be named, entered the casino shortly after midnight and began firing an assault rifle, sparking widespread panic.
He also set gaming tables on fire and filled a backpack with gambling chips worth 113 million Philippine pesos ($2.3 million).
The gunman later fled to the hotel section of the complex, leaving behind the backpack, and entered a hotel room.
The shooting sparked a security lockdown and a manhunt in the complex, which ended when the gunman’s body was found.
Resorts World Manila said in a statement that the man also shot himself after setting himself on fire, and that he was found dead around 07:00 local time.
Police released CCTV images of the man, showing him dressed in black and carrying his rifle.
There has been some speculation on the part of local media and some officials that the gunman could have been a foreigner on the basis that he spoke English well. Early reports said he appeared to resemble a Caucasian.
Authorities have also told reporters that the man appeared to be “mentally disturbed”. Resorts World Manila has called the casino shooting a “cowardly act of a deranged mind”.
Police say the gunman was acting alone, unconnected to any Islamist group. Over the last week militants allied to ISIS have been engaged in street battles in the far south of the Philippines.
Police said the suspect poured petrol over the furniture and rugs, causing them to catch fire immediately. Although the fire was not large, thick smoke caused the deaths.
Those who escaped the casino have said they saw smoke filling the complex.
Resorts World Manila chief operating officer Stephen Reilly has told reporters that fire safety equipment worked, and that there was “proper ventilation”.
More than 50 people have been sent to a hospital to be treated for injuries, including fractures.
World’s leaders reacted to President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
UN chief Antonio Guterres’ spokesman called President Trump’s announcement “a major disappointment” while the EU said it was “a sad day for the world”.
However, senior Republicans and the US coal industry backed the move.
President Trump said the accord “punished” the US and would cost millions of American jobs.
In an address at the White House, the presdient said he was prepared to negotiate a new agreement or re-enter the accord on improved terms.
“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” Donald Trump said.
The Paris agreement commits the US and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and “endeavor to limit” them even more, to 1.5C.
Only Syria and Nicaragua did not sign up to the deal.
Donald Trump characterized the Paris agreement as a deal that aimed to hobble, disadvantage and impoverish the US.
He claimed the agreement would cost the US $3 trillion in lost GDP and 6.5 million jobs – while rival economies like China and India were treated more favorably.
Image source Flickr
President Trump said he was fulfilling his “solemn duty to protect America and its citizens”.
He added: “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore – and they won’t be.”
Donald Trump did not give a timescale. However, under the agreement, a nation seeking to leave the pact can only give notice three years after the date it entered into force – November 16, 2016.
The process of leaving then takes another year, meaning it would not be complete until just weeks after the US presidential election in 2020.
US payments to the UN Green Climate Fund, which helps developing countries cope with the effects of climate change, will stop.
Former President Barack Obama, who agreed to the Paris deal, immediately criticized Donald Trump’s move, accusing the Trump administration of “rejecting the future”.
Disney CEO Robert Iger and the entrepreneur Elon Musk both resigned from White House advisory councils.
Elon Musk said: “Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world.”
However, Republican congressional leaders and the US coal industry backed the move, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell supporting President Trump “for dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama administration’s assault on domestic energy production and jobs”.
The US biggest coal mining company, Peabody Energy, said the agreement would have badly affected the US economy.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the decision “one of the worst policy moves made in the 21st Century because of the huge damage to our economy, our environment and our geopolitical standing”.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau said he was “deeply disappointed” by President Trump’s decision.
UK’s PM Theresa May, who expressed her disappointment and told President Trump in a phone call that the deal protects the “prosperity and security of future generations”.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he respected Donald Trump’s decision but believed it was a “mistake both for the US and for our planet”.
Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said: “I’m not just disappointed, but also feel anger.”
President Trump indicated he was open to another climate deal, saying he would “begin negotiations to re-enter either the Paris accord or a really entirely new transaction on terms that are fair to the United States”.
However, Donald Trump’s words suggested this was not a priority.
“We will see if we can make a deal that’s fair. And if we can, that’s great. And if we can’t, that’s fine,” he said.
During Donald Trump’s election campaign he dismissed climate change as a “hoax”.
French, German and Italian leaders quickly issued a joint statement rejecting a renegotiation of the agreement.
The statement said: “We deem the momentum generated in Paris in December 2015 irreversible and we firmly believe that the Paris agreement cannot be renegotiated, since it is a vital instrument for our planet, societies and economies.”
President Emmanuel Macron reflected the defiance among the remaining signatories, saying “we are fully committed”.
Reworking one of Donald Trump’s own phrases, President Macron added: “Wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility: make our planet great again.”
The Chinese foreign ministry said the parties to the Paris accord “should cherish this hard-won outcome”.
Meanwhile, the Democratic governors of New York, California and Washington all quickly vowed to respect the terms of the Paris deal.
According to recent reports, Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, is under FBI scrutiny as part of the Russia investigation.
Reports say investigators believe Jared Kushner has relevant information, but he is not necessarily suspected of a crime.
The FBI is looking into potential Russian meddling in the last year’s election and links with Donald Trump’s campaign. The president denies any collusion.
Jared Kushner’s lawyer said his client would co-operate with any inquiry.
Donald Trump has described the Russia investigations as “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history”.
US intelligence agencies believe Russia tried to tip the election in favor of Donald Trump, who beat his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Image source Wikimedia
US officials, who were not named, told NBC News that the interest in Jared Kushner did not mean the investigators suspected him of a crime or intended to charge him.
Separately, the Washington Post reported that the investigators were focusing on meetings Jared Kushner held last year with the Russian ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak, and a banker from Moscow, Sergei Gorkov.
Sergei Gorkov is the head of Vnesheconombank, which has been subject to sanctions imposed by the Obama administration in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Vnesheconombank is under the control of Russian PM Dmitri Medvedev and other members of the government, and has been used to fund major projects such as the 2014 Winter Olympics in the southern Russian resort of Sochi.
Jared Kushner, 36, has said he did not discuss sanctions with Sergei Gorkov.
Last week, former FBI Director Robert Mueller was named by the justice department as special counsel to oversee the Russia inquiry.
Congress is also looking into Moscow’s alleged meddling in the 2016 election and any Trump campaign ties.
Jared Kushner has already agreed to discuss his Russian contacts with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Calls for a special investigation have mounted since President Trump fired the most recent FBI director, James Comey, earlier this month.
The White House has been engulfed in crisis over allegations that President Trump asked James Comey to drop an inquiry into links between his ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia.
Michael Flynn was forced out in February after he misled the vice-president about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador before Donald Trump took office in January.
Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the US presidential election.
President Donald Trump has arrived in Brussels for what his team is describing as “tough” talks with other members of the NATO military alliance.
President Trump is now meeting EU leaders. He has been critical of both blocs.
NATO has agreed to Donald Trump’s request to join the US-led coalition against ISIS. The president may also press members to pay their full financial share.
European leaders will seek assurances of President Trump’s commitment to US allies.
European Council President Donald Tusk wrote on Twitter: “I’ll aim to convince POTUS [President of the US] that euro-atlanticism means the free world co-operating to prevent post-West world order.”
After landing in Brussels on May 24, President Trump met the Belgian king and queen while thousands demonstrated against his presence in the center of the city.
The NATO summit will see the alliance agree to a US plan for the military alliance to take a bigger role in the fight against Islamist militants, particularly jihadist group ISIS – but France and Germany insist the move is symbolic.
Image source Flickr
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said: “Today we will decide to expand our support to the coalition with more AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control System] flight time, more information sharing and air-to-air refueling.
“This will send a strong political message of NATO’s commitment to the fight against terrorism and also improve our coordination within the coalition but it does not mean that NATO will engage in combat operations.”
Ahead of May 25 meetings, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters that President Trump “really wants to persuade NATO members to step up and fully meet their obligations”.
He added: “I think you can expect the president to be very tough on them and say… <<We are doing a lot. The American people are doing a lot for your security, for joint security. You need to make sure you’re doing your share for your own security as well>>.
“That’s going to be the core of his message to NATO.”
Rex Tillerson also said President Trump had yet to make a final decision on whether the US would remain in the Paris climate agreement.
Before going to NATO HQ, where he will deliver a short speech, Donald Trump is due to have a private lunch with new French President Emmanuel Macron after meeting the leaders of the European Commission and European Council.
Emmanuel Macron is expected to try to persuade Donald Trump not to renege on the Paris climate accord.
President Donald Trump has arrived at the Vatican and met Pope Francis for a short private audience on the third leg of his overseas trip.
According to the Vatican, there had been an “exchange of views” on international issues, and President Trump and the Pope spoke of the need to continue good relations.
President Trump said they had a “fantastic meeting”. The two men have in the past clashed on issues such as migration, climate change and a Mexico-US wall.
The president also met Italy’s president and prime minister while in Rome.
Donald Trump is now flying on to Brussels for a NATO summit.
He arrived in Europe from Israel and the Palestinian territories, where he vowed to try and achieve peace in the region.
President Trump began his foreign trip with a two-day stop in Saudi Arabia over the weekend, urging Muslim countries to take the lead in combating radicalization.
The president and his entourage arrived at the Vatican just before 08:30AM, in a meeting that was arranged at the last minute.
Donald Trump was greeted by Archbishop Georg Ganswein, the head of the papal household, and escorted by the Swiss Guard to the offices of Pope Francis.
Correspondents say President Trump seemed subdued during their initial meeting, while Pope Francis was not as jovial as he sometimes is with world leaders.
The two men appeared much more relaxed at the end of their 30-minute private meeting.
The Vatican said later that they shared a commitment to “life, and freedom of worship and conscience” and expressed hope that they can collaborate “in service to the people in the fields of healthcare, education and assistance to migrants”.
On international affairs, their “exchange of views” covered the “promotion of peace in the world through political negotiation and interreligious dialogue”, and highlighted the need to protect Christian communities in the Middle East.
After the meeting, Pope Francis and President Trump exchanged gifts. The president gave the Pope a boxed set of writings by the civil rights leader Martin Luther King.
Pope Francis gave President Trump a signed copy of a message he delivered for World Peace Day, along with some of his writings about the need to protect the environment.
The pontiff also presented him with a small sculptured olive tree, telling President Trump through an interpreter: “It is my desire that you become an olive tree to construct peace.”
President Trump responded by saying: “We can use some peace.”
He also said he would read the texts the Pope gave him.
After the meeting, President Trump tweeted: “Honor of a lifetime to meet His Holiness Pope Francis. I leave the Vatican more determined than ever to pursue PEACE in our world.”
President Trump was joined not only by First Lady Melania Trump, daughter and son-in-law but also Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Adviser HR McMaster.
Both Melania and Ivanka Trump were dressed in black with their heads partially covered, in keeping with a traditional Vatican protocol that is no longer expected to be rigorously observed.
Melania Trump, a Catholic, asked the Pope to bless her rosary beads.
In a light-hearted exchange, Pope Francis asked Melania Trump what she gave her husband to eat. It was initially thought he had suggested “pizza” to her, but in fact he said potica, which is a cake from Melania Trump’s home country of Slovenia. She laughed in response, and agreed with him.
This is Donald Trump’s first visit to Europe since taking office in January.
Security has been stepped up across Rome, with the areas around the Vatican City, the Italian presidential palace and the American ambassador’s residence, where President Trump is staying, temporarily closed to traffic.
Despite the heavy police presence, about 100 anti-Trump protesters held a rally in one of Rome’s squares on May 23.
Significant protests are also expected in Brussels where President Trump will meet EU and NATO officials.
Donald Trump will end his tour on the Italian island of Sicily at the G7 summit on May 26.
According to recent reports, President Donald Trump has appointed lawyer Marc Kasowitz to represent him in an inquiry into Russia’s alleged meddling in the presidential election and any links to the Trump campaign.
President Trump has used services of the New York lawyer – known as a tenacious litigator – for more than a decade.
Donald Trump denies any collusion between his campaign and Russia.
Image source kasowitz.com
However, US intelligence agencies believe Russia tried to tip the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump.
Marc Kasowitz and the White House have so far made no public comments on the reported appointment.
He is well known to Donald Trump, and it was he who – during the presidential campaign – threatened to sue the New York Times if it didn’t retract a story about Donald Trump touching women inappropriately.
The New York Times stood by its story and a retraction was never published.
The maximum sentence for corruption in South Korea is life.
Park Geun-hye is accused of colluding with her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to extort money from some of South Korea’s biggest companies, including Samsung, in return for political favors.
Image source kremlin.ru
Choi Soon-sil, who is also facing charges, sat alongside Park Geun-hye at the opening of the trial. She also denies wrongdoing.
As the trial opened in Seoul, Park Geun-hye’s lawyers said there was “no reason for President Park to force companies to donate money which she was unable to use for herself”.
Prosecutors say she allowed Choi Soon-sil to use her presidential connections to pressure companies to give money to a foundation she established, earning them tens of millions of dollars.
In exchange, the companies would receive favorable treatment from the government, it is alleged.
Park Geun-hye is also accused of leaking state secrets by giving Choi Soon-sil access to her work – including asking her to edit her speeches – and of running a blacklist of media figures who were to be barred from receiving state support because they had been critical of her government.
The ousted president is the third South Korean leader on trial for corruption but the first democratically elected one.
The two previous cases involved former military dictators imprisoned on corruption in the 1990s.
Park Geun-hye’s hearing takes place in the very same court room as the previous trials.
Dozens of people have now been investigated or arrested in connection with the scandal. All have maintained their innocence.
Choi Soon-sil has been on trial since December, while her daughter, Chung Yoo-ra – alleged to have received help getting a university placement – was arrested in Denmark in January.
The acting head of Samsung Group, Lee Jae-Yong, and four other Samsung executive are on trial for allegedly giving bribes to Park Geun-hye and Choi Soon-sil in exchange for government support for a controversial merger.
Former health minister Moon Hyung-pyo and the chief investment officer of the National Pension Service (NPS) Hong Wan-seon are on trial for allegedly pressuring the NPS to accept the merger.
Last week, two plastic surgeons who treated the image-conscious former president – including one who injected Park Geun-hye with human placenta extracts – were convicted of lying about having treated her.
President Donald Trump’s fired national security adviser Michael Flynn has refused to hand over files to a Senate panel probing alleged Russian political meddling into US election.
He invoked his legal right against self-incrimination, his lawyers told the committee.
The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating possible links between the Trump campaign and Russia.
Michael Flynn stood down in February after it emerged he lied about his contacts with the Russian ambassador.
Two other former top Trump aides – Paul Manafort and Roger Stone – have complied with the committee’s request for information, it was reported on May 22.
The panel, another congressional committee and the FBI are investigating claims that Russian hackers tried to help Donald Trump win last November’s presidential election, and whether members of his campaign colluded with the alleged Russian conspiracy.
Michael Flynn’s name has cropped up repeatedly in the matter, but his letter to the Senate panel emphasizes his refusal to comply is not an admission of wrongdoing.
The former Army lieutenant general is invoking the 5th amendment to the US constitution, which protects Americans from being legally compelled to testify against themselves in a criminal case.
Image source Wikimedia
The letter said Michael Flynn’s decision was a response to the current political climate and an “escalating public frenzy against him”.
His attorneys argued that “any testimony he provides could be used against him”.
Republican Senator James Lankford, who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, tweeted: “It is Mike Flynn’s right to plead the 5th.
“We will get to the truth one way or another.”
If Michael Flynn continues to refuse to comply, it is thought Senate investigators could vote to hold him in contempt of Congress, or even refer his case for possible criminal charges.
Michael Flynn’s legal representative has previously demanded immunity from “unfair prosecution” before his client testifies.
Last week the committee’s chairman, Senator Richard Burr, told reporters that Mike Flynn was “not co-operating” with the investigation.
Shortly after Michael Flynn left the White House, the Department of Defense also launched an inquiry into payments he received for a speech in Russia and for lobbying on Turkey’s behalf.
Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates testified to senators earlier this month that she had warned the White House 18 days before Michael Flynn was fired that he was vulnerable to Russian blackmail.
Michael Flynn misled the White House about discussing US sanctions against Russia with Moscow’s envoy, Sergei Kislyak, before DonaldTrump took office.
President Trump injected a fresh impetus into the Senate investigation after he himself met the Russian ambassador and foreign minister in the White House earlier this month.
Donald Trump said in that encounter that he had just fired the FBI director because he was a “real nut job” and his dismissal eased “a great pressure because of Russia”, the New York Times reported.
During the Oval Office chat, which media were not invited to cover, Donald Trump also reportedly divulged secret information on the military campaign against ISIS.
Israel was reportedly the source of that sensitive intelligence.
However, while in Jerusalem on May 22, President Trump told reporters repeatedly that he “never mentioned the word Israel” in his meeting with Russian officials.
Former FBI director Robert Mueller was appointed last week as special counsel to lead the FBI investigation following President Trump’s firing of the law enforcement agency’s director, James Comey.
In Israel, Donald Trump will hold talks with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders during the course of his two-day stop.
He has called an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement “the ultimate deal”, but has been vague about what form it should take.
Donald Trump has said he prefers to leave it to both sides to decide between them in direct talks.
According to the Associated Press and Israel’s Haaretz, President Trump’s flight between Saudi Arabia and Israel was likely to be the first between the two countries, that have no diplomatic relations.
Image source Reuters
The president has been widely seen as considerably more supportive of Israel than his predecessor, Barack Obama. Donald Trump has taken a softer position on the contentious issue of Israeli settlements, suggesting that their expansion rather than their presence might hamper the search for peace.
More than 600,000 Jews live in about 140 settlements built since Israel’s 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, land Palestinians claim for a future state.
The Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
President Trump has also sent mixed signals on the issue of Jerusalem, pledging to move the US embassy there from Tel Aviv, angering Palestinians and delighting Israelis.
However, he has since stalled, with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently telling NBC News that President Trump was weighing it up.
Israel regards the whole of Jerusalem as its capital, while the Palestinians claim the east as their capital. The international community does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem and countries maintain their embassies in Tel Aviv.
There has been some consternation in Israel in the run-up to President Trump’s trip over remarks made by administration officials.
Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu rejected Rex Tillerson’s suggestion that moving the embassy might harm the peace process, while a US Consulate official caused outrage by saying the Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites, was “not in your [Israel’s] territory but part of the West Bank”.
The White House later said: “The Western Wall is in Jerusalem… such alleged statements would not have been authorized by the White House, [and] do not reflect the US position, and certainly not the president’s position.”
President Trump is expected to visit the Western Wall, located in the Old City of East Jerusalem, in a private capacity on May 22 – the first sitting US president to do so.
Donald Trump will also visit the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where according to Christian tradition Jesus was buried and resurrected.
His trip also comes days after it was reported that the president had leaked to Russia’s foreign minister classified intelligence information said to have come from an Israeli source. The incident has raised questions about the confidentiality of secret intelligence passed to the US by its closest Middle Eastern ally.
A huge security operation is under way for Donald Trump’s visit, during which he will hold separate meetings with PM Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on May 22 and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Bethlehem the following day.
A day before Donald Trump was due to arrive, Israel’s announced economic and development concessions for Palestinians, including easing some restrictions on movement and approving industrial construction projects.
However, there is no provision under existing law for the emperor to abdicate and be succeeded by Crown Prince Naruhito.
The bill will now pass to the parliament, where it is widely expected to be passed.
It would be the first time a Japanese emperor has stepped down since Emperor Kokaku in 1817.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters on May 19 that the government “hopes for the smooth passage of the legislation”.
Emperor Akihito, who has had heart surgery and was treated for prostate cancer, has been on the throne since the death of his father, Hirohito, in 1989 and is loved and revered by many Japanese.
Image source Wikipedia
In a rare address to the nation in August 2016, Akihito said he was beginning to feel “various constraints such as in my physical fitness” which caused him to “contemplate on my role and my duties as the emperor in the days to come”.
The emperor is constitutionally barred from making any comments on politics, so he could not say explicitly that he wanted to stand down.
The bill approved by the cabinet on May 19 mentions the widespread public support for the emperor’s wishes, Japanese media reported.
It says that on abdication, Crown Prince Naruhito would immediately take the Chrysanthemum Throne, but that neither he nor his successors would be allowed to abdicate under the same law.
The government will set the date for the abdication, which is expected to be in December 2018.
Women are not allowed to inherit Japan’s throne and so Princess Aiko, the daughter of Crown Prince Naruhito, cannot succeed her father.
A debate about whether or not a woman should be able to ascend the throne was triggered in 2006 when the emperor had no grandsons, but was postponed after a boy was born to the imperial family.
President Donald Trump has reacted to the decision to appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to oversee the inquiry into Russia’s influence on his election.
The president tweeted on May 18: “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history.”
Donald Trump’s reaction differed from yesterday when he was quoted in a White House statement as saying: “I look forward to this matter concluding quickly.”
In naming Robert Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said it was in the public interest to pick an outsider.
Robert Mueller’s appointment has been welcomed by politicians from both sides.
“With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign and the Obama Administration, there was never a special councel [sic] appointed,” he tweeted on May 18.
President Trump later reposted the same tweet, after correcting his misspelling of the word “counsel”.
Image source Wikipedia
A number of times previously, President Trump has likened the investigation into potential collusion between his campaign and the Russian government to a witch hunt.
Donald Trump’s latest tweets came hours before he was to hold a joint press conference with the visiting Colombian president.
On May 17, Donald Trump said no politician in history “has been treated worse or more unfairly” than himself.
The announcement of a special counsel apparently took the White House by surprise, with President Trump only being informed of it after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had signed the order.
The FBI and Congress are looking into potential links between Donald Trump’s campaign team and Russia. Robert Mueller will take over the FBI investigation.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that former Trump aide Michael Flynn told his transition team at the beginning of January – earlier than was previously thought – that he was under federal investigation for working as a paid lobbyist for Turkey during the election campaign.
Donald Trump appointed Michael Flynn as his national security adviser weeks later despite the warning, but he was sacked after just 24 days.
In his statement announcing Robert Mueller’s appointment, Rod Rosenstein said: “The public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command.”
Robert Mueller, who will have wide-ranging powers, said simply: “I accept this responsibility and will discharge it to the best of my ability.”
Just over an hour after the news of Robert Mueller’s appointment emerged, President Trump predicted the new investigation would clear him and his team.
“A thorough investigation will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” he said.
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller has been named special counsel to oversee an inquiry into Russia’s alleged meddling in the election and any Trump campaign ties.
In naming Robert Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said it was in the public interest to have an outsider.
The appointment was widely endorsed by politicians from both sides.
Calls for a special investigation had mounted since President Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey last week.
The announcement apparently took the White House by surprise, with President Trump only being informed of it after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had signed the order.
US intelligence agencies believe Moscow tried to tip the election in favor of Donald Trump.
In his statement announcing the move, Rod Rosenstein said: “The public interest requires me to place this investigation under the authority of a person who exercises a degree of independence from the normal chain of command.”
Robert Mueller, who will have wide-ranging powers, said simply: “I accept this responsibility and will discharge it to the best of my ability.”
Just over an hour after the news of Robert Mueller’s appointment emerged, President Trump predicted the new investigation would clear him and his team. Previously, the White House had said there was no need for an outsider to lead an inquiry.
Image source Wikimedia
“A thorough investigation will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity,” said President Trump.
The top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said Robert Mueller was “exactly the right kind of individual for this job”.
However, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi was more cautious, saying: “A special prosecutor is the first step, but it cannot be the last.
“He cannot take the place of a truly independent, outside commission that is completely free from the Trump administration’s meddling.”
Republican leaders were also restrained.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the appointment “confirms that the investigation… will continue.”
House Speaker Paul Ryan said: “My priority has been to ensure thorough and independent investigations are allowed to follow the facts wherever they may lead… The addition of Robert Mueller as special counsel is consistent with this goal.”
Normally US prosecutors answer to the attorney general. However, for investigations into high-ranking officials in the executive branch the attorney general – or in this case Rod Rosenstein – can appoint a special counsel with greater independence from the executive.
However, while special counsels are free from day-to-day supervision by the justice department, they must notify the attorney general of any “significant” action and they would need to ask permission to expand the investigation beyond their mandate.
Robert Mueller has the authority to investigate not only links or co-ordination between Russia and Trump campaign officials, but also “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation”.
The role should not be confused with that of independent counsel, a role introduced in legislation by Congress after the 1970s Watergate scandal.
Appointed by a three-judge panel, the independent counsel operated outside the jurisdiction of the justice department.
However, after the experiences of the Iran-Contra investigation during the Reagan administration and the inquiry into President Bill Clinton’s Whitewater land deal, the law fell out of favor with both Republicans and Democrats, and Congress failed to renew it in 1999.
President Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was forced out in February after he misled the vice-president about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador before Donald Trump took office.
Robert Mueller, 72, served as FBI director for 12 years under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama as the longest serving bureau chief since J. Edgar Hoover.
Princess Mako of Japan will lose her royal status by marrying a commoner.
The 25-year-old eldest granddaughter of Emperor Akihito will become engaged to law firm worker Kei Komuro, also 25, whom she met while studying together.
Japan’s imperial law requires a princess to leave the royal family after marrying a commoner.
The move is expected to reignite debate on royal succession, with the emperor also possibly abdicating soon.
Princess Mako and Kei Komuro met in 2012 at a restaurant, when they were both studying at the International Christian University in Tokyo.
Image source Wikimedia
The Imperial Household told local media that plans were under way for the princess’s engagement.
According to AP, a public announcement will be made, and then a wedding date will be set. The news agency said the couple would also make a formal report to the emperor and empress.
The engagement will only be official after a ceremonial exchange of gifts, local media said.
Asked about their engagement plans, Kei Komuro on May 17 was quoted as saying: “Now is not the time for me to comment, but I want to speak at the right time.”
Princess Mako’s aunt, Princess Sayako, married a commoner in 2005 – the first time a Japanese royal became a commoner.
Princess Sayako’s wedding to an urban planner for the Tokyo city government, was described as a low key event. She was left to adjust to her more humble surrounding.
The princess moved into a one-bedroom apartment, had to learn how to drive, shop in a supermarket and buy furniture.
Princess Sayako is the only daughter of Emperor Akihito.
Emperor Akihito, 83, hinted last August that he wanted to stand down, saying his age could interfere with his duties.
No Japanese emperor has abdicated for two centuries and the law currently does not allow it, but Japan is currently considering legal changes to allow the emperor to abdicate.
However, the new legislation is expected to leave unchanged a males-only succession law – which has been at the centre of debate for many years.
Because of that law there are only four heirs to the Chrysanthemum Throne: Akihito’s sons Crown Prince Naruhito and Prince Fumihito, Prince Hisahito (Fumihito’s son) and the emperor’s younger brother, Prince Masahito.
After news of Princess Mako’s upcoming engagement broke, Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga was quoted by Reuters as saying: “There is no change in our view to proceed with consideration of steps to ensure stable imperial succession.”
According to recent reports, President Donald Trump asked FBI Director James Comey to drop an inquiry into links between his ex-national security adviser, General Michael Flynn, and Russia.
“I hope you can let this go,” President Trump reportedly told James Comey after a White House meeting in February, according to a memo written by ex-FBI Director James Comey.
The memo was written immediately after the meeting, a day after Michael Flynn resigned, according to media reports.
The White House has denied the allegation in a statement.
The statement said: “The president has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn.”
Jason Chafettz, an influential Republican congressman who chairs the House Oversight Committee has called for the FBI to hand over all relevant documents within a week.
He demanded all correspondence relating to communications between James Comey and President Trump be presented by May 24.
Michael Flynn was forced out in February after he misled the vice-president about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador before President Trump took office.
The latest Russian twist, first reported by the New York Times, comes a week after Donald Trump fired James Comey over his handling of the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while at the state department.
Image source Wikipedia
James Comey’s dismissal sent shockwaves through Washington, with critics accusing the president of trying to thwart the FBI investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the US election and any Moscow ties to Trump associates.
The FBI director reportedly wrote a memo following a meeting with the president on February 14 that revealed Donald Trump had asked him to close an investigation into Michael Flynn’s actions.
James Comey reportedly shared the memo with top FBI associates.
“I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go,” President Trump told James Comey, according to the memo.
“He is a good guy.”
James Comey did not respond to his request, according to the memo, but replied: “I agree he is a good guy.”
In response to the report, a White House official pointed out that acting FBI director Andrew McCabe had testified last week that there had been “no effort to impede our investigation to date”.
He resigned as White House national security adviser after just 23 days on the job over revelations that he had discussed lifting sanctions on Moscow with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak, before Donald Trump was sworn in.
It is illegal for private citizens to conduct US diplomacy.
Since Michael Flynn stepped down, the Pentagon has launched an investigation into whether he failed to disclose payments from Russian and Turkish lobbyists for speeches and consulting work.
Michael Flynn’s Russian ties are under investigation by the FBI and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, as part of wider inquiries into claims Moscow sought to tip the election in favor of Donald Trump.
Adam Schiff, the highest ranked Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said this intervention by President Trump, if correct, amounted to “interference or obstruction of the investigation”.
Senator John McCain reportedly said at a dinner that the Trump scandals had now reached “Watergate size”.
The key legal statute is 18 US Code Section 1512, which contains a broad definition allowing charges to be brought against someone who “obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so”.
Section 1512 requires a person not only to attempt to obstruct justice but to do it with “corrupt” intent, and legal experts have told the Washington Post that is not clear in this case.
According to recent reports, President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information about ISIS to Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
The information, related to the use of laptops on aircraft, came from a partner of the US which had not given permission for it to be shared with Russia, the Washington Post reports.
President Trump received Sergei Lavrov in the Oval Office last week.
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster dismissed the reporting as “false”.
However, Donald Trump has dismissed such allegations as “fake news”.
Image source Russian Foreign Ministry
During the election campaign, President Trump repeatedly criticized his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, for how she handled sensitive material.
In a conversation with the Russian foreign minister and Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak in the Oval Office, the president revealed details that could lead to the exposure of a source of information, officials told the Washington Post and the New York Times.
The discussion was about an ISIS plot. President Trump reportedly went “off-script”, revealing specifics of the plot, thought to centre on the use of laptop computers on aircraft, and the city from which that threat had been detected.
The intelligence disclosed came from a US ally and was considered too sensitive to share with other US allies, the papers report.
Others present realized the mistake and scrambled to “contain the damage” by informing the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA), the Washington Post reports.
Donald Trump’s actions would not be illegal, as the US president has the authority to declassify information.
National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster told reporters that the story, “as reported”, was “false”.
“The president and foreign minister reviewed a range of common threats to our two countries, including threats to civil aviation,” he said.
“At no time – at no time – were intelligence sources or methods discussed. And the president did not disclose any military operations that were not already publicly known.”
In a statement, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson echoed the point that “the nature of specific threats were discussed, but they did not discuss sources, methods or military operations”.
The Washington Post, which first broke the story, said this did not amount to a denial.
President Donald Trump is urged by senior lawmakers to hand over any recordings of conversations with fired FBI director James Comey.
Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer warned that destroying any tapes would break the law.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said the White House needed to “clear the air” about whether tapes existed.
The move comes after President Trump tweeted what appeared to be a thinly veiled threat to the former FBI chief.
Donald Trump warned James Comey last week against talking to the media, saying he had “better hope there are no tapes” of their conversations.
The White House has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of any tapes.
Charles Schumer also warned that Senate Democrats might refuse to vote on a new FBI director until a special prosecutor is named to investigate alleged Russian meddling in the US election.
Image source Getty Images
The FBI is investigating the allegations and possible ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.
Donald Trump denies any such links and says James Comey had assured him he was not being investigated. The president says he fired James Comey because he was not doing a good job.
Charles Schumer told CNN that if any tapes existed “the president should turn them over immediately. To destroy them would be a violation of law”.
“If there are no tapes, he should apologize to both Jim Comey and the American people for misleading them,” he added.
Meanwhile, Senator Graham told NBC that Donald Trump’s tweet was “inappropriate” and called on the president to “back off and let the investigation go forward”.
“You can’t be cute about tapes,” he said.
“If there are any tapes of this conversation, they need to be turned over.”
President Trump has said he could announce a replacement for James Comey later this week.
Eleven people are reportedly being considered for the position, which requires confirmation in the Senate, and interviews began on May 13.
Those under consideration include acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, New York Appeals Court Judge Michael Garcia, Republican Senator John Cornyn and senior lawyer Alice Fisher.
The FBI probe and parallel congressional investigations into alleged Russian political meddling, and whether any Trump campaign officials colluded with the Kremlin, have dogged his young presidency.
The search for a new FBI director is beginning on May 13, with four possible candidates being interviewed by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Image source Flickr
In yesterday’s daily briefing, Sean Spicer refused to comment on questions about whether President Trump had been making surreptitious recordings in the White House.
Donald Trump tweeted hours earlier that James Comey had “better hope there are no tapes” of their conversations.
Sean Spicer denied the tweet was a threat.
“The president has nothing further to add on that,” he told reporters repeatedly when pressed about the post.
“The tweet speaks for itself.”
However, James Comey believes “if there is a tape, there is nothing he is worried about”, a source told CNN.
Donald Trump’s comments provoked fresh comparisons between his administration and that of disgraced President Richard Nixon, who famously recorded conversations, speeding his downfall during the Watergate scandal.
The top Democrats on the House judiciary and oversight committees wrote to the White House on May 12 demanding copies of any recordings.
John Conyers and Elijah Cummings’ letter noted “it is a crime to intimidate or threaten any potential witness with the intent to influence, delay or prevent their official testimony”.
James Comey has declined an invitation to testify to the Senate Intelligence Committee on May 16.
President Trump told NBC News that James Comey requested the one-on-one dinner, but the former FBI director reportedly maintains it was the president who invited him.
James Comey had said he was “uneasy” before the dinner, according to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
James Clapper told MSNBC on May 12 that he had spoken to James Comey before the White House meal.
The FBI chief had confided he was concerned it might compromise his Trump-Russia inquiry, said James Clapper.
President Trump has said James Comey told him three times he was not a target of the FBI inquiry, fuelling accusations the president was interfering in the investigation.
Still chafing at media coverage of the firing, President Trump tweeted on May 12: “Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future <<press briefings>> and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???”
Sean Spicer said the president was a “little dismayed” that his press team’s attempts to give out information were being turned into a “game of gotcha” by the media.
President Trump doubled down in an interview with Fox News by threatening to hold the press briefings only once a fortnight, with himself at the podium.
“Unless I have them every two weeks and I do them myself, we don’t have them,” he said.
“I think it’s a good idea. First of all, you have a level of hostility that’s incredible and it’s very unfair.”
Francesco Schettino had handed himself in to the Rebibbia prison in Rome after the verdict, his lawyer said.
He was sentenced in 2015 after a court found him guilty of manslaughter, causing a maritime accident and abandoning ship.
The Costa Concordia cruise ship capsized after hitting rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio.
Francesco Schettino was nicknamed “Captain Coward” by the media, after the coastguard released recordings of him in a lifeboat resisting orders to return to the stricken vessel.
More than 4,000 people were aboard at the time and were forced into a chaotic evacuation.
Prosecutors say Francesco Schettino steered too close to the island to show off to a dancer, Domnica Cemortan, who was with him at the helm.
However, he blamed communication problems with the Indonesian helmsman.
The court ruling was welcomed by a lawyer representing relatives of the victims, who said it represented justice at last.
The sentence included 10 years for manslaughter, five for causing the shipwreck, one for abandoning the ship before passengers and crew were clear, and one month for lying to the authorities afterwards.
Costa Crociere, the company that owned the Costa Concordia, sidestepped potential criminal charges in 2013 by agreeing to pay a €1 million ($1.1 million) fine.
Five of Francesco Schettino’s colleagues were also jailed for up to three years in earlier cases.
In a recent interview, President Donald Trump has insisted he is not under investigation, while dismissing FBI Director James Comey he fired as a “showboat” and “grandstander”.
James Comey was leading an inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the last year’s election and possible collusion between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.
Donald Trump has dismissed the probe as a “charade”, a claim directly contradicted by James Comey’s successor.
In his first interview since firing the FBI director, President Trump told NBC News on May 11 he had asked James Comey whether he was under investigation.
“I said, if it’s possible would you let me know, <<Am I under investigation?>>. He said: <<You are not under investigation>>.”
“I know I’m not under investigation,” President Trump told the interviewer, repeating a claim he made in May 9 letter of dismissal to James Comey.
Donald Trump said James Comey first told him this at a dinner at the White House, which the FBI chief had requested because “he wanted to stay on” in his post under the new administration.
However, NBC later quoted an unnamed former senior FBI official close to James Comey as saying it was the White House that had requested the dinner, and that Comey would not have told the president he was not under investigation.
“He would say, <<Look sir, I really can’t get into it, and you don’t want me to>>,” the former official was quoted as saying.
Image source Wikipedia
The White House has rejected concerns raised by legal experts that the conversation, as described by President Trump, may have been improper.
Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she “did not see it as a conflict of interest”.
According to the New York Times, two people who had heard James Comey’s account – apparently of the same dinner – said the former FBI director declined a request to pledge loyalty to President Trump, but said he would be honest with him.
Donald Trump also appeared to undercut the initial White House explanation that he had fired James Comey on the recommendation of top justice officials.
“He’s a showboat. He’s a grandstander. The FBI has been in turmoil. I was going to fire Comey. My decision,” President Trump said.
White House officials had previously pinned the decision on a memo written by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, which President Trump refers to in the opening paragraph of his termination letter to James Comey, saying: “I have accepted their recommendation.”
However, the president told NBC: “I was going to fire him regardless of the recommendation.”
Donald Trump also denied that he wanted the FBI inquiry on Russia dropped, saying he, instead, wanted it “speeded up”.
“I want to find out if there was a problem with the election having to do with Russia… or any other country, I want that to be so strong and so good, and I want it to happen.”
This is despite what he tweeted on May 8: “The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?”
“There’s no collusion between me and my campaign and the Russians,” the president told NBC.
Donald Trump said he had just sent a letter via a law firm to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham stating that he has no stake in Russia.
“I have nothing to do with Russia,” he said.
“I have no investments in Russia. I don’t have property in Russia. I’m not involved with Russia.”
The White House has depicted the Russia inquiry as “probably one of the smallest things” that the FBI has “got going on their plate”.
However, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe said on May 11 that it was “a highly significant investigation”.
In testimony to the Senate intelligence committee, Andrew McCabe also cast doubt on White House claims that James Comey had lost the confidence of his staff.
“I can confidently tell you that the vast majority of employees enjoyed a deep and positive connection to Director Comey,” he said.
Andrew McCabe vowed not to update the White House on the status of the investigation and to notify the Senate panel of any attempt to interfere with the inquiry.
Republican committee chairman Richard Burr asked Andrew McCabe if he had ever heard James Comey tell Donald Trump the president was not the subject of investigation.
Andrew McCabe said he could not comment on an ongoing inquiry.
The acting FBI director did not confirm reports that Director Comey had asked for more resources for the agency’s Russia inquiry.
Andrew McCabe said he believed the FBI had sufficient funding to conduct the probe.
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