According to recent reports, US intelligence
agencies have warned that Russia is attempting to help President Donald Trump
get re-elected in November.
It appears the comments came in a closed-door briefing to the House
Intelligence Committee on February 13.
President Trump was reportedly enraged, complaining that Democrats would use
the information against him.
Donald Trump replaced his acting intelligence chief, Joseph Maguire, on
February 20.
The New York Times reported that
President Trump was particularly angry that Adam Schiff, the Democrat who led
the impeachment proceedings against him, was at the briefing.
Donald Trump, impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power
and obstruction of Congress, was acquitted after a two-week trial in the
Republican-controlled Senate.
During the House intelligence briefing, President Trump’s supporters argued
that he had taken a hard stance with Russia, and that European ties and
security had been strengthened as a result, the newspaper added.
Adam Schiff later tweeted that if Donald Trump was in any
way “interfering” with the sharing of information between US
intelligence agencies and Congress regarding foreign interference in the
election process, the president was “jeopardizing” attempts to stop
it.
Joseph Maguire was a favorite to be nominated for the permanent Director of
National Intelligence (DNI) post, the Washington
Post said.
However, the publication said President Trump changed his mind when he found
out about the briefing, and what he called the “disloyalty” of his
staff.
The president announced this week that Joseph Maguire would be replaced by
Richard Grenell, the US ambassador to Germany and a Trump loyalist.
Two Trump administration officials
told the New York Times that the
replacement of Joseph Maguire, so soon after the contentious briefing, was a
coincidence.
US intelligence officials say Russia
interfered in the 2016 presidential election to boost Donald Trump’s campaign
and cause chaos within the US electoral process.
Democrats criticized the president
for appointing Richard Grenell, who has previously played down the extent of
Russian interference in the last election, and has celebrated the rise of
far-right politicians in Europe.
Ned Price, a former aide to President Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama, said the president had “dropped the charade that he has any use for intelligence”.
Donald Trump’s lawyers have begun
defending him at his impeachment trial, accusing Democrats of seeking to
overturn the result of the 2016 election.
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone
said: “The president did absolutely
nothing wrong.”
President Trump’s defense will last
three days and follows the Democrats’ prosecution case which ended on January
24.
Donald Trump faces two charges
linked to his dealings with Ukraine.
The articles of impeachment accuse
the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
President Trump is alleged to have
withheld military aid to pressure the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky,
into starting a corruption investigation into Donald Trump’s political rival,
Democrat Joe Biden, and his son Hunter.
Democrats also accuse President
Trump of making a visit by Volodymyr Zelensky to the White House contingent on
an investigation.
The president is charged with obstructing
Congress by failing to co-operate with the House of Representatives impeachment
inquiry.
The trial in the Senate will decide
if Donald Trump should be removed from office. This is unlikely as the
Republicans control the Senate and any such move would need a two-thirds
majority.
Echoing a line heard from many
Republicans, Pat Cipollone said Democrats were “asking you not only to
overturn the results of the last election… they’re asking you to remove
President Trump from the ballot in the election that’s occurring in
approximately nine months.”
“They are asking you to do something very, very
consequential and, I would submit to you … very, very dangerous,” he said.
Much of the abuse of power charge centers on a phone call in July between
President Trump and President Zelenksy.
Donald Trump’s defense lawyer Mike Purpura insisted there was no quid pro
quo – as asserted by the Democrats.
He said: “Zelenksy felt no
pressure. President Zelensky says he felt no pressure. The House managers tell
you they know better.”
In a news conference after January 25 hearing, Adam Schiff, the Democrats’
lead prosecutor, raised the disputed issue of calling witnesses.
He said: “The one question they
did not address at all is why they don’t want to give the American people a
fair trial, why they want this to be the first impeachment case in history
without a single witness and without a single document being handed over.
“That ought to tell you
everything you need to know about the strength and weaknesses of this
case”.
The leader of the Democrats in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, told reporters that President Trump’s defense team had inadvertently “made a really compelling case for why the Senate should call witnesses and documents”.
A resolution setting out the next steps in President Donald Trump’s impeachment have been published by House Democrats.
The motion sets out a more public phase of the inquiry and hands the lead
role in hearings to the chairman of the intelligence committee, Adam Schiff.
The House, controlled by the Democrats, will vote on the measure on October
31.
A White House spokeswoman said the resolution was an “illegitimate
sham”.
So far, hearings have been held behind closed doors. This vote to make the
impeachment process public is about the procedure, and not a ballot on whether
or not to impeach the president.
Meanwhile, Republicans have criticized Democrats for the closed hearings up
to this point, in which Republican lawmakers have also taken part. However,
Democrats insist they were needed to gather evidence ahead of the public stage
of the inquiry, and deny allegations they have been secretive.
President Trump is accused of trying to pressure Ukraine into investigating
unsubstantiated corruption claims against his political rival, Joe Biden, and
his son, Hunter Biden, who worked with Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
The president denies wrongdoing and calls the impeachment inquiry a
“witch hunt”.
On October 29, the impeachment inquiry heard from Lt. Col. Alexander
Vindman, a White House official who had monitored a phone call on July 25
between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
That call sparked a whistleblower complaint and led to the impeachment
probe.
Col. Alexander Vindman said he was “concerned” by the call as he
“did not think it was proper to demand that a foreign government
investigate a US citizen”.
The eight-page document sets out a two-stage process for the next phase of
the inquiry.
In the first, the House Intelligence Committee will continue its investigations
and hold public hearings. It will have the right to make public transcripts of
depositions taken in private.
In the second phase, a public report
on the findings will be sent to the House Judiciary Committee which will
conduct its own proceedings and report on “such resolutions, articles of
impeachment, or other recommendations as it deems proper”.
President Trump’s lawyers will be
allowed to take part in the Judiciary Committee stage.
Republicans on the committees will
be able to subpoena documents or witnesses – although they could still be
blocked as both committees are Democrat-controlled.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said
a House vote on the resolution would take place on October 31. She has
previously said such a vote is not required under the US Constitution.
House Republican leader Kevin
McCarthy, speaking before the resolution was unveiled, said the entire process
was a “sham.”
Referring to the closed-door meetings and depositions he said: “You can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Due process starts at the beginning.”
House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, the head of congressional investigation into alleged Russian hacking, has temporarily stepped down amid an ethics inquiry into him.
Devin Nunes is now himself under investigation by the House Ethics Committee.
The panel is looking into claims that the Republican disclosed classified intelligence.
Devin Nunes called the charges “entirely false” and “politically motivated”.
Representative Mike Conaway will take control of the Russia investigation.
Image source Wikimedia
Devin Nunes said his decision came after “several leftwing activist groups have filed accusations against me with the Office of Congressional Ethics”.
The republican added he would continue to fulfill his other responsibilities as chairman and has requested to speak to the Ethics Committee “in order to expedite the dismissal of these false claims”.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said he fully supported Devin Nunes’ decision.
Paul Ryan said he trusts Devin Nunes, describing him as “eager to demonstrate to the Ethics Committee that he has followed all proper guidelines and laws”.
However, he added that the inquiry “would be a distraction” for the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation.
Representative Adam Schiff, a ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he respected Devin Nunes’ decision.
Adam Schiff said in a statement the move was a “fresh opportunity to move forward in the unified and non-partisan way that an investigation of this seriousness demands”.
Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, has apologized for not informing Democratic colleagues before going public with allegations about surveillance of President Donald Trump’s team.
He apologized privately and vowed to work with them on the issue, a committee aide said.
Democrats were furious that Devin Nunes went straight to the White House.
They questioned whether the committee’s inquiry into Russia’s alleged role in the election can proceed objectively.
However, when Donald Trump was asked if he now felt vindicated for his accusations against his predecessor, he answered: “I somewhat do. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found.”
Image source Wikimedia
The US intelligence agencies regularly, and legally, monitor foreigners, and the communication of Americans is often incidentally collected. They are not usually named but can be if the context of the intelligence requires it.
Devin Nunes said the material he had seen “bothered” him and that the unmasking of individuals, and the content of some of the material gathered, was “inappropriate”.
Of his decision to go public and brief President Trump, Devin Nunes said: “It was a judgment call on my part.
“Sometimes you make the right decision, sometimes you make the wrong decision.”
A Republican intelligence committee aide told Reuters: “He apologized to the minority on the committee for going public and to the [White House] with his announcement before sharing the information with the minority. He pledged to work with them on this issue.”
Devin Nunes had also stressed that the information in the intercepts he had seen was not linked to an FBI investigation into alleged links between the Trump team and Russian officials during the election campaign.
However, Democrats said Devin Nunes’ actions could scupper the House panel’s investigation.
Democrat Jackie Speier, who serves on the committee, said: “I think over the next few days we are going to assess whether or not we feel confident that [Devin Nunes] can continue in that role.”
Democrat Adam Schiff said: “A credible investigation cannot be conducted this way.”
Devin Nunes has refused to reveal who passed him the information.
When asked whether it was the White House itself, he said he was “not going to ever reveal sources”.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said: “I don’t know why he would come up to the president to brief him on something we had briefed him on.”
Devin Nunes’ disclosure came two days after FBI Director James Comey confirmed the organization was investigating alleged links between the Trump team and Russian officials.
Adam Schiff on Wednesday told MSNBC he believed there was evidence “that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of an investigation” about the links.
House intelligence committee chairman Devin Nunes said that post-election communications of Donald Trump’s team were swept up in an “incidental collection” by intelligence agencies.
The Republican lawmaker said individuals were named in “widely disseminated” reports, which he said was “totally inappropriate”.
He also insisted the collected information was not linked to an FBI investigation into alleged links between the Trump team and Russian officials during the election campaign.
A political row followed Devin Nunes’ announcement, with the top Democrat on the committee, Adam Schiff, criticizing him for not consulting the committee before going public.
Adam Schiff said: “This is not how you conduct an investigation. You don’t take information that the committee hasn’t seen and present it orally to the press and to the White House before the committee has a chance to vet whether it’s even significant.”
Image source Wikimedia
Devin Nunes said the incidental collection was legal but his main concern was that people involved had been unmasked in the reports.
However, Adam Schiff said it was “fully appropriate” to give the names of US citizens “when it is necessary to understand the context of collected foreign intelligence information”.
What Devin Nunes had revealed did not indicate that there was any flaw in the procedures followed by the intelligence agencies, Adam Schiff added.
The intelligence collection, which took place mainly in November, December and January, was brought to the attention of Devin Nunes by an unnamed source or sources.
When Donald Trump was asked if he felt vindicated for his explosive accusations against his predecessor, he answered: “I somewhat do. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found.”
Trump campaign advisers are currently the subject of an FBI investigation and two congressional inquiries.
Investigators are reviewing whether the Trump campaign and its associates co-ordinated with Moscow to interfere in the 2016 presidential election campaign to damage Donald Trump’s opponent, Hillary Clinton.
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