Tag Archives: Russia

The Washington Post reports: A month before Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, one of his closest allies in Congress — House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy — made a politically explosive assertion in a private conversation on Capitol Hill with his fellow GOP leaders: that Trump could be the beneficiary of payments from Russian President Vladimir Putin. “There’s two people …

NBC News reports: The Justice Department will appoint former FBI Director Robert Mueller to be special counsel of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, NBC News reported. Robert Mueller became FBI director on Sept. 4, 2001. A Vietnam veteran who served in the Marine Corps, he was U.S. Attorney in San Francisco for three years before …

J. Lester Feder reports at Buzzfeed: The United States has declined visas to gay Chechens fleeing a wave of kidnappings, torture, and disappearances in the semi-autonomous Russian region, according to the organization Russia LGBT Network. A group of around 40 Chechens are now in hiding in other parts of Russia, Russia LGBT Network spokesperson Svetlana Zakharova told BuzzFeed News, and …

Hemant Mehta reports at The Friendly Atheist: Over the weekend, the WannaCry ransomware attack targeted Microsoft Windows systems across the globe, even disrupting hospitals in Britain. But Russia won’t have to worry about anything like that happening because the Orthodox Church’s Patriarch Kirill apparently visited the Ministry of Internal Affairs and sprayed holy water on the computers. They can hack …

The Hill reports: Russian leader Vladimir Putin said early Wednesday that President Trump did not share secrets with Russian officials last week and is willing to give Congress transcripts to prove it. The Associated Press and Reuters reported that Putin is willing to hand over the records of the president’s conversation with Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador. Two days ago, …

The Hill reports: Independent Sen. Angus King (Maine) said he now “reluctantly” believes that impeachment is on the table for President Trump following reports that he asked former FBI Director James Comey to end the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn. In an interview on CNN Tuesday evening, Wolf Blitzer asked King if the details of the report …

The New York Times reports: President Trump asked the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, to shut down the federal investigation into Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, in an Oval Office meeting in February, according to a memo Mr. Comey wrote shortly after the meeting. “I hope you can let this go,” the president told Mr. Comey, …

The Hill reports: Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) says that lawmakers should not refrain from discussing President Trump’s impeachment. “We don’t have to be afraid to use the word impeachment,” she said Tuesday at the Center for American Progress (CAP) conference in Washington, D.C. “We don’t have to think impeachment is out of our reach.” “All we have to do is …

“It is time for an investigation of Russia’s intervention in the U.S. Election. There is too much at stake at home and abroad to not take this step. There is so much conflicting information from many sources; Americans deserve the opportunity to learn the truth. As stated before, I continue to support any efforts done by the House Intelligence Committee …

The Jerusalem Post reports: Israel was the source of the classified intelligence US President Donald trump revealed to Russian officials at a meeting at the White House last week, The New York Times reported on Tuesday evening. According to the Times, “a current and a former American official familiar with how the United States obtained the information” has revealed Israel …

Public Policy Polling reports: For the first time we find more voters (48%) in support of impeaching Trump than there are (41%) opposed to the idea. Only 43% of voters think Trump is actually going to end up serving his full term as President, while 45% think he won’t, and 12% aren’t sure one way or the other. Voters are …

An emergency shakeup for today’s schedule: White House officials hastily changed their plans to brief reporters Tuesday amid controversy over reports that President Trump shared highly classified information with Russian officials, opting to have national security adviser H.R. McMaster speak publicly rather than press secretary Sean Spicer. Although Spicer and McMaster were slated to brief reporters together at a televised …

The Washington Examiner reports: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday demanded that the Trump administration provide a transcript of the president’s conversation with the Russian ambassador in order to determine whether Trump divulged classified information. Schumer, D-N.Y., said the Trump administration should provide an unedited transcript to the Senate intelligence Committee, a panel that requires security clearances that would …

The Hill reports: Matt Drudge took to Twitter Tuesday morning to slam The Washington Post’s newsroom for openly applauding record-breaking traffic numbers for its “hit” report that President Trump revealed sensitive information to top Russian diplomats. The Drudge tweet comes after the Post’s Glenn Kessler tweeted Monday night that applause broke out in the newsroom when internet traffic for the …

The Associated Press reports: The Senate’s top Republican says “we can do with a little less drama from the White House” so the GOP can focus on advancing the party’s legislative agenda. Appearing Tuesday morning on Bloomberg Business, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was responding to reports that President Donald Trump revealed highly classified information about the Islamic State group …

Politico reports: The Russian government had “real leverage” over former national security adviser Michael Flynn when he was fired by President Donald Trump, former acting Attorney General Sally Yates said in an interview that aired Tuesday morning. Yates informed the White House that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence and others about the nature of conversations he had had …

Raw Story reports: Reporters at the White House on Monday overheard yelling between White House press secretary Sean Spicer, chief White House counsel Steve Bannon, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and White House Communications Director Michale Dubke, prompting staffers to turn up TV’s to drown out the back-and-forth. According to BuzzFeed’s Adrian Carrasquillo, the officials walked into …

The Daily Beast reports: The war of words between Stephen Colbert and President Donald Trump won’t be ending anytime soon. “I have something to say here. Donald Trump, if you’re watching, first of all: You’re a bad president. Please resign,” said Colbert to heavy applause from the crowd. “Second, please, please, please don’t take Sean Spicer from us! Where am …

Deutsche Welle reports: On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that he was acting within the privilege afforded his position when he shared intelligence with Russian officials at the White House last week. Earlier Tuesday, and seemingly contradictory, Russian Foreign Ministry officials had told the Moscow-based Interfax news agency that reports that Trump had revealed highly classified secrets …

The New York Times reports: President Trump declared on Twitter early Tuesday that he had an “absolute right” to share with top Russian officials information about an Islamic State threat during a White House meeting last week. He spoke out after multiple news accounts emerged that he had disclosed classified information to the Russian officials, possibly jeopardizing a relationship with …