Tag Archives: Russia

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 …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russian foreign minister and ambassador in a White House meeting last week, according to current and former U.S. officials, who said that Trump’s disclosures jeopardized a critical source of intelligence on the Islamic State. The information Trump relayed had been provided by a U.S. partner through an intelligence-sharing …

Via press release: The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Justice Department and FBI asking for all records related to President Trump’s dismissal of FBI Director James Comey. “White House interference with any FBI investigation is incompatible with democratic safeguards, and that’s especially the case when the investigation involves the president or …

Wildly popular YouTube comedian Randy Rainbow usually turns to Broadway classics for his scathingly funny songs, but today he employs Kermit The Frog’s 1979 classic The Rainbow Connection to riff on Trump, Spicer, Tillerson, Sessions, and Conway. I won’t give away the jokes, just watch below.

The BBC reports: North Korea has claimed that the missile it tested on Sunday was a new type of rocket capable of carrying a large nuclear warhead. The missile, launched at a steep angle, reached an altitude of 2,000km (1,242 miles) and traveled about 700km, landing in the sea west of Japan. North Korea said on Monday it was a …

Politico reports: The White House on Saturday said President Donald Trump “cannot imagine that Russia is pleased” with North Korea’s latest missile test. The statement from press secretary Sean Spicer said “the missile impacting so close to Russian soil – in fact, closer to Russia than to Japan – the President cannot imagine that Russia is pleased.” South Korea and …

CNN reports: Former FBI Director James Comey will not testify before the Senate intelligence committee next week, according to the panel’s vice chairman, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia. “We just heard from the director that he’s not able to make Tuesday,” Warner told CNN’s Manu Raju. “It’s my hope that that we will be able to find a time. …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump’s lawyers say a review of his last 10 years of tax returns do not reflect “any income of any type from Russian sources,” with some exceptions. The lawyers did not release copies of Trump’s tax returns so The Associated Press cannot independently verify their conclusions. The letter says there is no equity investment …

NBC News reports: President Donald Trump, in an exclusive interview Thursday with NBC News’ Lester Holt, called ousted FBI chief James Comey a “showboat” and revealed he asked Comey whether he was under investigation for alleged ties to Russia. “I actually asked him” if I was under investigation, Trump said, noting that he spoke with Comey once over dinner and …

The BBC reports: Five gay rights activists have been detained in Moscow as they tried to deliver a petition to the office of Russia’s prosecutor general. Police said they were held because their action was unauthorised. The activists said more than two million people had signed the petition to investigate alleged torture and detentions of gay people in the Russian …

Ruh-roh! CNN reports: The Senate intelligence committee Wednesday issued a subpoena to former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn for documents regarding his interactions with Russian officials. The subpoena comes after Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, alerted the panel that he would not provide documents in response to their April 28 request. More from Talking Points Memo: In a statement, Sens. Richard …

Brian Tashman reports at Right Wing Watch: Today far-right host Alex Jones interviewed Roger Stone, an informal adviser to President Trump, about the president’s decision to fire FBI Director James Comey, where they promptly contradicted the White House’s official story behind Comey’s termination. While celebrating Comey’s ouster, the two agreed that the administration must now go after Democratic critics of …

CBS News reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin said the firing of former FBI Director James Comey will have “no effect” on U.S.-Russia relations, reacting for the first time to President Trump’s dramatic ouster of the man leading the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 campaign. Putin spoke with CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer shortly before taking to the ice …

The Washington Post reports: Last week, then-FBI Director James B. Comey requested more money and resources from the Justice Department for his bureau’s investigation into collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, according to two officials with knowledge of the discussion. Comey, who was fired by President Trump on Tuesday, made the request in a meeting last week …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump weighed firing his FBI director for more than a week. When he finally pulled the trigger Tuesday afternoon, he didn’t call James Comey. He sent his longtime private security guard to deliver the termination letter in a manila folder to FBI headquarters. He had grown enraged by the Russia investigation, two advisers said, frustrated by …

Mediaite reports: CNN’s Chris Cuomo spoke with White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday, and things went incredibly off the rails as they held a grueling 19 minute interview about James Comey‘s firing. Seriously, you need to see the whole thing. It’s memorable. Conway hit back at Cuomo by saying “you always want to talk about Russia, Russia, Russia,” and …

Of course the Russians are thrilled: Russia’s top diplomat on Wednesday appeared to joke about President Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey during a visit to the State Department. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson introduced Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during the Washington visit. “I want to welcome foreign minister Lavrov to the state department and express my appreciation …