The three beefy men sharing a laugh looked like old friends, not geopolitical adversaries. A smiling Donald Trump welcomed Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and its US ambassador Sergey Kislyak to the Oval Office on Wednesday, just a day after the president had fired the man investigating Moscow’s role in helping him enter the White House. The extraordinary scene was just the latest sign that Mr Trump […]
By Matt Spetalnick | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON President Donald Trump will express support for Palestinian “self-determination” during a Middle East trip this month, a senior aide said on Friday, suggesting Trump is open to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict despite not having publicly embraced the idea so far. The comment by U.S. national security adviser H.R. McMaster came just nine days after a White House visit […]
Donald Trump capped a week of Watergate flashbacks in Washington on Friday, as he appeared to channel the ghost of Richard Nixon by threatening his recently sacked FBI director with the release of “tapes” of their private conversation. In a series of irate tweets, Mr Trump warned the former agency chief against leaking to the press amid conflicting accounts of events leading to the director’s sacking this […]
Dole, the only former Republican presidential nominee who endorsed Trump before the GOP convention last summer, is a savvy Washington insider who most recently attracted notice for his lobbying on behalf of Taiwan. Dole’s efforts led to a stunning call between Trump and Taiwan’s president, angering China. Dole’s retainer for the Taiwan work, which includes direct lobbying, is $25,000 a month, per federal disclosures. Both Epstein and […]
Saudi Arabia is preparing to cement ties with President Donald Trump by committing to unprecedented investments in the US. The kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund is set to announce plans to deploy as much as $40 billion into US infrastructure, according to people familiar with the matter. The investment may be unveiled as early as next week to coincide with Trump’s visit to the kingdom, said the people, […]
Beijing is enjoying an unusually long run of clear blue skies thanks to widespread industrial closures ahead of the most important international event hosted by President Xi Jinping. The “New Silk Road” summit has attracted 29 national leaders from four continents and also prompted a nationwide security clampdown, as authorities try to ensure that it proceeds without a hitch. More than 80 other countries, including North and […]
Donald Trump’s abrupt termination of FBI director James Comey in the middle of an FBI probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election sent shockwaves through Capitol Hill. How Senators respond to this action matters, as Mr Trump cannot appoint a replacement for Mr Comey without the Senate’s approval. At the same time, the Senate intelligence committee is conducting its own investigation into Russian interference in the […]
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s acting director has contradicted Donald Trump over the firing of James Comey, denying the ousted chief had lost the support of employees as he insisted the FBI’s Russia probe would not be knocked off course. Andrew McCabe, the FBI acting director, also told the Senate intelligence committee that the probe into alleged collusion between Moscow and the Trump election campaign was “highly […]
A consortium led by Macquarie Group is buying a controlling stake in one of Australia’s biggest public energy companies in a deal that will deliver a A$7.6bn windfall to the New South Wales government. The sale of a 50.4 per cent stake in Endeavour Energy to the Advance Energy consortium completes a trio of energy sales in NSW under an “asset recycling” policy, which the US administration […]
By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The anger behind Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday had been building for months, but a turning point came when Comey refused to preview for top Trump aides his planned testimony to a Senate panel, White House officials said. Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had wanted a heads-up […]
Abu Dhabi // The president of the UAE, Sheikh Khalifa, has been invited by Saudi King Salman to attend talks in Riyadh later this month with the US president. The ruler of Abu Dhabi was invited to both the US-GCC talks as well as the summit expected to be held a day later, on May 21, between Donald Trump and leaders from more than a dozen of […]
An unabashed Donald Trump called for warmer US relations with Russia on Wednesday as his firing of FBI director James Comey sparked pressure from Democrats for an independent probe of his election campaign’s alleged ties to Moscow. Mr Comey’s dismissal shook Washington, igniting the biggest crisis of Mr Trump’s presidency as opponents amplified allegations throughout the day that the president was seeking to frustrate the FBI probe. […]
By David Morgan and Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump defended his firing of FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday as Democrats intensified accusations that the ouster was intended to undermine an agency probe into his presidential campaign’s possible collusion with Russia to sway the 2016 election. The Republican president’s abrupt move on Tuesday stunned Washington and was swiftly condemned by Democrats and by […]
Good morning. Here’s our morning roundup of all the media news you need to know. Want to get this briefing in your inbox every morning? Subscribe here. Sean Hannity, the eight-figure archetype of selective moral outrage, last night charged the press with going “completely insane” over the James Comey firing. Hannity accused it of “selective moral outrage,” proving it takes one to know one amid wall-to-wall Comey […]
It took Richard Nixon five months to fire the man investigating him. It took Donald Trump less than four. The difference is that Mr Nixon did little to conceal his motive — to save his presidency. Mr Trump, on the other hand, says he fired James Comey for having mishandled last year’s email investigation into Hillary Clinton. Even by Mr Trump’s standards, this stretches credulity. Mr Trump […]
A group of US senators has urged a government investigation into billionaire Carl Icahn’s involvement in an obscure market for US biofuel credits, arguing he profited by influencing prices through his role as informal counsel to President Donald Trump. Mr Icahn controls CVR Energy, an oil refiner which trades credits used to meet a federal mandate for mixing ethanol and biodiesel with petroleum products. In December, the […]
Turkey was informed of Mr. Trump’s decision, according to an American official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was discussing private diplomatic communications. Continue reading the main story The Turkish government had no immediate reaction, with officials declining to comment before Mr. Erdogan’s office did. But the move was likely to anger Mr. Erdogan, who has been pressing the United States to lessen its […]
US stocks hit fresh intraday highs on Wednesday, with Apple’s market value breaking through $800bn for the first time, as an earnings trade replaces the so-called Trump trade. The best US earnings season in five years has powered Wall Street to new heights even as the pro-business tax, regulation and infrastructure policies of Donald Trump are taking longer to translate into action than investors had hoped. The […]
Donald Trump’s promise of the biggest tax reforms since the Reagan era has cast minds back to the go-go years of postwar Manhattan, when cocktail glasses brimmed, steaks bulged and meal bills soared. The generous treatment of business meal expenses fuelled a phenomenon called the “three martini lunch”. As good for networking as it was bad for afternoon acuity, the more money diners spent on liquor, the […]
Moon Jae-in has triumphed in the South Korean presidential election with over 40 percent of the vote, according to exit polls. But the liberal leader’s solid victory can’t patch over deeper political wounds. Just as the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union left British society divided and Donald Trump’s election polarized Americans, the impeachment of Park Geun-hye has split South Korea. While more than 75 […]
Members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet have a new catchphrase for how they see the future role of the US: not just “energy-independent”, but “energy-dominant”. As Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary, put it at an industry conference in Houston last week: “Dominance is what America needs.” It would be tempting to dismiss that talk as hype, except that every week the US energy sector is coming up […]
This story was originally co-published by ProPublica and IRE Journal. It’s a great time to be an investigative journalist. Sure, no president has done more to demonize media than President Trump. But nor has anybody done more to boost our standing than Trump. Millions of Americans have put their faith in us. A few weeks after the election, a friend of mine, pondering the reality of one-party […]
It was planned as a routine engagement for Martin Schulz — open a new children’s playground, say a few words, sign some autographs and pose for selfies. But the event in a drab suburb of the industrial western town of Hamm was anything but an easy ride for the German Social Democrat leader, who is challenging Chancellor Angela Merkel in September’s parliamentary election. What began as a […]
The former head of the US Department of Justice told Congress that she had warned the White House in January that Michael Flynn, the first national security adviser appointed by Donald Trump, could be blackmailed by Russia. Sally Yates, who served as acting attorney-general early in the Trump administration, told Congress that she had warned the White House that Mr Flynn had left himself open to being […]
