Author: Karoun Demirjian
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CIA director briefs senators on Saudi role in Khashoggi killing
WASHINGTON – CIA Director Gina Haspel appeared on Capitol Hill Tuesday to brief key senators on the agency’s assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman likely ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Haspel had faced mounting pressure to speak to lawmakers and more fully explain the CIA’s findings, which President Donald Trump has…
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Russia favored Trump in 2016, Senate panel says, breaking with House GOP
WASHINGTON – The Senate Intelligence Committee has determined that the intelligence community was correct in assessing that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. election with the aim of helping then-candidate Donald Trump, contradicting findings House Republicans reached last month. “Our staff concluded that the [intelligence community’s] conclusions were accurate and on point,” the panel’s vice…
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Senate confirms Mike Pompeo as Trump’s next secretary of state
The Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as secretary of state on Thursday despite lingering objections from Democrats who’ve questioned his record of hawkish policy positions and past controversial statements about minority groups. The split vote — 57 to 42 — represents the political scrutiny Pompeo is likely to encounter as he moves from the CIA to…
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House passes legislation to renew key NSA surveillance program after Trump’s contradictory tweets
The House voted decisively Thursday to reauthorize a powerful government authority to conduct foreign surveillance on U.S. soil, overcoming opposition from privacy advocates and confusion sown by a series of contradictory and seemingly misinformed tweets from President Trump questioning his own administration’s support for the program. The 256 to 164 vote on the bill sets…
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Devin Nunes, targeting Mueller and the FBI, alarms Democrats and some Republicans with his tactics
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Rep. Devin Nunes, once sidelined by an ethics inquiry from leading the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia probe, is reasserting the full authority of his position as chairman just as the GOP appears poised to challenge special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of possible coordination between the Trump campaign and Russian officials. The California Republican…
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Kushner spends two hours being questioned by Senate investigators on Russia
Jared Kushner, President Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law, spent about two hours Monday answering questions from Senate investigators on his contacts with Russian officials, insisting he had not colluded with foreign agents before or after the 2016 presidential campaign. Kushner emerged smiling from Senate offices shortly after noon and got into a waiting vehicle, on…
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Battling a brain tumor, Sen. John McCain vows: ‘I’ll be back soon’
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., used his signature snark to warn colleagues that he will be returning soon to Washington – and chastised the Trump administration for ending assistance to moderate Syrian rebels battling the government of Bashar al-Assad. The twin statements served as reminders of the outsized role the 80-year old senator plays on Capitol…
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Homeland Security official: Russian government actors tried to hack election systems in 21 states
People connected to the Russian government tried to hack election-related computer systems in 21 states, a Department of Homeland Security official testified Wednesday. Samuel Liles, the Department of Homeland Security’s acting director of the Office of Intelligence and Analysis Cyber Division, said vote-tallying mechanisms were unaffected and that the hackers appeared to be scanning for…
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Bad intel from Russia influenced FBI’s handling of the Clinton probe
In the midst of the 2016 presidential primary season, the FBI received a purported Russian intelligence document describing a tacit understanding between the campaign of Hillary Clinton and the Justice Department over the inquiry into whether she intentionally revealed classified information through her use of a private email server. The Russian document mentioned a supposed…
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Acting FBI director contradicts Trump White House on Comey, Russia probe
Acting FBI director Andrew McCabe on Thursday rejected the Trump White House’s characterization of the Russian meddling probe as a low priority and delivered a passionate defense of former director James B. Comey — putting himself squarely at odds with the president while the bureau’s future hangs in the balance. McCabe, who had been the…