Author: Matthew Lee
-
State Dept. official testifies in impeachment inquiry
WASHINGTON • The State Department’s third-ranking official testified Wednesday for more than six hours in the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry as they investigate President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. David Hale had been expected to tell lawmakers that political considerations were behind the agency’s refusal to deliver a robust defense of the former U.S. ambassador…
-
Trump pick for Russia envoy grilled by senators on Ukraine
WASHINGTON • The No. 2 official at the State Department faced off Wednesday with senators demanding to know why he didn’t know more about the Trump administration’s backchannel diplomacy with Ukraine and the dismissal of the former U.S. ambassador to Kyiv, issues now at the heart of the impeachment inquiry into the president. Deputy Secretary…
-
Trump shifts tone on Turkey in effort to halt Syria invasion
WASHINGTON • In a span of 24 hours, President Donald Trump moved from threatening to obliterate Turkey’s economy if it invades Syria to inviting its president to visit the White House. But Trump did not back away Tuesday from a plan to withdraw American troops from Syria as he tried to persuade Turkey not to…
-
Pompeo ‘very hopeful’ US-North Korea talks will resume soon
BANGKOK • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that he’s very hopeful for a quick resumption in nuclear talks with North Korea despite the North’s recent weapons tests that have clouded already uncertain prospects for a return to the table. Pompeo told reporters accompanying him to an Asian security conference in Thailand that some…
-
The Art of the Walk? Summit collapse and Trump’s diplomacy
HANOI, Vietnam • President Donald Trump framed the breakdown of his nuclear summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un as wisely knowing when “to walk.” But the collapse revealed the limits of his unique brand of personal diplomacy and raised concerns about future efforts to disarm a global threat. Eyeing the history books and a…
-
Trump denies Pelosi aircraft for planned trip abroad
WASHINGTON — It took President Donald Trump one day to flex his executive power back at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, denying her an aircraft for a planned trip abroad in apparent response to her attempt to delay his State of Union address amid their government shutdown clash. The nation’s two most powerful leaders appeared to…
-
Pompeo assails Obama in Mideast policy speech
CAIRO • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered a scathing rebuke of the Obama administration’s Mideast policies Thursday, accusing the former president of “misguided” thinking that diminished America’s role in the region while harming its longtime friends and emboldening Iran. In a speech to the American University in Cairo, Pompeo unloaded on President Donald Trump’s…
-
Trump pulling all U.S. troops from Syria, declaring IS defeat
WASHINGTON • President Donald Trump is pulling all 2,000 U.S. troops out of Syria, officials announced Wednesday as the president suddenly declared victory over the Islamic State, contradicting his own experts’ assessments and sparking surprise and outrage from his party’s lawmakers who called his action rash and dangerous. The U.S. began airstrikes in Syria in…
-
Trump’s new sanctions takes hard line with Iran
WASHINGTON • The Trump administration was caught between allies at home and abroad and the reality of global economics as it reinstated sanctions Monday on Iran, forced to carve out exemptions for important allies and back off on measures that could have been even more punishing for Tehran. The U.S. granted waivers to allow China…
-
Trump faces complaints that new Iran sanctions are too weak
WASHINGTON • A battle is brewing between the Trump administration and some of the president’s biggest supporters in Congress who are concerned that sanctions to be reimposed on Iran early next month won’t be tough enough. As President Donald Trump prepares to reimpose a second batch of Iran sanctions that had been eased under the…