Tag: James Baker

The American people have a right to know if their president is a Russian agent. Now President Donald Trump has had to tell reporters he is not a spy after the New York Times reported that the FBI had launched a counterintelligence probe into the president himself in May 2017. As former FBI general counsel James Baker told House lawmakers in October, the president’s obstruction of the bureau’s Russia investigation “itself would hurt our ability to figure out what the Russians had done, and that is what would be the threat to national security.” Since the Times story hit, some of the president’s critics have interpreted the investigation itself as evidence of the president’s guilt. And he allows that the FBI can have defensible reasons for opening an investigation into the president — namely, that a probe into Trump campaign officials and their contacts with Russia would involve Trump himself. Still, these points of constitutional principle do not address a practical question: What was the FBI’s senior leadership supposed to have done when Trump fired Comey, then went on national television and declared that he had axed their old boss because of their Russia investigation? Nonetheless, if a government official truly believes Trump is a foreign agent and should be removed from office, then he has no choice. It is ultimately up to Congress to decide whether Trump’s decision to fire Comey was a “threat to national security,” as Baker said in his testimony before the House. It is not up to the FBI. Make no mistake, however: This is not something that can be left in the FBI’s hands. Democrats, especially, should be attuned to the danger of allowing the FBI undue influence in electoral politics.

Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan says the four people under investigation have a deep bias against President Trump. #AmericasNewsroom #FoxNews FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour all-encompassing news service dedicated to delivering breaking news as well as political and…

The investigation the F.B.I. opened into Mr. Trump also had a criminal aspect, which has long been publicly known: whether his firing of Mr. Comey constituted obstruction of justice. But the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s firing in May 2017, particularly two instances in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the inquiry, the people said. officials opened it. That inquiry is part of Mr. Mueller’s broader examination of how Russian operatives interfered in the 2016 election and whether any Trump associates conspired with them. to impede or even end the Russia investigation, that was both a possible crime and a national security concern. “Not only would it be an issue of obstructing an investigation, but the obstruction itself would hurt our ability to figure out what the Russians had done, and that is what would be the threat to national security,” Mr. Baker said in his testimony, portions of which were read to The New York Times. officials about opening an inquiry into whether Mr. Trump had tried to obstruct that case. The second event that troubled investigators was an NBC News interview two days after Mr. Comey’s firing in which Mr. Trump appeared to say he had dismissed Mr. Comey because of the Russia inquiry. officials viewed their decision to move quickly as validated when a comment the president made to visiting Russian officials in the Oval Office shortly after he fired Mr. Comey was revealed days later.

Mr Trump has always approached the presidency like a reality television producer, which was his most successful previous role. No programme has been more closely linked to Mr Trump than his favourite, the inane morning chat show Fox & Friends. Blonde and attractive in the standard Fox News mould, Ms Nauert no doubt seemed straight out of Mr Trump’s vision of “central casting”, especially since she was unencumbered by any relevant diplomatic or administrative experience or expertise. _______________ Read more from Hussein Ibish: _______________ But central casting can be unreliable. The appointment of such a relative nonentity to the UN position conveys precisely the kind of disdain for multilateral institutions that Mr Bolton has championed. Moreover, she will be in no position whatsoever to challenge Mr Bolton’s command of US foreign policy and her media-centred and skimpy resume suggests the most she will be expected to do is defend other people’s policies on television. Along with Vice President Mike Pence, she was one of two potential successors as president within the administration. By the time Mr Trump had to replace Mr Tillerson, Ms Haley had ruled herself out as a candidate because she had used her UN post to become too powerful and independent. But Ms Haley was one of the most senior of Mr Trump’s initial appointees. Even if she does end up sitting in the cabinet, however, Ms Nauert’s appointment will strongly solidify Mr Bolton’s pre-eminence in foreign policy-making, typically in coordination with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.