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| Schumer: Sessions should step down |
From: CNN
Duration: 00:57
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) continues to call for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to step down over involvement in former FBI Director James Comey's firing.
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| Clapper: Comey was 'uneasy' about Trump dinner |
From: CNN
Duration: 01:08
James Clapper recounts to Jake Tapper his conversation with Comey before the former FBI Director went to the White House for a private dinner with the president
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| Clapper: My words not 'exculpatory' for Trump |
From: CNN
Duration: 02:42
President Trump used Clapper's words as evidence of no collusion between his campaign and Russia. Jake Tapper asks if that is a fair depiction of his words
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| Clapper: I hope GOP will 'speak up' |
From: CNN
Duration: 01:36
Jake Tapper asks former DNI James Clapper if he is surprised that Republicans on Capitol Hill have not spoken out in wake of Jim Comey's firing
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| Clapper hopes intel knows about any taping |
From: CNN
Duration: 00:26
Clapper addresses the prospect of President Trump secretly recording conversations in the White House with Jake Tapper on State of the Union
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| Clapper 'concerned' about Trump behavior |
From: CNN
Duration: 00:16
The former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper tells Jake Tapper on State of the Union that he is 'concerned' by the president's behavior
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| Clapper: Comey firing has hurt FBI morale |
From: CNN
Duration: 01:34
Jake Tapper asks former DNI James Clapper about the impact in the intelligence community over the abrupt firing of FBI Director Jim Comey
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| Clapper discusses 'pattern' of dead Russians |
From: CNN
Duration: 01:05
James Clapper discusses the 'pattern' of dead Russians tied to the investigation who have surfaced in the past three months on State of the Union
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| Analyst on missile tests: North Korea wants negotiations |
From: FoxNewsChannel
Duration: 05:49
'Nuclear Showdown' author Gordon Chang provides insight on 'Fox Report'
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| Newt Gingrich on who he'd like to see run the FBI |
From: FoxNewsChannel
Duration: 09:24
Former House speaker shares his views on 'Sunday Morning Futures'
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| Warren: Trump Thinks He's Above the Law |
From: CNN
Duration: 06:06
The State of the Union panel Neera Tanden, Amanda Carpenter, Bill Kristol and Rep. Stephanie Murphy tackle the Democrats' response to Comey's abrupt firing
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| Comey connects Russia probe with Comey firing |
From: CNN
Duration: 08:18
The State of the Union panel Neera Tanden, Amanda Carpenter, Bill Kristol and Rep. Stephanie Murphy discuss the president's firing of Comey with Jake Tapper
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| Schumer: Silence of GOP is hurting America |
From: CNN
Duration: 01:57
On State of the Union, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer tells Jake Tapper that Capitol Hill Republicans are choosing their party over their country
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| Schumer mum on Cornyn for FBI Director |
From: CNN
Duration: 01:23
In an interview on State of the Union, Sen. Chuck Schumer tells Jake Tapper the nominee for Director of the FBI should not be a partisan politician
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| Schumer: Obstruction of justice tough to prove |
From: CNN
Duration: 01:57
On State of the Union, Jake Tapper asks Sen. Chuck Schumer if the President asking FBI Director Comey for his loyalty constitutes obstruction of justice
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| Schumer: No FBI vote until special prosecutor |
From: CNN
Duration: 01:28
Chuck Schumer says that he supports Sen. Warner's proposal for Democrats to refuse to vote on an FBI Director nominee until a special prosecutor is appointed
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| Эммануэль Макрон обещает «невероятное возрождение» |
From: euronewsru
Duration: 01:41
Эммануэль Макрон, новый президент Франции, позирует вместе со своей супругой Брижит на ступенях Елисейского дворца. В воскресенье здесь прошла торжественная церемония инаугурации, в ходе которой Макрону по традиции вручили золотую нагрудную цепь Великого магистра Ордена Почётного легиона.
Затем Макрон выступил с первой речью в качестве главы государства, пообещав выполнить все свои предвыборные обещания: «Мы стоим на пороге невероятного возрождения, поскольку у нас на руках все козыри, которые ЧИТАТЬ ДАЛЕЕ: http://ru.euronews.com/2017/05/14/macron-the-hard-work-starts-now euronews: самый популярный новостной канал в Европе. Подписывайтесь! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=euronewsru euronews доступен на 13 языках: https://www.youtube.com/user/euronewsnetwork/channels На русском: Сайт: http://ru.euronews.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/euronews Twitter: http://twitter.com/euronewsru Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/101036888397116664208/100240575545901894719/posts?pageId=101036888397116664208 VKontakte: http://vk.com/ru.euronews  |
| Партия Меркель победила на выборах в Северном Рейне-Вестфалии |
From: euronewsru
Duration: 00:31
Христианско-демократически союз Ангелы Меркель одержал победу на региональных выборах в земле Северный Рейн-Вестфалия, набрав, согласно экзит-поллам, почти 35% голосов. Вслед за ХДС идет партия СДПГ. На протяжении десятилетий именно "социал-демократы":http://www.dw.com/ru/%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B7%D1%8B-%D0%BD%D0%B0-%D0%B2%D1%8B%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%85-%D0%B2-%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%BC-%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%BD%D0%B5-%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%82%D1%84%D0%B
ЧИТАТЬ ДАЛЕЕ: http://ru.euronews.com/2017/05/14/spd-looks-set-to-lose-north-rhine-westphalia-as-cdu-support-surges-say-exit euronews: самый популярный новостной канал в Европе. Подписывайтесь! http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=euronewsru euronews доступен на 13 языках: https://www.youtube.com/user/euronewsnetwork/channels На русском: Сайт: http://ru.euronews.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/euronews Twitter: http://twitter.com/euronewsru Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/101036888397116664208/100240575545901894719/posts?pageId=101036888397116664208 VKontakte: http://vk.com/ru.euronews  |
| Massive global cyberattack may become larger |
From: FoxNewsChannel
Duration: 02:22
Report: FBI and NSA working to find perpetrators of the attack
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| Opioid addiction crisis spurs brutal candor in obituaries |
From: FoxNewsChannel
Duration: 03:41
Web exclusive: Bryan Llenas speaks with families sharing stories of addiction
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| Israeli politician: Israel not the problem in negotiations |
From: FoxNewsChannel
Duration: 04:44
Yair Lapid, chairman of the Yesh Atid Party, speaks out on 'America's News HQ'
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| Analyst: Netanyahu doesn't know what to expect from Trump |
From: FoxNewsChannel
Duration: 04:58
Haaretz columnist Chemi Shalev provides insight
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| Dems question Sessions' recusal from Russia investigation |
From: FoxNewsChannel
Duration: 05:17
Fair and balanced debate on 'America's News HQ'
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| Trump's Post-Comey Approval Ratings Unchanged, But Fallout Continues |
 President Donald Trump's approval numbers, after firing FBI Director James Comey last week, remain nearly unchanged according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey. But the White House's evolving explanations for the firing are creating new political perils. WSJ's Jason Bellini reports. Photo: Getty |
| How should the U.S. respond to North Koreas missile launch? |
From: PBSNewsHour
Duration: 03:53
North Korea successfully tested a missile early Sunday morning. The last time the U.S. engaged North Korea in talks about its weapons programs was 2008, when former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Christopher Hill served under the Bush administration. Now the dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, Hill joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the latest.
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Shared NewsLinks Review
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Russia’s president didn’t fritter away his time ahead of a meeting with his Chinese counterpart at a high-profile forum in Beijing. Known for his keen interest in music, Vladimir Putin played the unofficial anthems of Moscow and St. Petersburg on a piano.
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Russian police forced opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to leave a May 14 protest against the planned demolitions of residential buildings in Moscow. (RFE/RL's Russian Service)
Originally published at - https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-housing-protest/28487522.html
Originally published at - https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-housing-protest/28487522.html
France: Emmanuel Macron and Paris Mayor Hidalgo sign Paris' Scroll
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France: What is president Emmanuel Macron's schedule for the next days?
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Emmanuel Macron inaugurated President: La Marseillaise resonates in Paris' Town Hall
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France's next leader is warning he will NOT make Brexit easy for the UK.
Emmanuel Macron's wasting no time setting out his position, with British voters set to go to the polls in a few weeks.
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Emmanuel Macron's wasting no time setting out his position, with British voters set to go to the polls in a few weeks.
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Russian police forced opposition leader Aleksei Navalny to leave a May 14 protest against the planned demolitions of residential buildings in Moscow. (RFE/RL's Russian Service)
Originally published at - https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-navalny-housing/28487556.html
Originally published at - https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-navalny-housing/28487556.html
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Emmanuel Macron inaugurated President: Watch Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo's address
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France: Watch President Emmanuel Macron address at Paris Town Hall
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North Korea fired a ballistic missile early on Sunday that flew 700 kilometres (430 miles), South Korea's military said, days after a new leader took office in the South pledging to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang.
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North Korea fired a ballistic missile early on Sunday that flew 700 kilometres (430 miles), South Korea's military said, days after a new leader took office in the South pledging to engage in dialogue with Pyongyang.
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Новости США за 60 секунд. 14 Мая 2017 года by golosamerikius
Хейли: запуск ракеты – не то, чем Ким Чен Ын может заслужить возможность встречи с Трампом / Тиллерсон: у меня прекрасные отношения с президентом / Количество критиков увольнения Коми превышает число тех, кто его одобряет
Оригинальное видео: http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/voa60/3851252.html
Оригинальное видео: http://www.golos-ameriki.ru/a/voa60/3851252.html
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Investigators probing the case of a German officer who is suspected of plotting a hate crime have discovered a handbook on making IEDs.
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An RFE/RL reporter has been attacked for the second time in two months while investigating potential vote buying.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says it is clear that Russia meddled in last year's presidential election, and that Washington and Moscow will not be able to restart with "a clean slate."
Published on May 14, 2017
Jake Tapper asks former DNI James Clapper if he is surprised that Republicans on Capitol Hill have not spoken out in wake of Jim Comey's firing
Published on May 14, 2017
President Trump used Clapper's words as evidence of no collusion between his campaign and Russia. Jake Tapper asks if that is a fair depiction of his words
Clapper: US institutions 'under assault'
CNN-4 hours ago
Washington (CNN) Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a stern warning Sunday about the state of the US ...
James Clapper: Our Institutions 'Are Under Assault' Both Externally ...
<a href="http://NBCNews.com" rel="nofollow">NBCNews.com</a>-29 minutes ago
<a href="http://NBCNews.com" rel="nofollow">NBCNews.com</a>-29 minutes ago
James Clapper: democratic institutions are 'under assault' by Trump
In-Depth-The Guardian-2 hours ago
In-Depth-The Guardian-2 hours ago
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Published on May 14, 2017
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper is interviewed on “This Week.”
Published on May 14, 2017
Report: FBI and NSA working to find perpetrators of the attack
Published on May 14, 2017
Investigators probing the case of a German officer who is suspected of plotting a hate crime have discovered a handbook on making IEDs.
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Published on May 14, 2017
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Published on May 14, 2017
On State of the Union, Jake Tapper asks Sen. Chuck Schumer if the President asking FBI Director Comey for his loyalty constitutes obstruction of justice
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Published on May 14, 2017
Chuck Schumer says that he supports Sen. Warner's proposal for Democrats to refuse to vote on an FBI Director nominee until a special prosecutor is appointed
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Published on May 14, 2017
Former House speaker shares his views on 'Sunday Morning Futures'
Published on May 14, 2017
The State of the Union panel Neera Tanden, Amanda Carpenter, Bill Kristol and Rep. Stephanie Murphy discuss the president's firing of Comey with Jake Tapper
The Russian piano player: Putin plays the music. And who pays for it? by Mike Nova (noreply@blogger.com)
| NYT > World: In Beijing, Putin Plays Two Piano Tunes From His Childhood |
President Xi Jinping of China, right, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia arriving for a banquet at the forum in Beijing on Sunday.   |
News and Opinions - Новости и Мнения: A blog about Russia and her relations with The West
Read the whole story
· ·
| NYT > World: In Beijing, Putin Plays Two Piano Tunes From His Childhood |
President Xi Jinping of China, right, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia arriving for a banquet at the forum in Beijing on Sunday. |
Published on May 14, 2017
James Clapper discusses the 'pattern' of dead Russians tied to the investigation who have surfaced in the past three months on State of the Union
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President Xi Jinping of China, right, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia arriving for a banquet at the forum in Beijing on Sunday.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The president’s decision to fire FBI Director Comey, the various rationales that are being given, and the interview the president gave today to NBC are again prompting many questions about the way Mr. Trump makes decisions and carries out his job as chief executive.
A TIME magazine team had a chance earlier this week to get a look at what life is like inside the Trump White House.
Michael Scherer, TIME’s Washington bureau chief, was part of the group that met with the president, as it turned out, before the Comey firing. And he joins me now.
Michael Scherer, welcome back to the NewsHour.
You and the TIME magazine folks had an unusual access at the White House. Tell us about what it was like.
MICHAEL SCHERER, TIME: We got there about 6:30. And we were invited into the Oval Office, where he was meeting with a number of senior staff, signing the final orders of the day, and from there began an almost three-hour, two-and-a-half-hour evening, in which he took us to many parts of the White House that most presidents never take the press.
That includes starting in his private dining room, which is just down the hallway from the Oval Office in the West Wing, where he played us some DVRed clips of that day’s Senate hearings with color commentary attached.
And then we walked down the Colonnade. And he took us in his elevator up to the residence on the second floor of the executive mansion and toured us through the rooms there. That was followed by dinner in the Blue Room, which is the big oval room on the first floor of the residence.
JUDY WOODRUFF: What did you take away from this? I read the piece today. And you had, as you said, an extraordinary two-and-a-half-hours with him.
From the outside, this is a presidency that’s almost bathed in controversy. Did you sense that kind of tension inside?
MICHAEL SCHERER: There’s an enormous amount of grievance he feels to the way he’s been treated. And that was evident almost from the moment we got there.
He was talking about how the press has mistreated him. Sometimes, he included us in that, although he was also very gracious and hospitable, and talking about how his message had not gotten out, how the good things he had been doing were not being recognized.
And he returned to that time and again. So, there was a clear frustration. And, at times, he was very emotional. Even when he was watching the day’s hearing, he was sort of mocking the witnesses — and these are former federal officials testifying before the Senate — because I think he’s angry at the way the American people have been presented the story of his presidency.
JUDY WOODRUFF: What do you think he wanted to get across most to you?
MICHAEL SCHERER: I think he wanted to get that across. He wanted to make the case that his presidency is far more successful than has been recognized.
There was an interesting moment where I asked him, do you think there has been too much conflict at the White House at some points? And he actually answered by saying, I think that may be true, and then he said, but you have to understand there’s so much meanness out there.
And then he reverted back to name-calling of various other television correspondents and things like that. But I feel like he is someone who is trying to adjust his own personality, his own history, his own instincts to an office that is a very different structure around him.
And I think he’s waffling back and forth between the desire to lash out, to come back over the top, to confront, which has been actually very successful for him through his career, and the realities of the White House, which are that the president has enormous power, but he also is enormously limited in his power, that there are lots of institutions, the press, the courts, the Congress, that can constrain him.
JUDY WOODRUFF: It’s interesting. I think you were telling us earlier today that it was almost like there were two operations going on at the same time. He has one operation around him to sort of protect him, make sure he’s all right, protect his brand, you said, and then, on the other hand, the operation to keep the business of the presidency going.
MICHAEL SCHERER: Yes, he is enormously focused on his personal reputation and experience in office.
And I think he spends a lot of time watching TV at night, seeing how things are being digested. He’s an incredibly erudite media critic, which we saw during the campaign. And that is really separate, I think, from what the business of the presidency is, which is running a very large and complicated government.
Now, he’s involved in those issues, too. It’s not as if he’s not engaged in the details of, you know, getting Obamacare repeal through Congress or something like that. It’s just that I think, more than other presidents, he’s spending a lot of time focused on this other thing.
And he does have staff around him who are essentially personal staff. They’re not staff that are plugged into the hierarchy of a traditional White House. They’re not reporting directly to the chief of staff, and they help him with that.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And any inkling — of course, this was Monday, before we knew about the firing of FBI director — any inkling something like that was coming down?
MICHAEL SCHERER: There was no discussion of the FBI director, Comey.
The only inkling was, he returned several times to his frustration about the press not reporting that his wiretapping tweet of a few weeks ago saying that Barack Obama wiretapped me in Trump Tower, he still believes, he still argues, was true, even though Director Comey testified that there was no evidence …
(CROSSTALK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: That he was wiretapped. He argues that that …
(CROSSTALK)
MICHAEL SCHERER: And his argument is a little complicated. He is saying wiretapping is in quotes. It includes any unmasking by any officials of anyone in my campaign, which may have happened.
And he said he believes that, if an official was unmasked in a foreign intelligence tap, that would count as wiretapping. It’s a stretch, but his anger at — his feeling of being wronged by the way that’s been discussed, and I think that includes what the FBI director said before Congress, was very apparent.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Michael Scherer, TIME magazine, fascinating.
MICHAEL SCHERER: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Thank you.
Read the whole story
· · · · ·
FBI Director James Comey testifies before the House Intelligence Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Joshua Roberts/Reuters
CORONADO, Calif. — Chaos is President Donald Trump’s style, yet as long as the Republican delivers on health care, taxes and tapping a new FBI director as solid as his Supreme Court pick, GOP leaders say everything will be just fine.
While Trump’s abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey roiled Washington, Republicans who attended the national committee’s spring meeting outside San Diego this week defended the president’s actions and insisted that they would have little political impact on midterm elections next year.
Even Trump’s Friday morning tweetstorm warning Comey that he had better hope there are no “tapes” of their private conversations and threatening to cancel White House media briefings failed to dent his support among several GOP leaders.
Peter Goldberg, an Alaska committeeman, said Trump’s latest tweets about Comey are “just a distraction” and that reaction to the firing is like “a bee buzzing around your head. It’s going to go away. I think it’s going to disappear.”
Goldberg, who grew up in New York, said he understood Trump’s style of governing.
“Even during the campaign, some people might have thought of him as brash and I just thought of it as just an average New Yorker. It wasn’t bad, it’s just part of the culture where he was living.”
Republicans said the issues that Trump campaigned on — repealing the Affordable Care Act, cutting taxes and boosting border security — would determine if the party keeps control of both houses of Congress.
Trump addressed the crowd in a five-minute video, telling them their support will help Republicans keep control of the House next year and make gains in the Senate.
“I’ll be going around to different states. I’ll be working hard for the people running for Congress and for the people running for the Senate. We could pick up a lot of seats, especially if it all keeps going like it’s going now,” the president said.
Ron Nehring, a former committee member and former California Republican Party chairman, said Comey’s firing was far more important to journalists and Washington insiders than voters.
“Every day that something unexpected comes up out of the White House, we see people freaking out and then outside of Washington it doesn’t really have that big of an impact,” he said.
Dirk Haire, chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, said every president brings a new style.
“President Trump’s style is chaos,” Haire said. “Would I personally like that? No, it would drive me nuts. That’s just the way he operates.”
Among leading talk radio conservatives on Friday, criticism was directed at the news media for the use of anonymous sources on the story, not Trump. Laura Ingraham tweeted that the reporting was “false,” while Hugh Hewitt said Comey’s successor was what mattered.
Hewitt did critique Trump’s suggestion that the White House cease holding briefings. Trump “needs more direct on-the-record” contact with the media, “not less,” Hewitt posted on Twitter.
The harshest criticism came from conservative Erick Erickson, who described Trump as “self-immolating.”
“The overwhelming majority of Trump voters will double down in their support of Trump,” Erickson wrote on his website Friday morning. “Many of us see this as unhinged, suspicious and headed toward impeachment-level.”
At the RNC meeting, Kris Warner, a West Virginia committeeman, predicted that Comey’s successor will put to rest any voter misgivings about Trump’s handling of the FBI, holding up the president’s selection of Neil Gorsuch for a long-vacant seat on the Supreme Court as an example.
“I expect nothing short of someone beyond reproach and (it) will be exactly what the country needs,” said Warner, a Trump delegate at last year’s party convention. “Look at his Supreme Court pick. Very impressed with that, and I would expect him to do the same with the FBI.”
Party leaders said Trump was right to fire Comey, or at least that he had a right to do it.
Kyle Hupfer, chairman of the Indiana Republican Party, said picking the FBI chief is a president’s prerogative, despite tradition that the post be held for 10 years regardless of who occupies the White House. He said backlash to Comey’s dismissal was “not resonating” with Indiana voters.
David Bossie, a Maryland committeeman who was Trump’s deputy campaign manager during the final leg of last year’s race, conceded the news could have been better explained.
“I think the White House communications shop needs to do a little better, and I think they’re going to get better at what they’re doing,” he said. “I think we had some mixed messages out there that didn’t help matters at all. But the president made the decision to fire Jim Comey. How that happened and the semantics of the timeline, people can debate over the next couple days.”
On Thursday, about 300 protesters marched on the beach, chanting, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Donald Trump has got to go!” They were kept a good distance from the iconic Hotel del Coronado, where some party members looked out from a patio bar.
Associated Press writer Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
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Ivanka Trump donates half the advance from her new bookby David A. Fahrenthold
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File - In this March 29, 2017 file photo, FBI Director James Comey addresses the Intelligence and National Security Alliance Leadership Dinner in Alexandria, Va. Comey cut an unorthodox path as head of the FBI, time and again compelled by strongly held convictions to speak with unusual candor and eloquence about the bureau's work. It's a combination of qualities that may come back to haunt the president who fired him. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
File - In this March 29, 2017 file photo, FBI Director James Comey addresses the Intelligence and National Security Alliance Leadership Dinner in Alexandria, Va. Comey cut an unorthodox path as head of the FBI, time and again compelled by strongly held convictions to speak with unusual candor and eloquence about the bureau's work. It's a combination of qualities that may come back to haunt the president who fired him. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
WASHINGTON (AP) — James Comey cut an unorthodox path as FBI director, time and again compelled by what he described as strongly held convictions to speak with unusual candor and eloquence about the bureau's work.
It's a combination of qualities that may come back to haunt the president who fired him.
Comey's ouster Tuesday, while his FBI led an investigation into coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign, raises the potential that a man long defined by his independent streak, willingness to buck protocol and even a flair for the dramatic could resurface to publicly rebut White House efforts to smear his reputation.
"He's not shy, and he's got a tremendous moral compass," said former FBI assistant director Jim Yacone. "Above all, he will want to see the truth come out."
Comey's reputation for independence predated his tenure as director, famously manifesting itself in a 2004 hospital room clash with fellow Bush administration officials over a domestic surveillance program. It was a moment in history that he recounted three years later to a captivated congressional audience.
At the FBI, where he occasionally got ahead of Obama administration messaging or sometimes split with it altogether, by injecting himself into weighty public policy discussions.
And Comey's reputation most obviously, and most damagingly, was borne out last summer with his unusual public announcement that the FBI was not recommending criminal charges against Hillary Clinton in an email server investigation.
The news conference was held without Justice Department approval, strayed from standard protocol and led to criticism of Comey's moral certitude and go-it-alone inclinations.
Democrats lambasted him for it, and for his equally unorthodox move to alert Congress just before Election Day that the FBI was revisiting a once-closed investigation.
His testimony to Congress this month that he would make the same decisions again was cited in a Justice Department memo that laid the groundwork for his firing, though Trump has since said he had already made up his mind to dismiss Comey.
"I think he showed us again and again, 'I'm independent, damn it, and that's what you want me to be,'" said Ron Hosko, another former FBI assistant director. "And I know some will interpret that as he got too big for the job — certainly with this president."
Only one other FBI director, William Sessions, has been fired, with President Bill Clinton citing his ethical breaches. Clinton spent the next eight years at odds with Sessions' successor, Louis Freeh, but never moved to fire him. FBI chiefs are appointed to 10-year terms on the theory that can remove them from political sway.
Coupled with Comey's independence in his nearly four years as director was an unusual openness about the FBI's work.
A Comey mantra when discussing reconciliation between police and minorities — "It's hard to hate up close" — also reflected his conviction that public skepticism of the bureau could be lessened by greater transparency and a better explanation of FBI actions. After learning that an FBI clerical error helped enable a gun purchase by the man later accused in the South Carolina church massacre, Comey called reporters to FBI headquarters to discuss the mistake.
He staked out public and sometimes unpopular positions on contentious social and policy issues while leading an agency historically focused solely on law enforcement.
During a tense dialogue with Silicon Valley over smartphone encryption and the balance between privacy and national security, Comey wrote opinion articles, delivered speeches and pressed his case for access to devices louder than anyone else in the Obama administration.
He floated the disputed idea that a violent crime spike might be linked to police officers peeling back from their duties out of fear of being caught on video. Even after the Obama White House and Justice Department leaders said there was no evidence to support the assertion, Comey repeated it as a possibility.
In a speech where he quoted the lyrics of the musical "Avenue Q," he declared that the U.S. was at a crossroads on matters of race and policing. He said minorities in poor neighborhoods often inherit a "legacy of crime and prison" while officers in those same neighborhoods may take "lazy mental shortcuts" in dealing with suspicious situations.
Comey's outspokenness sometimes rankled Obama administration officials. The president himself in a November interview implicitly criticized Comey's actions in the Clinton email case by asserting that when it comes to investigations, "we don't operate on innuendo" and "incomplete information."
Into the mix came Trump, an attention-grabbing leader who, in addition to professing frustration with "this Russia thing," apparently loathed sharing the spotlight with Comey. In explaining the firing, the president told NBC News he considered Comey a "showboat."
Comey declined an invitation to testify at a closed Senate committee hearing Tuesday and it's not clear when he'll speak publicly. But elements of his accounts are emerging.
Comey said that Trump requested that he pledge to the president his loyalty during a January dinner, according to a person close to the former director. Comey offered honesty instead. When Trump then asked for "honest loyalty," Comey told him he would have that, said the Comey associate, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. The White House has disputed that characterization.
The firing has roiled the FBI, where Comey was generally well-regarded and praised for his leadership. Andrew McCabe, Comey's deputy and the FBI's current acting director, told a Senate panel Thursday that Comey enjoyed "broad support."
Hosko said just before his 2014 retirement, he was called into the director's office, arguably the most buttoned up inner sanctum of the nation's premier law enforcement agency. He recalls the gregarious, 6-foot-8 director sitting in a "stuffed chair and literally slumped in the seat like a kid would, with his butt barely on the chair, his knees touching the coffee table and just in a very relaxed way."
"Tell me again," Comey asked him, "what you're going to do in your retirement."
While it's not yet known what Comey himself plans to do in his post-FBI life, he's unlikely to retire from public view.
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Follow Eric Tucker at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP
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Associated Press Writer Jake Pearson in New York contributed to this report.
Associated Press
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Germany has begun the process of upgrading 103 out-of-service Leopard 2A4 and 2A6 tanks to the latest model, the Leopard 2A7V—an upgrade that will cost the state the equivalent of 760 million euros ($833 million). The big news is that by revamping and deploying these new vehicles, the Bundeswehr is expanding its tank fleet by over 40 percent, from 225 to 320 main battle tanks.
This increase in force size is going to take time: the revamped Leopards will enter service between 2019 and 2013. There are also provisions to convert thirty-two additional tanks into specialized engineering and bridge-laying support vehicles.
Before getting our elbows greasy diving into the technical details, we should consider the expansion’s obvious significance: the additional tanks are part of Germany’s gradual rearming of the Bundeswehr after years of downsizing and declining operational readiness, due to the end of the Cold War and trust in the U.S. military to shield it from future threats. The German public, mindful of the legacy of World War II, has shown little enthusiasm for getting involved in foreign wars or maintaining a large military.
However, defense policy changed in 2014, when Moscow demonstrated its willingness to use military force to advance its foreign policy objectives in eastern Europe by seizing Crimea from Ukraine in April 2014 with “little green men,” followed by the deployment of Russian tanks (crewed by active-duty Russian Army “volunteers”) in support of Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. German security concerns have recently been further aggravated by a new element of unpredictability in the U.S. commitment to NATO. While the Trump administration recently declared that NATO is “no longer obsolete” after entering a dispute with Moscow over Syrian chemical weapons, Berlin probably still feels it may need to play a larger role as a security provider in central Europe.
The Leopard 2 has for several decades stood among the top main battle tanks in the world, alongside the American M1 Abrams. Both vehicles share potent Rheinmetall 120-millimeter guns, boast advanced sights and fire-control systems permitting accurate fire on the move, and tip the scales at well over sixty tons in weight due to their heavy composite armor, which renders their frontal armor virtually immune to most Cold War–era antitank rockets and missiles. The Abrams and Leopard 2 are also relatively nimble for heavy main battle tanks, able to cruise over forty miles per hour.
Comparing the M1 and Leopard 2 leads to a sort of Coke-Pepsi rivalry—which is to say that they both do roughly the same thing, but there are enough little differences to inspire die-hard advocates for each. The Leopard 2’s diesel engine is often favorably compared to the loud, gas- turbine engines used in the M1, affording the German tank greater operational range. The M1A2 tanks used by the U.S. Army benefit from ultra-dense depleted-uranium armor and ammunition that enables superior defensive performance and higher penetrating power, respectively. However, Germany has political issues with using depleted uranium, so the later Leopard models compensate with highly sloped wedge-shaped turrets with spaced composite armor, as well as longer-barrel guns (fifty-five-calibers instead of forty-four) to generate greater kinetic energy for their tungsten armor-piercing shells, in order to (mostly) catch up to the punch of American DU rounds.
Nearly 3,500 Leopard 2s have been produced in numerous variants over the years, each version boasting improvements in armor protection and firepower since the first in the series entered service in 1979. Leopard 2s currently serve in the armies of eighteen countries, including Canada, Indonesia, Poland, Qatar, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.
Although the Abrams has seen a lot more combat over the decades, the Leopard 2 has been battle tested—though not against the Soviet tanks it was designed to duel with. In Afghanistan, Canadian and Danish Leopard 2s serving in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force survived hits from IEDs and rocket-propelled grenades, though a few were damaged and one Danish crew member was mortally wounded by a mine explosion. In return, the Leopard 2s were praised by coalition commanders for providing effective fire support for international forces battling the Taliban.
The Leopard 2 did not fare so well when Turkey deployed a battalion of them in December 2016 as part of its campaign to capture ISIS-held Al Bab near the Syrian border. Deadly antitank weapons have proliferated in the Syrian conflict, and much less well-armored Turkish M60 Patton tanks had suffered heavy losses to both ISIS and Kurdish rebels. In a series of attacks, ISIS destroyed or disabled as many as ten Leopard 2s using old Russian antitank missiles. Some of the Leopard 2s were even “captured” before being knocked out by coalition air strikes.
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Новости Радио Свобода: точность, оперативность, беспристрастность
Download audio: https://audio.rferl.org/RU/2017/05/13/20170513-140000-RU081-program_hq.mp3
Download audio: https://audio.rferl.org/RU/2017/05/13/20170513-140000-RU081-program_hq.mp3
