WASHINGTON: FBI Director James Comey is publicly confirming for the first time that the FBI is investigating Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, including any potential coordination between Trump campaign associates and Russia’s government.
Comey is testifying before Congress. He says he’s authorized by the Justice Department to make the disclosure. Typically, the FBI does not discuss or even confirm the existence of ongoing investigations.
Comey says the probe is part of the FBI’s counter-intelligence mission. He says the investigation includes the nature of any links between individuals associated with Trump’s campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between Russia’s efforts and the campaign.
Comey says the investigation will also look at whether crimes were committed. He says he can’t provide details about the investigation.
The top Democrat on the House intelligence committee says he hopes FBI Director James Comey will put questions about whether Trump Tower was wiretapped by President Barack Obama “permanently to rest.”
Rep. Adam Schiff is speaking at the start of the committee’s hearing on Russia’s interference in the presidential election. Comey is testifying at the hearing, along with National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers.
Schiff says Democrats on the committee will be focused in part on whether Americans helped Russia with its hacking of Democratic groups and individuals.
Trump has said he has no knowledge of his associates coordinating with Russia during the election. He’s refused to back down from his assertion that Obama wiretapped his New York City skyscraper during the campaign, despite there being no evidence.
The chairman of the House intelligence committee says there was no physical wiretap on Trump Tower, but it’s possible that “other surveillance activities” were used against President Donald Trump and his associates.
Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., is speaking at the opening of the committee’s first public hearing on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. He says the committee has seen no evidence to date that officials from any campaign conspired with Russian agents, but will continue to investigate that question.
He also says the committee will investigate who has been leaking classified information about investigations into Russia’s interference.
Nunes says he hopes the committee’s hearings will result in a “definitive report” on Russia’s involvement in the presidential election.
President Donald Trump is accusing Democrats of fabricating allegations about Russia and creating more “fake news.”
His tweets came just hours before a congressional hearing on Russia. The House Intelligence Committee will hear from FBI Director James Comey on whether US officials believe Russia tried to bolster Trump’s chances in the election and if there were any connections between Moscow and Trump’s campaign aides.
Trump tweeted Monday: “The Democrats made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a terrible campaign. Big advantage in Electoral College & lost!“
A separate tweet referenced James Clapper, the director of national intelligence under President Barack Obama, who has said that Trump’s allegation that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower is false. “James Clapper and others stated there is no evidence Potus colluded with Russia. This story is FAKE NEWS and everyone knows it.”
Trump also tweeted that the “real story” is the leaking of classified information.
A congressional inquiry into Russian interference in the presidential election that has so far unfolded behind closed doors moves into the open with a public hearing featuring FBI Director James Comey.
A hearing Monday before one of several congressional panels probing allegations of Russian meddling, the House Intelligence Committee, could allow for the greatest public accounting to date of investigations that have shadowed the Trump administration in its first two months.
Comey has been invited to testify, along with the director of the National Security Agency, Michael Rogers.
The committee is investigating, among other things, Russian hacking that intelligence officials have said was meant to influence the election. Also of interest to the committee are any connections between Russia and associates of President Donald Trump.
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Comey says FBI investigating Russia interference
Comey says FBI investigating Russia interference
Thousands in Kosovo march against war crimes trials on 18th anniversary of independence declaration
- Protesters, many wrapped in red and black Albanian flags, braved cold and snowy weather in the capital, Pristina, to voice their opposition to the proceedings in The Hague
- PM Albin Kurti added that ‘the KLA-led war was pure, liberation (struggle) and an anti-colonial war ... a just struggle of an occupied and oppressed people under apartheid’
PRISTINA, Kosovo: An air of defiance marked Kosovo’s independence celebrations on Tuesday as thousands of people joined a march in support of former fighters who are facing trial at a Netherlands-based court for alleged war crimes during a 1998-1999 separatist war from Serbia.
Protesters, many wrapped in red and black Albanian flags, braved cold and snowy weather in the capital, Pristina, to voice their opposition to the proceedings in The Hague against former president and rebel leader Hashim Thaci and three others accused of atrocities during and after the conflict that killed some 13,000 people.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kosovo’s security forces paraded in Pristina as part of the independence ceremonies, and Parliament held a special session.
The war started in 1998 when the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army launched its struggle for independence and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. The war ended after NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days in 1999, eventually forcing it to pull out its troops from the territory.
Serbia still does not recognize the 2008 declaration of independence of Kosovo and this has been a source of persistent tension in the volatile Balkan region. As both Kosovo and Serbia seek European Union membership, they have been told they must normalize ties before joining.
Prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague — which formally is part of Kosovo’s judicial system although seated abroad — have asked for a maximum 45-year prison sentence for Thaci and the other defendants. Thaci also faces a separate trial on charges of intimidating witnesses that will begin later this month.
Officials and protesters in Kosovo have criticized the proceedings as political and designed to strike a false balance with Serbia whose political and military leaders previously had been tried and convicted of war crimes in Kosovo by a separate UN court.
Protesters at Tuesday’s march held banners reading “History cannot be rewritten” and “Freedom for the liberators.” They arranged metal fences around a landmark independence monument and placed a sign reading ”Kosovo in Prison” on top of it.
President Vjosa Osmani said in a statement that “truth cannot be changed by attempts to rewrite history or to tarnish and devalue the struggle of Kosovo’s people for freedom.”
Prime Minister Albin Kurti added that “the KLA-led war was pure, liberation (struggle) and an anti-colonial war ... a just struggle of an occupied and oppressed people under apartheid.”
In Belgrade, a Serbian government liaison office for Kosovo described the independence declaration 18 years ago as a “flagrant violation of international law.” The statement alleged “systematic terror” and persecution against minority Serbs in Kosovo.
The United States and most EU countries are among more than 100 nations that have recognized Kosovo’s independence while Russia and China have backed Serbia’s claim on the territory.
Thaci resigned from office in 2020 to defend himself against the 10 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The court and an associated prosecutor’s office were created after a 2011 report by the Council of Europe, a human rights body, following allegations that KLA fighters trafficked human organs taken from prisoners and killed Serbs and fellow ethnic Albanians. The organ harvesting allegations haven’t been included in indictments issued by the court.
Protesters, many wrapped in red and black Albanian flags, braved cold and snowy weather in the capital, Pristina, to voice their opposition to the proceedings in The Hague against former president and rebel leader Hashim Thaci and three others accused of atrocities during and after the conflict that killed some 13,000 people.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kosovo’s security forces paraded in Pristina as part of the independence ceremonies, and Parliament held a special session.
The war started in 1998 when the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army launched its struggle for independence and Serbia responded with a brutal crackdown. The war ended after NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days in 1999, eventually forcing it to pull out its troops from the territory.
Serbia still does not recognize the 2008 declaration of independence of Kosovo and this has been a source of persistent tension in the volatile Balkan region. As both Kosovo and Serbia seek European Union membership, they have been told they must normalize ties before joining.
Prosecutors at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague — which formally is part of Kosovo’s judicial system although seated abroad — have asked for a maximum 45-year prison sentence for Thaci and the other defendants. Thaci also faces a separate trial on charges of intimidating witnesses that will begin later this month.
Officials and protesters in Kosovo have criticized the proceedings as political and designed to strike a false balance with Serbia whose political and military leaders previously had been tried and convicted of war crimes in Kosovo by a separate UN court.
Protesters at Tuesday’s march held banners reading “History cannot be rewritten” and “Freedom for the liberators.” They arranged metal fences around a landmark independence monument and placed a sign reading ”Kosovo in Prison” on top of it.
President Vjosa Osmani said in a statement that “truth cannot be changed by attempts to rewrite history or to tarnish and devalue the struggle of Kosovo’s people for freedom.”
Prime Minister Albin Kurti added that “the KLA-led war was pure, liberation (struggle) and an anti-colonial war ... a just struggle of an occupied and oppressed people under apartheid.”
In Belgrade, a Serbian government liaison office for Kosovo described the independence declaration 18 years ago as a “flagrant violation of international law.” The statement alleged “systematic terror” and persecution against minority Serbs in Kosovo.
The United States and most EU countries are among more than 100 nations that have recognized Kosovo’s independence while Russia and China have backed Serbia’s claim on the territory.
Thaci resigned from office in 2020 to defend himself against the 10 charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The court and an associated prosecutor’s office were created after a 2011 report by the Council of Europe, a human rights body, following allegations that KLA fighters trafficked human organs taken from prisoners and killed Serbs and fellow ethnic Albanians. The organ harvesting allegations haven’t been included in indictments issued by the court.
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