US President Donald Trump on Sunday angrily denounced the federal probe of Russia’s 2016 election meddling as “McCarthyism at its WORST!”, as he slammed a report that the White House counsel had given investigators detailed testimony about the president’s actions at key moments now under scrutiny.
In a series of early morning tweets, Mr Trump said White House counsel Don McGahn and other aides had been encouraged to be fully transparent in their testimony to special counsel Robert Mueller as part of an effort to bring the Russia matter to a quick close.
But he fumed at the suggestion in a front-page report in The New York Times that Mr McGahn had co-operated fully to protect himself from legal jeopardy, giving Mr Mueller's team more than the president was aware of in 30 hours of testimony during the past nine months.
Calling the story a “fake piece”, Mr Trump seemed particularly incensed at the suggestion that Mr McGahn could be a “rat” like John Dean, the former White House counsel who testified against Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal.
"The Failing New York Times wrote a story that made it seem like the White House Councel [sic] had TURNED on the President, when in fact it is just the opposite – & the two Fake reporters knew this. This is why the Fake News Media has become the Enemy of the People. So bad for America!" he tweeted.
Mr Mueller is investigating whether the president sought to obstruct justice, as well as whether his campaign colluded with Russia’s covert effort to sway the 2016 presidential election in Mr Trump’s favour.
“I have nothing to hide... and have demanded transparency so that this Rigged and Disgusting Witch Hunt can come to a close,” Mr Trump tweeted.
“So many lives have been ruined over nothing – McCarthyism at its WORST!”
In another tweet, he declared: “Study the late Joseph McCarthy, because we are now in period with Mueller and his gang that make Joseph McCarthy look like a baby! Rigged Witch Hunt!”
The New York Times said Mr McGahn had laid out for investigators Mr Trump's fury over the probe – and the ways in which he asked Mr McGahn to respond to it.
Among the episodes he testified to were Mr Trump's firing of former FBI director James Comey, and his obsession with putting a loyalist in charge of the probe, according to the newspaper. It noted that Mr McGahn played a key role in stopping Mr Trump from firing Mr Mueller, who was made special counsel after Mr Comey's firing.
_______________
Read more:
Ex-CIA boss says he will not be scared into silence by Trump
_______________
Mr Trump’s lawyer, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, said he had not debriefed Mr McGahn on his testimony, but that the former head of the president’s legal team, John Dowd, had told him the White House counsel was “a strong witness for the president”.
"The president encouraged him to testify, is happy that he did, is quite secure that there is nothing in the testimony that will hurt the president," Mr Giuliani said on NBC's Meet the Press.
"So I believe this is a desperate special counsel who leaked this to The New York Times."
Mr Giuliani however acknowledged that if the leak didn’t come from Mr Mueller, it may have come from Mr McGahn.
The New York Times report cited a dozen unnamed current and former White House officials and "others briefed on the matter".
The president’s latest outburst against the Mueller probe comes amid a separate uproar over the president’s use of security clearances to punish his critics, which also has evoked comparisons to McCarthyism.
Former senior intelligence officials have spoken out in newspaper editorial pages, on television and in petitions since Trump stripped former CIA chief John Brennan of his security clearance last week.
Mr Brennan, who has called Mr Trump’s behaviour towards Russia “treasonous” and doubled down on that assessment on Sunday, has discomfited even some of his supporters with the intensity of his criticism.
But James Clapper – the former director of national intelligence, who said Mr Brennan was “subtle like a freight train” – insisted on CNN that the use of security clearance to quash criticism was damaging to US institutions.
"Doing this would be really off base," agreed retired admiral Michael Mullen, a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who was speaking on Fox News Sunday.
Michael Hayden, a former CIA director who was warned by the White House that he too risked losing his security clearance, warned on CNN that Mr Trump’s relationship with the intelligence community is “dangerously close to being permanently broken”.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 290hp
Torque: 340Nm
Price: Dh155,800
On sale: now
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDirect%20Debit%20System%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Sept%202017%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20with%20a%20subsidiary%20in%20the%20UK%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20FinTech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Undisclosed%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Elaine%20Jones%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%208%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
RACE CARD
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (Turf) 2,200m
5.30pm: Khor Al Baghal – Conditions (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
6pm: Khor Faridah – Handicap (PA) Dh80,000 (T) 1,600m
6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Fillies Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
7pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic – Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 (T) 1,400m
7.30pm: Khor Laffam – Handicap (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 2,200m
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2-litre%204-cylinder%20petrol%20(V%20Class)%3B%20electric%20motor%20with%2060kW%20or%2090kW%20powerpack%20(EQV)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20233hp%20(V%20Class%2C%20best%20option)%3B%20204hp%20(EQV%2C%20best%20option)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20350Nm%20(V%20Class%2C%20best%20option)%3B%20TBA%20(EQV)%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMid-2024%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETBA%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.