WASHINGTON // US president Donald Trump lashed out on Thursday at the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations that his campaign collaborated with Russia to sway the 2016 election, tweeting that it is “the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”.
Mr Trump has made similar complaints before, but this one came the day after the justice department appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller to lead the federal Trump-Russia investigation. Mr Mueller will have sweeping powers and the authority to prosecute any crimes he uncovers. But Mr Trump’s claim ignored impeachment efforts and blistering verbal attacks on previous presidents and other political leaders.
Meanwhile, US senator Richard Burr, who chairs the intelligence committee, created confusion on Capitol Hill by saying that a lawyer for Mr Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, had told the panel Mr Flynn would not be complying with the panel’s subpoena for documents. Mr Flynn was fired by Mr Trump after it became known that he had Russian contacts and had misled the Trump administration about them. He is a key figure in the Trump-Russia investigation.
Later, Mr Burr reversed himself, saying Mr Flynn’s attorneys “have not yet indicated their intentions regarding the senate intelligence committee’s subpoena”, and that he would welcome “their willingness to cooperate”. It was not clear what caused the mix-up.
Mr Flynn, through his lawyer, had earlier asked for immunity from “unfair prosecution” in exchange for agreeing to cooperate with the committee. A key adviser to Trump during the presidential campaign, he was dismissed not long after the inauguration.
On a day of fast-moving developments, the house of representatives intelligence committee announced that it, too, had asked for documents, in this case from the FBI and the justice department.
The broad federal investigation under Mr Mueller, a lawman who engenders deep bipartisan respect, was just getting underway.
His appointment, by deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, was a striking shift for the justice department, which had resisted increasingly insistent calls from Democrats for an outside prosecutor. It immediately escalated the legal stakes – and the potential political damage – for a president who has tried to dismiss the matter as partisan witch hunt and a “hoax”.
Soon after Mr Mueller’s appointment late on Wednesday, Mr Trump said merely, “A thorough investigation will confirm what we already know – there was no collusion between my campaign and any foreign entity. I look forward to this matter concluding quickly”.
But he expressed more resentment on Thursday on Twitter. In addition to complaining he was being abused in unprecedented ways, he took aim at his former presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, saying she never faced a special counsel despite “all the illegal acts that took place” in her campaign. He gave no examples.
Mr Mueller’s broad mandate gives him not only oversight of the Russia investigation, but also over “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation” – which would surely include Mr Trump’s firing last week of FBI director James Comey.
* Associated Press
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Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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Results
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1hr 32mins 03.897sec
2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull-Honda) at 0.745s
3. Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes) 37.383s
4. Lando Norris (McLaren) 46.466s
5.Sergio Perez (Red Bull-Honda) 52.047s
6. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 59.090s
7. Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) 1:06.004
8. Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) 1:07.100
9. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri-Honda) 1:25.692
10. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin-Mercedes) 1:26.713,
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
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MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
Our legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Draw for Europa League last-16
Istanbul Basaksehir v Copenhagen; Olympiakos Piraeus v Wolverhampton Wanderers
Rangers v Bayer Leverkusen; VfL Wolfsburg v Shakhtar Donetsk; Inter Milan v Getafe
Sevilla v AS Roma; Eintracht Frankfurt or Salzburg v Basel; LASK v Manchester United