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Tag: James Comey

  • Ex-FBI chief: Trump ‘morally unfit’ to be president

    Former FBI director, James Comey, has said Donald Trump is “morally unfit to be president,” because he treats women like “pieces of meat.”

    Mr. Comey was giving his first major television interview since he was fired by President Trump last year, the BBC reports.

    He told ABC News that Mr. Trump lies constantly and may have obstructed justice.

    Hours before the interview aired, the President went on the offensive, accusing Mr. Comey of “many lies.”

    Mr. Comey told ABC’s 20/20 programme on Sunday night: “I don’t buy this stuff about him being mentally incompetent or early stages of dementia.”

    “I don’t think he’s medically unfit to be president. I think he’s morally unfit to be president.

    “Our president must embody respect and adhere to the values that are at the core of this country. The most important being truth. This president is not able to do that,” Mr. Comey said.

    After the interview aired, Mr. Trump’s party – via the Republican National Committee – released a statement saying Mr. Comey’s publicity tour for his new book showed “his true higher loyalty is to himself.”

    “The only thing worse than Comey’s history of misconduct is his willingness to say anything to sell books,” it said.

  • Comey is a leaker, says Trump

    Comey is a leaker, says Trump

    U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday called James Comey, former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), “a leaker”.

    Trump on his Twitter handle on Friday also said that many statements made by the former FBI chief on Thursday were false.

    “In spite of so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication…and WOW, Comey is a leaker!” Trump tweeted.

    Trump’s reaction followed the admission by Comey that he gave the memos of his conversations with Trump to a friend to leak to the media.

    The former FBI chief also revealed for the first time that he turned over memos about his conversations with Trump to the Special Counsel investigating the Russian scandal, Robert Mueller.

    Comey had, while testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating the alleged Russian collusion with Trump Campaign during the 2016 presidential election, made some damming remarks about Trump.

    The former FBI boss, at the public hearing televised live, accused Trump of suggesting to him to “let Michael Flynn”, the president’s former National Security Adviser, “go”.

    Comey had testified that Trump and others in his administration lied when they said FBI agents had lost confidence in him to continue leading the bureau.

    Referring to Trump’s suggestion that he may have recorded their conversations, Comey said: “Lordy, I hope there are tapes”.

    Comey had also described Trump as a liar but stressed that Trump was not under investigation and the Russian interference did not affect the votes of the election.

    Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, issued a statement afterwards denying Comey’s testimony that the president pressured him to drop his investigations into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia.

    Kasowitz also said Trump never demanded “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty” as Comey testified on Thursday.

    “Contrary to numerous false press accounts leading up to today’s hearing, Mr Comey has now finally confirmed publicly what he repeatedly told the president privately:

    “The president was not under investigation as part of any probe into Russian interference.”

    “He also admitted that there is no evidence that a single vote changed as a result of any Russian interference,” Kasowitz’s statement said.

    NAN also reports that a source close to the Trump legal team said on Friday that Kasowitz  plans to file a complaint on Monday about former Comey’s disclosure of conversations with the president,

    A source, who declined to be identified because the matter was not public, said Kasowitz will file the complaint with the Justice Department’s inspector-general.

    The source also added that Kasowitz will also make a “submission” to the Senate Judiciary and Senate Intelligence committees about Comey’s testimony.

  • Pound pummeled by UK election upset, other currencies calm

    Pound pummeled by UK election upset, other currencies calm

    Britain’s pound took a battering on Friday after Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party lost its parliamentary majority in elections, potentially disrupting Brexit negotiations.

    Sterling fell two per cent to 1.2698 dollars after sliding as much as 2.5 per cent to 1.2636 dollars in early European trade “GBP=D4”, its weakest level since April 18.

    May faced calls to quit after her election gamble to win a stronger mandate backfired, leaving no single party with a clear claim to power just 10 days before the start of negotiations on Britain’s divorce from the European Union.

    She is due to make a speech at 0900 GMT.

    “The market wants more clarity now in terms of who is going to be Prime Minister, what form the government is going to take and ultimately how all that feeds through into upcoming Brexit negotiations,” said currency strategist Lee Hardman in London.

    “In the near term the increased political uncertainty and the risk of more disorderly Brexit negotiations should enforce pound weakness.”

    Reactions in other major currencies such as the dollar, euro and yen were limited.

    They had already largely shrugged off Thursday’s testimony by former FBI director James Comey, which had been seen as the week’s other big event.

    “Other currencies, like dollar/yen, are not reacting much as it is a more domestic affair this time, unlike in 2016’s Brexit vote,” said Koji Fukaya, president at FPG Securities in Tokyo.

    “The focus for the broader currency market will now shift toward the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Monday.”

    The Fed is widely expected to hike interest rates after it ends a two-day meeting on Wednesday, and the focus is on whether it would leave the door open for further monetary tightening in the months to come.

    It had retreated to a seven-month low of 96.511 midweek when caution ahead of Comey’s testimony and the British election drove U.S. yields to lowest levels since November.

  • FBI: Trump to nominate Christopher Gray as head

    FBI: Trump to nominate Christopher Gray as head

    President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he will nominate Christopher Wray, former U.S. Assistant Attorney-General under President George Bush, to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

    “I will be nominating Christopher Wray, a man of impeccable credentials, to be the new Director of the FBI. Details to follow,” Trump said in a statement on Twitter.

    The U.S. Senate must approve Trump’s choice to replace former FBI Director James Comey, whom the president fired last month amid the agency’s ongoing probe into alleged Russian meddling into the U.S. election.

    Trump’s announcement comes the day before Comey is scheduled to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Moscow’s alleged interference and any potential ties to Trump’s campaign or associates.

    The president met last week with candidates for the FBI director post, including Wray, according to White House spokesman Sean Spicer.

    Wray currently works for King and Spalding’s Washington and Atlanta offices where he handles various white-collar criminal and regulatory enforcement cases, according to the firm.

    He served as assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s criminal division from 2003 to 2005, working on corporate fraud scandals and cases involving U.S. financial markets, according to his biography on the law firm’s website.

    Many lawmakers have said that Trump should pick a career law enforcement professional.

    One former FBI official questioned whether Wray had the management experience to run an agency with more than 35,000 people, given the small size of the division he ran at the Justice Department.

  • Trump’s communications director to step aside

    Trump’s communications director to step aside

    An expected reshuffling of U.S. President Donald Trump’s staff may be underway, with communications Director Mike Dubke reportedly on his way out of the White House.

    In an email sent on Tuesday to co-workers and obtained by the Washington Post, Dubke said

    “It has been my great honour to serve President Trump and this administration.”

    The change comes after Trump returned home at the weekend from meetings in the Middle East and summits in Europe, under a cloud from the widening federal probe of his campaign’s ties to Russian officials.

    Trump fired FBI Director, James Comey on May 9.

    Reports since that the president may have sought to halt the investigation were followed by the Justice Department’s appointment of a special prosecutor to independently lead the probe of 2016 presidential campaigns and alleged Russian efforts to meddle in the election.

    Dubke, unlike most of Trump’s inner circle, had not worked in the New York billionaire’s presidential campaign.

    Dubke started in February as Trump’s second communications director.

    His predecessor in the post, Jason Miller, served in the presidential transition team but quit before the January 20 inauguration.

    Dubke had worked mostly behind the scenes. Sean Spicer remains as White House spokesman.

  • Democrats fault Trump’s dismissal of FBI director

    Democrats fault Trump’s dismissal of FBI director

    Democratic Senators have reacted to the dismissal of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), James Comey, handling an investigation into alleged links between Donald Trump’s team and Russia who was dismissed by President Donald Trump on Tuesday.

    The Senators were quick to point out the constitutional crisis that has been created by President Donald Trump removing a man in charge of investigating him.

    Senator Dick Durbin said on the Senate floor that the dismissal of Mr Comey raises questions “as to whether the Russian interference in the last presidential election…will also be investigated by the FBI.”

    Comey’s dismissal was contained in a statement issued by the White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, saying that Mr Comey’s appointment has been terminated and removed from office with immediate effect.

    President Trump was said to have acted on “clear recommendations” from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in a move that has shocked Washington.

     

    The statement from Attorney General Sessions reads in part: “As Attorney General, I am committed to a high level of discipline, integrity and the rule of law to the Department of Justice – an institution that I deeply respect.

    Based on my evaluation and for the reasons expressed by the Deputy Attorney General in the attached Memorandum, I have concluded that a fresh start is needed at the leadership of the F.B.I.

    In a memorandum titled “Restoring public confidence in the FBI,” Rosenstein said he couldn’t defend Comey’s handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

    Rosenstein said that such information may be disclosed in legal proceedings, but that it’s not something that should be done “gratuitously.”

    “The Director laid out his version of the facts for the news media as if it were a closing argument, but without a trial. It is a textbook example of what federal prosecutors and agents are taught not to do,” he said.

    Comey has defended his actions, saying that he was simply trying to not conceal the FBI’s decision to investigate the additional emails.

    But Rosenstein refuted Comey’s language, saying that federal agents “are not concealing anything” when conducting an investigation quietly.

    The White House said its search for Comey’s successor begins immediately. Andrew McCabe, who has been the FBI’s deputy director, is now acting director, a Justice Department official disclosed.

  • Trump sacks FBI chief Comey

    United States President, Donald Trump, has fired the director of the FBI over his handling of the inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s emails.

    The White House shocked Washington by announcing that James Comey’s “appointment has been terminated and removed from office.”

    But Democrats said he was fired because the FBI was investigating alleged links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

    The move came as it emerged Mr. Comey gave inaccurate information about Mrs. Clinton’s emails to Congress last week, the BBC reports.

    Mr. Comey was addressing FBI agents in Los Angeles when, according to Politico and the New York Times, he learned he had just been fired when he saw the news on television.

    The 56-year-old – who was three and a half years into his 10-year term as FBI director – reportedly laughed, thinking it was a prank.

    The White House said the search for a successor would begin immediately. It is only the second time the head of the FBI has been fired.

    President Trump wrote in a letter to Mr. Comey that he agreed with U.S Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recommendation that “you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.”

    Mr. Sessions said the Department of Justice was “committed to a high level of discipline, integrity, and the rule of law” and “a fresh start is needed.”

     

  • Wiretap: FBI chief dismisses Trump’s claim on Obama

    FBI director James Comey has rejected President Donald Trump’s claim that his predecessor, Barack Obama, ordered a wiretap of his phone before he was elected United States president.

    Mr. Comey reportedly asked the US justice department (DOJ) to publicly reject Saturday’s allegation, according to the New York Times and NBC.

    He is said to have asked for this because the allegation implies the FBI broke the law.

    The BBC reports that the DOJ has not commented on the matter.

    US media quoted officials as saying that Mr. Comey believed there was no evidence to support Mr. Trump’s allegation.

    The Republican president, who faces intense scrutiny over alleged Russian interference in support of his presidential bid, made the claims in a series of tweets on Saturday.

    He offered no evidence to support his allegation that phones at Trump Tower were tapped last year.

  • Trump cries foul as FBI clears Clinton

    Trump cries foul as FBI clears Clinton

    Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) could not review 650,000 new emails belonging to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in eight days.

    Trump, at a rally in Detroit hours after the FBI affirmed that Clinton would not be prosecuted for her private email server, said the FBI knew that Clinton was guilty of a crime.

    He expressed doubt on the thoroughness of the FBI’s review of the emails that Clinton’s aide Huma Abedin kept on a computer belonging to her estranged husband, Anthony Weiner.

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    “You can’t review 650,000 new emails in eight days; you can’t do it, folks. Hillary Clinton is guilty.

    “She knows it. The FBI knows it. The people know it. And now, it’s up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box on November 8,” he said.

    The Republican candidate knocked Clinton for using a private email system when she was Secretary of State.

    Michigan was the third of five states where Trump was campaigning on Sunday.

    “We’re going to stop the jobs from going to Mexico and China and all over the world.

    “We’re going to make Michigan into the manufacturing hub of the world once again and no politician will do that. They don’t have a clue,” Trump told the crowd.

    The Republican candidate criticised Ford, Chrysler and other companies for their manufacturing in Mexico and other countries.

    “It’s not going to happen if I’m president, believe me,” Trump said.

    Trump also promised to end the “nightmare of violence” caused by illegal immigrants in the country.

    The FBI Director, James Comey, had told lawmakers on Sunday that the agency had not changed its opinion that Clinton should not face criminal charges after a review of new emails.

    The implication of the FBI’s conclusion is that the Democratic candidate will not be charged with anything stemming from her private email server.

    “I write to supplement my October 28, 2016 letter that notified you the FBI would be taking additional investigative steps with respect to former Secretary of State Clinton’s use of a personal email server.

    “Since my letter, the FBI investigative team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of emails from a device obtained in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation.

    “During that process, we reviewed all of the communications that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State.

    “Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton.’

    “I am very grateful to the professionals at the FBI for doing an extraordinary amount of high-quality work in a short period of time,” Comey said in a letter to the Congress personally signed by him.

    Recall that Comey had recently informed Congress that the FBI had discovered emails in its separate investigation of Anthony Weiner.

    Weiner is the estranged husband of top Clinton aide, Huma Abedin.

    The FBI said at that time that the emails could be connected to its investigation of whether Clinton mishandled classified information by using a private email server.

    However, Trump still took to the stage in Minneapolis for a rally minutes after the news broke, and addressed the crowd without knowing Clinton had been cleared again.

    Trump has used the re-opening of the email probe to score campaign points, which also affected Clinton’s polls rating, tightening her two-digit lead over Trump to a neck-and-neck.

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  • Emails: FBI clears Clinton

    Emails: FBI clears Clinton

    Director of United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey has cleared Democratic candidate Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton of criminal prosecution over her use of private email servers during her time as secretary of state.
    Comey according to agency report informed key lawmakers on Sunday that his conclusion came after FBI agents reviewed all of the newly discovered messages to or from Clinton found on electronic devices that belonged to her top aide’s estranged husband, former congressman Anthony Weiner.

    “The FBI investigative team has been working around the clock to process and review a large volume of emails from a device obtained in connection with an unrelated criminal investigation,” Comey said in his letter.

    “During that process we reviewed all of the communications that were to or from Hillary Clinton while she was Secretary of State. Based on our review, we have not changed our conclusions that we expressed in July with respect to Secretary Clinton,” he continued.