Section: POLITICO – U.S. Edition (USA)
Russia foreign ministry: Date for Trump-Putin call being finalized
A spokesman for Russia’s foreign ministry said Monday that his government expects to finalize a date soon for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s first phone call with President Donald Trump since his inauguration last week.On a conference call with reporters that was reported by Reuters, Russian foreign ministry spokesman Dmitry...
Trump’s ‘alternative facts’ could put lives at risk
“Alternative facts” could kill, warn national security and other government veterans, and eventually could unravel the fabric of democracy and America’s standing in the world.This weekend, it was crowd size. By next week, it could be how many troops were killed, and who was responsible for the attack. Or how successful the American response...
U.S. spies fear allies will stop sharing intel under Russia-friendly Trump
Now that Donald Trump is officially its commander-in-chief, America’s foreign allies are being forced to grapple with a highly sensitive question: Is it still safe to share information with U.S. intelligence agencies?The global spy community — a fractious world where friends, frenemies and sometimes enemies often enter alliances of...
The Government Secrets Trump Is About to Discover
When Dwight Eisenhower was elected president in 1952, outgoing president Harry Truman informed him of an important secret: Days before the election the United States had tested the world’s first hydrogen bomb in the Pacific. The nation now possessed a weapon roughly a hundred times as powerful as any before—and almost nobody else knew.Eight...
Barack and Joe’s Secret Code
When President Barack Obama last week wrapped Vice President Biden in a bear hug after his Farewell Address and followed up with surprise Presidential Medal of Freedom, anyone watching could tell the two men weren’t faking it. So ends the closest and longest-lasting partnership between a president and vice-president in American history—one...
Key moments from Obama’s final news conference
President Barack Obama strolled into the tightly packed White House briefing room Wednesday, a day after his controversial commutation of Chelsea Manning and less than two days before he will depart 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for the final time as America’s commander in chief. Below are the highlights:Obama took a jab at the incoming...
Obama pushes back against Trump’s suggestion on Russia sanctions
Sanctions leveled against the Russian government following its annexation of Crimea and invasion into eastern Ukraine should remain tied to those issues, President Barack Obama said on Wednesday, and should not be repealed in return for a reduction of nuclear arms as President-elect Donald Trump suggested.“I think it will probably best serve not...
Nikki Haley breaks with Trump on Russia
Another one of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet nominees has broken with him on how to deal with Russia — to a degree, anyway.South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told senators reviewing her nomination for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations that the United States must push back against Russia’s attempts to flex its muscles in...
Pentagon chief to Trump: Don’t expect Russian thaw
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has some parting advice for Donald Trump as the president-elect tries to improve relations with Russia: Don’t get your hopes up. Trump is likely to find exceedingly few areas where Washington and Moscow’s interests still align, the outgoing Pentagon chief told POLITICO on Tuesday. And it may be most...
Putin: Obama administration trying to undermine Trump’s legitimacy
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the outgoing administration of President Barack Obama is seeking to undermine the incoming one of President-elect Donald Trump.Speaking at a press conference, Putin accused the Obama administration of attempting to “undermine the legitimacy of the president-elect,” according to the Associated...
