Section: POLITICO – U.S. Edition (USA)
Obama team was warned about Russian interference
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration received multiple warnings from national security officials between 2014 and 2016 that the Kremlin was ramping up its intelligence operations and building disinformation networks it could use to disrupt the U.S. political system, according to more than half a dozen current and former officials.As early as...
Week 12: Putting the Squeeze on Paul Manafort
At the rate Robert S. Mueller is going, he will soon have enough material to write an eight-volume biography of former Trump campaign director Paul Manafort with enough material left over to construct a Manafort Broadway musical, a Manafort video game and a Manafort theme park. According to news reports this week, the special counsel has hoovered...
FBI raided Manafort’s Virginia home in Russia probe
FBI agents raided the residence of former Donald Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort last month, and he also has turned over hundreds of pages of documents to congressional investigators, as probes ramp up into the president’s campaign and Russia’s role in the 2016 election.The pre-dawn raid on July 26 at the Alexandria, Virginia,...
Trump’s government overhaul hits a speedbump
President Donald Trump’s promise to overhaul the federal government hit another obstacle last week when his pick to head the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), George Nesterczuk, quietly withdrew from consideration—leaving the administration with no nominee to run a small but crucial agency that oversees policies for all 2 million...
Trump signs Russia sanctions bill but says parts violate Constitution
President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a bipartisan bill placing new sanctions on Russia, but in a statement he claimed multiple aspects of the legislation violate the Constitution.In one of two statements released almost simultaneously Wednesday morning by the White House, Trump said he supports the law’s efforts to crack down on the...
How a tiny Baltic nation became a top destination for U.S. officials
Estonia, a tiny Baltic nation dwarfed by neighboring Russia, isn’t a premier American tourist destination. But when Vice President Mike Pence arrives there on Sunday he’ll be just the latest in a parade of senior Washington officials to visit in recent months. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) led a congressional delegation to Estonia in...
Trump escalates shame campaign against Sessions
President Donald Trump on Tuesday ramped up his public shame campaign against Attorney General Jeff Sessions, even as conservatives and some White House advisers are cautioning Trump against seeking his ouster.“Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel...
Laurel Miller: The Full Transcript
Susan Glasser: I’m Susan Glasser, and welcome back to The Global POLITICO. Our guest again this week is Laurel Miller who has just completed her service as the acting special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. It’s a big mouthful of a title, as the State Department is wont to create, the SRAP as it’s known. And I...
The Hill Staffer at the Center of the Russia Intrigue
In the spring of 2016, a longtime Washington operative pulled aside French Hill during a trip to Moscow and introduced the conservative Arkansas congressman to two Russians who are now at the center of a firestorm over the activities of Donald Trump Jr.In the brief encounter, which took place two months before their now-infamous meeting with the...
What Politicos Are Reading This Summer
“There are two motives for reading a book,” once wrote Nobel Laureate Bertrand Russell. “One, that you enjoy it; the other, that you can boast about it.” It does make you wonder what Russell would have thought of today’s political scene, where there’s no surer mark of fame than whether strangers are willing to read about what...
