The special counsel appointed to investigate Russian influence in last year’s US presidential campaign is now examining whether US President Donald Trump tried to obstruct justice, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday evening.
Accusations of obstruction arose last month when Trump fired then-US FBI director James Comey. Comey testified in a US Senate hearing last week that he believed he was fired “because of the Russia investigation.”
Comey also testified that he had told Trump he was not under investigation.
Photo: AFP
The Washington Post and the New York Times both reported that special counsel Robert Mueller was seeking interviews with three Trump administration officials who were not involved in Trump’s campaign: US Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats; US National Security Agency (NSA) Director Michael Rogers; and former NSA deputy director Richard Ledgett.
Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Trump’s personal lawyer, on Wednesday evening responded to the Washington Post report by saying: “The FBI leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable and illegal.”
The Washington Post report cited anonymous sources who were briefed on requests made by investigators. It was not known whether the FBI was the source of the information.
Mueller on Wednesday met with the leaders of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in an effort to ensure their investigations do not conflict.
The leaders of the committee said in a statement issued on Wednesday that they “look forward to future engagements” with Mueller.
Committee Chairman Richard Burr and US Senator Mark Warner, the panel’s top Democrat, did not provide any other details regarding the meeting.
An aide familiar with the meeting said it was held to discuss the investigations, including ways that the parallel inquiries do not interfere with one another. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity, because the meeting was private.
The meeting came one day after lawmakers questioned US Department of Justice officials about the probe and Mueller’s independence, and after a friend of Trump said the White House was considering firing Mueller.
US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller last month, on Tuesday testified that he has seen no evidence of good cause to fire Mueller.
Also on Wednesday, Senate Committee on the Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley said his panel would investigate the removal of Comey and “any alleged improper partisan interference in law enforcement investigations.”
Grassley announced the investigation in a letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein, the panel’s top Democrat.
Grassley’s office said the letter was in response to a letter from Feinstein requesting that the committee seek details from senior FBI leaders about Comey’s interactions with Trump before he was fired.
The letter said the investigation would also probe Comey’s testimony that Loretta Lynch, attorney general under former US president Barack Obama, had directed him to describe an FBI probe into former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton’s e-mail practices as merely a “matter” and to avoid calling it an investigation.
“You and I agree that the American people deserve a full accounting of attempts to meddle in both our democratic processes and the impartial administration of justice... It is my view that fully investigating the facts, circumstances and rationale for Mr Comey’s removal will provide us the opportunity to do that on a cooperative, bipartisan basis,” the letter said.
Feinstein has said the judiciary committee should investigate, but had asked Grassley to keep the investigations separate.
Grassley said Comey’s dismissal and Comey’s testimony on Lynch should be looked at together, adding that Comey “took the opportunity in his testimony to clear his own name by denouncing as false the administration’s claims that the FBI rank and file had lost confidence in Mr Comey’s leadership in the wake of the Clinton e-mail investigation.”
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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