fbi director to testify on russia ties alleged wiretap
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
Last Updated : GMT 05:17:37
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

FBI director to testify on Russia ties, alleged wiretap

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice

Emiratesvoice, emirates voice FBI director to testify on Russia ties, alleged wiretap

US President Donald Trump
Washington - Arab Today

The directors of the FBI and NSA are to give keenly awaited testimony before Congress Monday on what ties President Donald Trump may have with Russia and his explosive allegation that he was wiretapped by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and Mike Rogers of the National Security Agency will speak publicly for the first time about two issues that have riveted the American public for weeks and further divided the country's two ever-at-odds political parties.

The stakes for the tycoon-turned-world-leader could hardly be higher.

Comey will testify before the House Intelligence Committee at a hearing aimed at probing Russia's interference in the 2016 election campaign. Rogers is also scheduled to testify.

Trump and his entourage's possible ties with the Russia of President Vladimir Putin have been the subject of much speculation since before he was elected on November 8.

US intelligence agencies in January took the extraordinary step of stating publicly that they had concluded that hackers working for Russia broke into the email accounts of senior Democrats and released embarrassing ones with the aim of helping Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.

Even since then, the question of whether Trump and company were or are somehow in cahoots with Russia has dominated the national conversation.

A congressional panel so far has found no evidence that Trump's campaign colluded with Russia, its chairman said Sunday.

Based on "everything I have up to this morning -- no evidence of collusion," by Trump's team and Moscow, Representative Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News.

"Was there a physical wiretap of Trump Tower? No, but there never was, and the information we got on Friday continues to lead us in that direction," Nunes stressed.

Moscow has denied involvement in the hacks, and Trump has denounced the tumult over alleged Russia connections as a "total witch hunt."

Monday's hearing was also expected to address a second explosive issue: Trump's unsubstantiated accusations that the Obama administration wiretapped his phone at Trump Tower in New York during the campaign.

Trump on March 4 tweeted that Obama had "tapped" his phone -- a charge that has consumed political debate in the US capital.

- Obsessed with an unsubstantiated claim -

Several congressional panels have launched investigations into Russia's alleged interference, including the House and Senate intelligence committees, which have jurisdiction over the nation's 17 intelligence agencies, and the House and Senate judiciary committees.

The FBI is also probing Russian interference in the election.

The question remains whether the agency has opened a criminal investigation into possible ties between Trump campaign aides and Russian officials.

Monday's hearing promises to be a very public showdown between the FBI and lawmakers, with the national security world certain to watch whether Comey drops a political bombshell.

Members of Congress have expressed frustration over what they call the lack of cooperation from the FBI about Russia and Trump's wiretap claim, which Obama and an array of other officials have flatly denied.

The issue of wiretapping first surfaced last month, when Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign after it was revealed he had misled top officials over his contacts with the Russian ambassador to Washington to discuss sanctions Obama had just announced against Russia over the election hacking.

Around the same time, The New York Times reported that US intelligence had intercepted calls showing that members of Trump's campaign had repeated contacts with top Russian intelligence officials in the year preceding the election.

Nunes has said that the intelligence committee probe focuses in part on who revealed that Flynn had unreported private contacts with the Russians over the sanctions issue.

Adding to the intrigue, Trump's attorney general Jeff Sessions recused himself from any Russia-related inquiries after it was learned that he had met twice with the Russian ambassador in the months before Trump took office, and had failed to disclose this during his confirmation hearing when asked a question about such contacts and speaking under oath.

- Trump's credibility takes a hit -

Domestically, the controversy over the wiretapping claim has pulled attention away from Trump's effort to push through other key items on his agenda, including the planned repeal of Obama's healthcare law, tax reform and his controversial travel ban.

Critics say it has also debased the already coarse tone of political debate in Washington and eroded the president's credibility at home and abroad.

Some of the fallout has been international in scope: The White House was forced to retract a charge repeated last week by its spokesman Sean Spicer suggesting that Britain's intelligence services aided the Obama administration in the alleged wiretap. That claim has strained relations with America's closest ally.

Still, as recently as Friday, Trump repeated the claim in an aside during a White House press conference with Angela Merkel.

"As far as wiretapping, I guess, by this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps," Trump told the German chancellor, referring to a WikiLeaks report in 2015 that the US had monitored calls involving Merkel and her top aides for years.

Source: AFP

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

fbi director to testify on russia ties alleged wiretap fbi director to testify on russia ties alleged wiretap

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

fbi director to testify on russia ties alleged wiretap fbi director to testify on russia ties alleged wiretap

 



GMT 09:54 2018 Wednesday ,24 January

'Friendly and kind' N. Korean skaters

GMT 05:17 2024 Wednesday ,07 February

Amazon to open first cashierless shop

GMT 05:04 2024 Tuesday ,06 February

Skincare PR Performance Full Year 2017

GMT 19:57 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Farm-fresh from Kerala to the UAE, in just one day

GMT 10:08 2018 Wednesday ,24 January

Microsoft to open 4 data centres

GMT 10:55 2017 Thursday ,31 August

Labour reforms 'ambitious, balanced, fair'

GMT 08:13 2017 Sunday ,22 January

ADCB win Euromoney prize

GMT 10:54 2013 Saturday ,05 October

Cyrus infamous twerking performance at the MTV

GMT 03:02 2017 Thursday ,16 February

Unruly passenger forces PIA plane to land

GMT 14:38 2014 Tuesday ,25 March

17 killed in 2 attacks in Afghanistan

GMT 09:09 2016 Monday ,22 August

'Marvellous' Rio flames out

GMT 15:16 2016 Sunday ,25 December

Bird Flu in S. Korea Culls over 22 Million Poultry

GMT 13:35 2012 Thursday ,31 May

9 ways to sexually arouse your man

GMT 17:32 2017 Friday ,06 January

Leadership's initiatives are rooted in

GMT 18:35 2016 Thursday ,08 September

Tunisia calls for ban on Hizb ut-Tahrir

GMT 07:20 2012 Monday ,05 November

1 NATO soldier dies in Afghanistan

GMT 02:41 2016 Tuesday ,22 November

MP questions environment minister over water hyacinth

GMT 18:31 2016 Monday ,10 October

Hurricane Kills 15 People in the US

GMT 01:24 2016 Tuesday ,13 December

Assad forces control 90% of Aleppo

GMT 14:27 2017 Saturday ,11 February

Zambia's access to information bill ready

GMT 17:50 2012 Thursday ,09 August

Afghan soldier killed in attack on NATO troops

GMT 07:23 2015 Wednesday ,25 February

Firing squads, blast walls in Somalia

GMT 19:00 2015 Saturday ,21 February

Explosions at hotel in Somali capital, heavy gunfire
Emiratesvoice, emirates voice
 
 Emirates Voice Facebook,emirates voice facebook  Emirates Voice Twitter,emirates voice twitter Emirates Voice Rss,emirates voice rss  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube  Emirates Voice Youtube,emirates voice youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

emiratesvoieen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen emiratesvoiceen
emiratesvoice emiratesvoice emiratesvoice
emiratesvoice
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice, Emiratesvoice