U.S.
President Donald Trump launched a new round of attacks against the country's
media on Sunday, accusing them of being able to "cause war."
In
a flurry of tweets Sunday morning, the president continued to cast the media
as the "enemy of the people," saying "They purposely cause
great division & distrust. They can also cause war!"
That
came amid heightened tensions between the Trump administration and U.S.
media, some which have been labeled by him as "the Fake News," a
move heavily criticized by journalists.
Trump's
daughter and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump, however, doesn't share the
president's stance, saying last week that she does not think the media is the
"enemy of the people."
Trump
also fired another shot at the ongoing Russia probe, led by special counsel
Robert Mueller, who's looking into the alleged Russian interference in the
2016 U.S. presidential election and any potential collusion between the Trump
campaign and Moscow.
Mueller
is reportedly examining the president's elder son, Donald Trump Jr., for his
role in arranging a June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in New York between a Russian
attorney offering damaging information on Hillary Clinton and Trump campaign
officials, including himself.
"This
was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all
the time in politics -- and it went nowhere," Trump defended his son in
relation to the highly-scrutinized meeting.
The
president also dismissed a Washington Post report that he's concerned about
the meeting and his son, while trying to distance himself from the incident
0MAR0SA
For some reason Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's name found a
place in former White House staffer Omarosa's controversial new book Unhinged.
Trudeau's name appears in a section where Omarosa describes her close
relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump during the administration's
first 100 days. "I was always standing nearby or seated behind
him," she writes.
Omarosa goes on to claim the president had a difficult time
adjusting from Trump Tower's open-door policy to strict White House protocol.
She described Trump as someone who "really likes having people around to
listen" to him.
"I think he was lonely and liked seeing a familiar
face," she writes in the book.
The Prime Minister's Office confirmed to HuffPost Canada that
Trudeau met Omarosa at the White House. "Yes, they met," said
spokeswoman Chantal Gagnon.
I think he was lonely and liked seeing a familiar face.
Former White House staffer Omarosa
Omarosa's celebrity grew after her role on the first season of
Trump's reality show "The Apprentice." Her friendship with Trump
eventually secured her a campaign role which paved into a job in the Trump
administration as an assistant to the president.
She was fired from her senior White House role in December |
Her departure landed her a deal for a tell-all book, which the
White House has slammed as a series of "false attacks" written by a
"disgruntled" former employee.
Press surrounding the book's publication has been amplified
after the timing of Omarosa 's release of secret recordings of her firing. She
also released audio of Trump campaign aides discussing
fallout plans if an alleged video of Trump using a racial slur ever surfaces.
And now Trump's campaign is taking legal action.
A campaign aide told The Associated Press they're filing an arbitration action against Omarosa
over the breach of a non-disclosure agreement.
The leak comes hours after the president called his former adviser a "dog" and "crazed, crying lowlife" on Twitter
INTS
US PresidentDonald Trump revoked the security clearance of
former Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan Wednesday, warning
several other prominent critics they too risk being blacklisted.
In a highly unusually directive, Trump claimed that Brennan -- a
former station chief in Riyadh who rose to lead the formidable spy agency --
had become "erratic."
Brennan is a frequent Trump critic. Just hours before this
presidential edict, he accused Trump of failing "to live up to minimum
standards of decency, civility, & probity."
Brennan, who has briefed Republican and Democratic presidents,
could now lose access to classified information, a courtesy usually afforded to
former senior officials.
The White House has been besieged by a scandal over a former aide's tell-all memoir in recent days and often tries to defuse crises by stoking new controversy.
It said that eight other critical officials could also lose
their clearances.
They included former director of national intelligence James
Clapper, former CIA director and four star general Michael Hayden and ex-FBI
director James Comey
The group was accused -- without details -- of politicizing and
monetizing their public service and security clearances.
"Historically former heads of intelligence and law
enforcement agencies have been allowed to retain access to classified
information after their government service so that they can consult with their
successors," Trump's statement read.
"At this point in my administration, any benefits that
senior officials might glean from consultations with Mr Brennan are now
outweighed by the risk posed by his erratic conduct and behavior".
Following the president's summit last month with Russia's Vladimir
Putin, Brennan, who headed the CIA under president Obama, described Trump's
behavior as "nothing short of treasonous."
The move to pull his security clearance prompted immediate
outrage, with former secretary of state John Kerry accusing the president of
"putting personal petty politics ahead of patriotism and national
security."
"You expect this banana republic behaviour in the kind of
countries that the State Department warns Americans not to travel to, but not
at home in the USA."
National security lawyer Brad Moss said it is not certain that Trump can legally rescind clearances on the grounds stated by the White House.
Hayden said Trump's threat would have "no impact on what I
think, say or write."
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Isn't hiring of friends for government jobs based mainly on
friendship other than competence called
cronyism?
From the arrivals and
exits from the WH house by high placed staff, it seems that competence and
integrity were irrelevant
Another diversion from what really matters, US politics are the
greatest reality show on earth...And the POTUS is their star...Sarc
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