WASHINGTON: A series of tweets by US President Donald Trump about the investigation into contacts between his 2016 campaign and Russia prompted concerns on Sunday among both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham saying Trump could be wading into “peril” by commenting on the probe.
“I would just say this with the president: There’s an ongoing criminal investigation,” Graham said on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”
“You tweet and comment regarding ongoing criminal investigations at your own peril,” he added.
On Sunday morning, Trump wrote on Twitter that he never asked former FBI Director James Comey to stop investigating Michael Flynn, the president’s former national security adviser — a statement at odds with an account Comey himself has given.
That tweet followed one on Saturday in which Trump said he had fired Flynn because the former national security adviser had lied to the FBI.
Trump’s attorney, John Dowd, said in an interview with Reuters that he had drafted the tweet and said putting it together had been a “mistake.”
“I’ll take responsibility,” Dowd said.
The series of tweets came after a dramatic turn of events on Friday in which Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors delving into contacts between Trump’s inner circle and Russia before he took office.
Legal experts and some Democratic lawmakers said if Trump knew Flynn lied to the FBI and then pressured Comey not to investigate him, that could bolster a charge of obstruction of justice.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said she believed the indictments in the investigation so far and Trump’s “continual tweets” point toward an obstruction of justice case.
“I see it most importantly in what happened with the firing of Director Comey. And it is my belief that that is directly because he did not agree to lift the cloud of the Russia investigation. That’s obstruction of justice,” Feinstein said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“The president knew he (Flynn) had lied to the FBI, which means that when he talked to the FBI director and asked him effectively drop this case, he knew that Flynn had committed a federal crime,” Adam Schiff, ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told the ABC program “This Week.”
The Russia matter has dogged Trump’s first year in office, and this weekend overshadowed his first big legislative win when the Senate approved a tax cuts bill.
Flynn was the first member of Trump’s administration to plead guilty to a crime uncovered by special counsel Robert Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 US election and potential collusion by Trump aides.
Russia has denied meddling in the election and Trump has said there was no collusion.
Comey, who had been investigating the Russia allegations, was fired by Trump in May. He told the US Senate Intelligence Committee in June he believed his dismissal was related to the Russia probe, and said Trump asked him to end the investigation of Flynn.
“I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!” Trump said on Twitter on Sunday.
On CBS, Graham criticized Comey, saying he believes the former FBI director made some “very, very wrong” decisions during his tenure as FBI director. But Graham also said Trump should be careful about his tweets.
“I’d be careful if I were you, Mr. President. I’d watch this,” Graham said.
Trump tweets about Russia probe spark warnings from lawmakers
Trump tweets about Russia probe spark warnings from lawmakers
Greenland’s leader says his people don’t want to be Americans as Trump covets territory
- “We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic,” Múte B. Egede tells press conference
- He added, though, that he understands Trump’s interest in the island given its strategic location and he’s open to a dialogue with the US
COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Greenland’s prime minister said Friday that the mineral-rich Arctic territory’s people don’t want to be Americans, but that he understands US President-elect Donald Trump’s interest in the island given its strategic location and he’s open to greater cooperation with Washington.
The comments from the Greenlandic leader, Múte B. Egede, came after Trump said earlier this week that he wouldn’t rule out using force or economic pressure in order to make Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of Denmark — a part of the United States. Trump said that it was a matter of national security for the US
Egede acknowledged that Greenland is part of the North American continent, and “a place that the Americans see as part of their world.” He said he hasn’t spoken to Trump, but that he’s open to discussions about what “unites us.”
“Cooperation is about dialogue. Cooperation means that you will work toward solutions,” he said.
Egede has been calling for independence for Greenland, casting Denmark as a colonial power that hasn’t always treated the Indigenous Inuit population well.
“Greenland is for the Greenlandic people. We do not want to be Danish, we do not want to be American. We want to be Greenlandic,” he said at a news conference alongside Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen in Copenhagen.
Trump’s desire for Greenland has sparked anxiety in Denmark as well as across Europe. The United States is a strong ally of 27-nation European Union and the leading member of the NATO alliance, and many Europeans were shocked by the suggestion that an incoming US leader could even consider using force against an ally.
But Frederiksen said that she sees a positive aspect in the discussion.
“The debate on Greenlandic independence and the latest announcements from the US show us the large interest in Greenland,” she said. “Events which set in motion a lot of thoughts and feelings with many in Greenland and Denmark.”
“The US is our closest ally, and we will do everything to continue a strong cooperation,” she said.
Frederiksen and Egede spoke to journalists after a biannual assembly of Denmark and two territories of its kingdom, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The meeting had been previously scheduled and wasn’t called in response to Trump’s recent remarks. Trump’s eldest son also made a visit to Greenland on Tuesday, landing in a plane emblazoned with the word TRUMP and handing out Make America Great Again caps to locals.
The Danish public broadcaster, DR, reported Friday that Trump’s team encouraged homeless and socially disadvantaged people in Greenland to appear in a video wearing the MAGA hats after being offered a free meal in a nice restaurant. The report quoted a local resident, Tom Amtof, who recognized some of those in a video broadcast by Trump’s team.
“They are being bribed, and it is deeply distasteful,” he said.
Greenland has a population of 57,000. But it’s a vast territory possessing natural resources that include oil, gas, and rare earth elements, which are expected to become more accessible as ice melts because of climate change. It also has a key strategic location in the Arctic, where Russia, China and others are seeking to expand their footprint.
Greenland, the world’s largest island, lies closer to the North American mainland than to Denmark. While Copenhagen is responsible for its foreign affairs and defense, the US also shares responsibility for Greenland’s defense and operates an air force base there based on a 1951 treaty.
Guinea suspends ‘unauthorized’ political movements
- Government spokesman Ousmane Gaoual Diallo said earlier that the West African nation could hold elections by the end of 2025 after a constitutional referendum “probably in May”
CONAKRY: Guinea’s government has demanded the suspension of all political movements it deemed “without authorization,” as the country’s military leaders hinted at possible elections this year.
In a statement read by a presenter on state television, the minister for territorial administration and decentralization, Ibrahima Kalil Conde, “noted with regret the proliferation of political movements without prior administrative authorization.”
“Consequently, all these political movements are asked to cease their activities immediately and to submit an application for administrative authorization to our ministry for their legal existence,” the statement added.
The junta, which seized power in a 2021 coup, has, in recent days, hinted at the possibility of elections by the end of the year.
Under international pressure, the military leaders had initially pledged to hold a constitutional referendum and hand power to elected civilians by the end of 2024 — but neither has happened.
Junta chief Gen. Mamady Doumbouya said in a New Year’s speech that 2025 will be “a crucial electoral year to complete the return to constitutional order.”
Government spokesman Ousmane Gaoual Diallo said earlier that the West African nation could hold elections by the end of 2025 after a constitutional referendum “probably in May.”
Since taking power, the junta has cracked down on dissent, with many opposition leaders detained, brought before the courts, or forced into exile.
In October, the junta placed the three main political parties under observation and dissolved 53 others in what it termed a major political “cleanup.”
It suspended another 54 for three months.
In Thursday’s statement, Conde said that national and international institutions and partners should “cease all collaboration with the 54 suspended political parties until 31 January 2025.”
S. Africa police rescue 26 Ethiopians from captivity
- According to preliminary information from the rescued men, the group was held in the Sandringham suburb in northern Johannesburg without clothes or documents, Col. Philani Nkwalase said
JOHANNESBURG: South African police said on Friday that they had rescued 26 undocumented Ethiopian nationals who were being held captive in a suburban house in Johannesburg by suspected human traffickers.
Up to 30 other men may have already escaped through a smashed window before police swooped in on the house late on Thursday and could be hiding in the area, the police priority crimes unit said.
According to preliminary information from the rescued men, the group was held in the Sandringham suburb in northern Johannesburg without clothes or documents, Col. Philani Nkwalase said.
Eleven men were taken to hospital with injuries apparently caused when they tried to escape, including deep cuts.
Three other Ethiopian nationals were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking.
Algeria ‘seeking to humiliate France,’ interior minister says
- Algeria won independence from France in 1962 after a ferocious seven-year war that is still the subject of trauma for both sides
NANTES, France: Algeria is trying to humiliate France, France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Friday, after several Algerian influencers were arrested for inciting violence in a growing crisis between Paris and its former colony.
Four Algerian influencers supportive of Algerian authorities have been arrested in recent days over videos that are suspected of calling for violent acts in France.
Meanwhile, Algeria has also been holding on national security charges French-Algerian novelist Boualem Sansal, a major figure in modern francophone literature, who was arrested at Algiers airport in November.
“Algeria is seeking to humiliate France,” Retailleau said on a visit to the western city of Nantes.
“Algeria is currently holding a great writer — Boualem Sansal — who is not only Algerian but also French. Can a great country, a great people, allow itself to keep in detention for the wrong reasons, someone who is old and sick?“
Turning to the influencers, he said it was “out of the question to give a free pass to these individuals who spread hatred and anti-Semitism.”
“I think we have reached an extremely worrying threshold with Algeria,” he said, adding France “cannot tolerate” an “unacceptable situation.”
“While keeping our cool ... we must now consider all the means we have at our disposal regarding Algeria,” he added.
One of those arrested is “Doualemn,” a 59-year-old influencer detained in the southern city of Montpellier after a video posted on TikTok.
He was deported on a plane to Algeria on Thursday afternoon, according to his lawyer, but was sent back to France the same evening as Algeria had banned him from its territory.
On Thursday, Lyon prosecutors said Sofia Benlemmane, a Franco-Algerian woman in her 50s, was also arrested.
Followed by more than 300,000 people, she is accused of spreading hate messages and threats against Internet users and opponents of the Algerian authorities, as well as insulting statements about France.
Arrested in Brest on Jan. 3, Youcef A., 25, known as “Zazou Youssef” on TikTok, will be tried on Feb. 24 on charges of justifying terrorism.
Placed in pretrial detention, he faces seven years in prison if convicted.
And “Imad Tintin,” 31, was taken into police custody on Saturday in Grenoble for a video, since removed, in which he called for “burning alive, killing and raping on French soil.”
He will be tried on March 5 for incitement to acts of terrorism.
Algeria won independence from France in 1962 after a ferocious seven-year war that is still the subject of trauma for both sides.
US hits Russian oil with toughest sanctions yet in bid to give Ukraine, Trump leverage
- US sanctions seen costing Russia billions of dollars a month
- US official sees no danger of global crude oil shortage
WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI/LONDON: US President Joe Biden’s administration imposed its broadest package of sanctions so far targeting Russia’s oil and gas revenues on Friday, in an effort to give Kyiv and Donald Trump’s incoming team leverage to reach a deal for peace in Ukraine.
The move is meant to cut Russia’s revenues for continuing the war in Ukraine that has killed more than 12,300 civilians and reduced cities to rubble since Moscow invaded in February, 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X that the measures announced on Friday will “deliver a significant blow” to Moscow. “The less revenue Russia earns from oil ... the sooner peace will be restored,” Zelensky added.
Daleep Singh, a top White House economic and national security adviser, said in a statement that the measures were the “most significant sanctions yet on Russia’s energy sector, by far the largest source of revenue for (President Vladimir) Putin’s war.”
The US Treasury imposed sanctions on Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas, which explore for, produce and sell oil as well as 183 vessels that have shipped Russian oil, many of which are in the so-called shadow fleet of aging tankers operated by non-Western companies. The sanctions also include networks that trade the petroleum.
Many of those tankers have been used to ship oil to India and China as a price cap imposed by the Group of Seven countries in 2022 has shifted trade in Russian oil from Europe to Asia. Some tankers have shipped both Russian and Iranian oil.
The Treasury also rescinded a provision that had exempted the intermediation of energy payments from sanctions on Russian banks.
The sanctions should cost Russia billions of dollars per month if sufficiently enforced, another US official told reporters in a call.
“There is not a step in the production and distribution chain that’s untouched and that gives us greater confidence that evasion is going to be even more costly for Russia,” the official said.
Gazprom Neft said the sanctions were unjustified and illegitimate and it will continue to operate.
US ‘no longer constrained’ by tight oil supply
The measures allow a wind-down period until March 12 for sanctioned entities to finish energy transactions.
Still, sources in Russian oil trade and Indian refining said the sanctions will cause severe disruption of Russian oil exports to its major buyers India and China.
Global oil prices jumped more than 3 percent ahead of the Treasury announcement, with Brent crude nearing $80 a barrel, as a document mapping out the sanctions circulated among traders in Europe and Asia.
Geoffrey Pyatt, the US assistant secretary for energy resources at the State Department, said there were new volumes of oil expected to come online this year from the US, Guyana, Canada and Brazil and possibly out of the Middle East will fill in for any lost Russian supply.
“We see ourselves as no longer constrained by tight supply in global markets the way we were when the price cap mechanism was unveiled,” Pyatt told Reuters.
The sanctions are part of a broader effort, as the Biden administration has furnished Ukraine with $64 billion in military aid since the invasion, including $500 million this week for air defense missiles and support equipment for fighter jets.
Friday’s move followed US sanctions in November on banks including Gazprombank, Russia’s largest conduit to the global energy business, and earlier last year on dozens of tankers carrying Russian oil.
The Biden administration believes that November’s sanctions helped drive Russia’s rouble to its weakest level since the beginning of the invasion and pushed the Russian central bank to raise its policy rate to a record level of over 20 percent.
“We expect our direct targeting of the energy sector will aggravate these pressures on the Russian economy that have already pushed up inflation to almost 10 percent and reinforce a bleak economic outlook for 2025 and beyond,” one of the officials said.
Reversal would involve congress
One of the Biden officials said it was “entirely” up to the President-elect Trump, a Republican, who takes office on Jan. 20, when and on what terms he might lift sanctions imposed during the Biden era.
But to do so he would have to notify Congress and give it the ability to take a vote of disapproval, he said. Many Republican members of Congress had urged Biden to impose Friday’s sanctions.
“Trump’s people can’t just come in and quietly lift everything that Biden just did. Congress would have to be involved,” said Jeremy Paner, a partner at the law firm Hughes Hubbard & Reed.
The return of Trump has sparked hope of a diplomatic resolution to end Moscow’s invasion but also fears in Kyiv that a quick peace could come at a high price for Ukraine.
Advisers to Trump have floated proposals that would effectively cede large parts of Ukraine to Russia for the foreseeable future.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the new sanctions.
The military aid and oil sanctions “provide the next administration a considerable boost to their and Ukraine’s leverage in brokering a just and durable peace,” one of the officials said.
