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Since not long after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized by the government a decade ago, policymakers have been circling the same idea for how to revamp the housing finance system. Broadly speaking, that plan would privatize the two government-sponsored enterprises while providing an explicit federal backstop for the mortgage market.
The Republican and Democratic senators leading an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections joined in criticism of President Barack Obama's administration for failing to do more to stop the meddling. Republican Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said at a hearing Wednesday that Obama administration officials have made clear they were operating "without a playbook" against a new threat with an undefined set of rules.
While the focus was on judgment calls by former FBI Director James Comey, Republicans immediately seized on secondary findings by Inspector General Michael Horowitz, including that five FBI officials expressed hostility toward Trump before his election as president. Horowitz said their actions have been referred to the bureau for possible discipline.
After Tuesday night's Democratic primary election in Virginia's 10th Congressional District, candidate Dan Helmer, who sought to be the main challenger to Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., fell flat on his face. Helmer finished fourth in his primary, only bringing in just more than 6,700 votes or 12 percent of the vote.
The former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee made an initial court appearance Friday after his indictment on accusations that he lied to federal investigators investigating a leak of information about a former campaign aide to President Donald Trump. The indictment of James Wolfe, 57, indicates that FBI agents were trying to determine how reporters learned that Carter Page, the former Trump campaign aide, had contacts with Russian intelligence operatives.
Facebook has acknowledged it shared user data with several Chinese handset manufacturers, including Huawei, a company flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security threat, as it faces a fresh wave of allegations over its handling of private data. Chinese firms Huawei, Lenovo, Oppo and TCL were among numerous handset makers that were given access to Facebook data in a "controlled" way approved by Facebook, the social media giant's vice president of mobile partnerships, Francisco Varela, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Chinese mobile phone maker Huawei said Wednesday it has never collected or stored Facebook user data, after the social media giant acknowledged it shared such data with Huawei and other manufacturers. Huawei, a company flagged by U.S. intelligence officials as a national security threat, was the latest device maker at the center of a fresh wave of allegations over Facebook's handling of private data.
U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., the ranking member the Intelligence Committee, got some grief from fellow Democrats for suggesting that nothing much would change with respect to the Russia investigation if Democrats take back the majority in November. He asserted that voters "will be tired of it if this is not wound down in this calendar year."
Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers-backed political advocacy group, is running a digital ad thanking a vulnerable Democratic senator for her support of bank deregulation legislation ahead of the midterm elections. The ad, which launched Friday, thanks North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who is fighting to hold onto her seat in a state that Trump carried by 36 points in 2016, for cosponsoring a rollback of some Dodd-Frank Act regulations.
Senate intelligence committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. and committee Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va. wait for the beginning of a confirmation hearing on May 9, 2018 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption Senate intelligence committee Chairman Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. and committee Vice Chairman Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.
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Investigators looking into President Donald Trump and his top associates' dealing with foreign governments have an embarrassment of riches. For Americans, Trump is simply an embarrassment - and a figure increasingly seen as indifferent to foreign interference in our election.
Donald John Trump Trump to hold Nashville rally amid efforts to boost GOP Senate hopeful Democratic senator: Trump Jr. meeting with Gulf emissary 'absolutely crazy' Trump Jr. met with Gulf adviser who offered help to win election: report MORE met with a Gulf emissary during the 2016 campaign who offered the help of the crown princes of the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to have his father win the election "If the Times story is true, we now have at least a second and maybe a third nation that was trying to lean into this campaign," Warner said.
The top Democrats on the Senate and House intelligence committees said Sunday Trump campaign officials may have committed a crime if a new report proves true: that three months before the 2016 election, President Trump's son met with two Arab princes and an Israeli political operative who offered to help his father win the presidential election. On Saturday, the New York Times reported that Donald Trump Jr. met on Aug. 3, 2016 with two wealthy princes, from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, along with Joel Zamel, an Israeli expert in "social media manipulation."
VOA Contributor Greta Van Susteren talks with U.S. Senator Mark Warner about the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russia's intervention in the 2016 US presidential election and the controversy surrounding the new director of the CIA.
The Senate confirmed Gina Haspel on Thursday as the first female director of the CIA following a difficult nomination process that reopened an emotional debate about brutal interrogation techniques in one of the darkest chapters in the spy agency's history. The 54-45 vote split both parties, with six Democrats joining most Republicans in support.
In this May 9, 2018 photo, CIA nominee Gina Haspel testifies during a confirmation hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington. In a letter Tuesday to the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Haspel says she would "refuse to undertake any proposed activity that is contrary to my moral and ethical values."
Amid a report today that the Trump White House plans to cut the administration's cybersecurity coordinator position altogether, new data shows how US federal government agencies continue to struggle to close security holes in their software. Politico reported that the administration has eliminated the White House cybersecurity position, which was recently vacated by former head Rob Joyce, who has returned to the National Security Agency.
President Donald Trump 's CIA nominee appeared to be on a path toward confirmation as she picked up support from key Democrats Tuesday and toughened her public stance against harsh interrogation. "With the benefit of hindsight and my experience as a senior agency leader, the enhanced interrogation program is not one the CIA should have undertaken," Gina Haspel said in written answers to more than 60 questions released by the Senate intelligence committee.