John Bolton is “a traitor” and his book should not be published before the election in November, Donald Trump reportedly told aides and media figures.
The president’s views on news of a book deal for Marie Yovanovitch, another key figure in the Ukraine scandal which led to Trump’s impeachment, were not immediately clear.
Continue reading...Virus is spreading in Middle East, with confirmed cases in Lebanon and Israel
Four Iranians have died after contracting the coronavirus, with health authorities warning it has spread to multiple cities, while Israel and Lebanon declared their first domestic cases as the deadly epidemic spreads across the Middle East.
Asked on Friday if the new cases put the crisis at a tipping point, the World Health Organization director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the “window of opportunity is narrowing, so we need to act quickly before it closes completely”.
Continue reading...Former national security adviser John Bolton faced a roasting from one of his predecessors on Wednesday night, in his second public appearance since the conclusion of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial.
Related: Democratic debate: Warren brands Bloomberg 'a billionaire who calls people fat broads' – live
Continue reading...Canada, Ukraine, Britain and others ask for box to be sent to third country for examination
Canada and other countries whose nationals were killed in the Iranian strike on a Ukrainian civilian jet leaving Tehran have stepped up their requests for Iran to hand over the black box to a third party for examination.
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has suggested specialist equipment should be sent to Tehran to help the Iranians decrypt the contents of the black box and has given a commitment the box will not be opened except in the presence of all interested parties. But with an impasse looming, western aviation experts have said it is not possible to send the cumbersome equipment to Tehran.
Continue reading...She cited a need for the country to be ‘principled, consistent and trustworthy’ while accepting an award for diplomacy
The former US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, has warned that the US had adopted an “amoral” foreign policy that “substitutes threats, fear and confusion for trust”.
In her first public remarks since leaving the US foreign service two weeks ago, Yovanovitch said that the Trump administration’s handling of foreign policy risked alienating allies and driving them into the arms of other partners they find more reliable.
Continue reading...The lawyer for Lt Col Alexander Vindman condemned Donald Trump on Saturday for making “obviously false statements” about the decorated military veteran, after the president defended sacking him through several critical tweets.
Related: 'Real power is fear': what Machiavelli tells us about Trump in 2020
Continue reading...The popular HBO series about the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster has led to a surge in tourists to the site and nearby town of Pripyat
Continue reading...
Though Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has reportedly told senators privately that he doesn’t have votes to block new witnesses in the impeachment trial, per multiple reports, there are still several days till senators would vote on the matter.
Senate Republicans may still block witnesses, and some GOP lawmakers are confident they’ll be able to do so, according to CNN.
While the votes aren't secured yet, GOP leaders are growing confident they can defeat a vote on witnesses following the initial alarm the Bolton book caused among Senate Rs. Many Rs amenable to argument that witnesses would drag it out with no clear end https://t.co/LKsAaRHEaS
Lev Parnas’ lawyer is expected to attend the Senate trial tomorrow.
Joseph Bondy asked Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer for gallery tickets, according to The Daily Beast, which first reported the news. Bondy’s co-counsel Stephanie Schuman is also expected to appear. Parnas himself may not be able to, as he wears an ankle monitor and electronics are banned in the trial chamber.
Lev Parnas attorney on attending Senate trial: “We are attending the trial w/ or w/o Mr. Parnas bc we believe our presence is important in reminding senators that indeed there should be witnesses heard and evidence taken and that anything short of that would not be a fair trial”
Continue reading...Donald Trump's defence team has urged senators to acquit the president as they wrapped up their arguments in his impeachment trial. Dismissing objections to Trump’s conduct towards Ukraine as 'policy disagreements', Trump's lawyers also sought to marginalise former national security adviser John Bolton's explosive allegations about Trump's conduct as 'inadmissible' in the proceedings
Continue reading...‘Get rid of her. Get her out tomorrow,’ president seems to say of ambassador to Ukraine
Donald Trump demanded the dismissal of Marie Yovanovitch, then US ambassador to Ukraine and now a key figure in the president’s impeachment trial, according to a video recording released to the media.
The footage was reportedly taken during an April 2018 donor dinner at a hotel and released to news media by an attorney for Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
Continue reading...Footage obtained from Parnas's lawyer, dating back to April 2018, appears to show Donald Trump ordering attendees at a meal to 'get rid' of the US ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. The video surfaced on Saturday 25 January.
Parnas, who was involved in the impeachment proceedings, worked with Trump's former attorney Rudy Giuliani to oust Yovanovitch and claimed the president 'knew exactly what was going on', in a televised interview.
Although they have been pictured together, Trump has said of Parnas: 'I don’t know him, I don’t believe I’ve ever spoken to him. I don’t need the help of a man I haven’t met before, other than perhaps taken a picture.' The removal of Yovanovitch has played a key role in the current impeachment proceedings against the president
Continue reading...White House counsel says prosecution aims to pull off ‘the most massive interference in an election in American history’
Welcome to Day One of the Trump Show.
It was, admittedly, an inauspicious start to what was teased as a “trailer” for the rollicking show to come next week in the historic impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
Continue reading...Secretary of state screamed obscenities and demanded host Mary Louise Kelly find Ukraine on a map, journalist says
Mike Pompeo is said to have unleashed a foul-mouth tirade at a well known US radio host after she asked him questions about Ukraine in an interview.
Mary Louise Kelly, a respected broadcaster on National Public Radio (NPR), sat down for a pre-arranged interview with the secretary of state on Friday, whose wrath was apparently triggered by a string of questions about Marie Yovanovitch, the former US ambassador to Ukraine. Kelly asked Pompeo whether he owed Yovanovitch an apology for not defending her in the face of a smear campaign orchestrated by Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his associates.
Continue reading...Tehran issues first acknowledgement of precise number of rounds fired at plane
Iran says its armed forces mistakenly launched two surface-to-air missiles at a Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed with 176 people onboard earlier this month, its first acknowledgement of the precise number of rounds fired at the airliner.
Assessments by western intelligence agencies and video footage from the launch site had pointed to two missiles being fired at the Boeing 737-800 on the morning of 8 January, but Iranian officials had so far referenced only one until the release of preliminary report on Tuesday by the country’s civil aviation authority.
Continue reading...Investigation follows publication of messages between two Giuliani associates about Marie Yovanovitch
The Ukrainian government has opened an investigation into the possible illegal surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch when she was US ambassador to Kyiv, following the publication of messages about her between two associates of Donald Trump’s personal lawyer.
The Ukrainian interior ministry issued a statement on Thursday saying that its position was not to interfere in US domestic affairs but that press reports of messages contain “a possible violation of the law of Ukraine and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which protects the rights of a diplomat on the territory of the foreign country”.
Continue reading...Effigy burned on streets of Tehran as diplomat accused of ‘interfering in internal affairs’
Iran’s judiciary has described the UK’s ambassador to Tehran as “persona non grata” and called for his expulsion, while crowds of regime supporters burned his effigy alongside the British flag.
The actions came after the envoy, Rob Macaire, was briefly arrested at the weekend and accused of “coordinating” anti-government protests.
Continue reading...A leak of stolen data could potentially affect the impeachment process and the US election contest
Russian military hackers tried to steal emails from the Ukrainian energy firm where Hunter Biden, the son of the Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden, had a seat on the board, a US cybersecurity firm said.
The energy company Burisma Holdings was at the center of attempts by president Donald Trump last July to pressure Ukrainian authorities to announce an investigation into the Bidens for purported corruption, an effort that has led to the Republican being impeached by the US House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
Continue reading...Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has promised justice for victims of the Ukraine Airlines flight shot down in Iran. Memorials were held across Canada for the 57 Canadians killed in the crash - including one interrupted by a protester in Toronto
A vigil in front of Tehran's Amikabir University for the victims of flight 752 that Iran said it accidentally downed turned into an anti-government protest on Saturday. Demonstrators called for the resignation of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, chanting 'death to the dictator'
Protesters speak out against supreme leader in response to deaths of Iranians in disaster
Iran’s embattled regime was shaken by a wave of international condemnation and domestic criticism on Saturday night after admitting its forces shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane with 176 people on board and lied in a bid to cover up its role in the tragedy.
Facing possibly the biggest crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution, senior clerical, political and military leaders scrambled to contain the fallout from what President Hassan Rouhani termed a “disastrous mistake”.
Continue reading...