https://www.scmp.com/rss/326472/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Former FBI director James Comey has been indicted for threatening the life of Donald Trump, officials said on Tuesday, five months after a previous case against the outspoken critic of the US president was thrown out. The indictment by a grand jury in North Carolina stems from an Instagram post the 65-year-old Comey made in May last year that showed the numbers “86 47” spelled out in seashells. Trump alleged in an interview with Fox News at the time that “86” was slang for kill and “47” was a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3351760/ex-fbi-director-james-comey-indicted-again-time-over-anti-trump-post?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3351760/ex-fbi-director-james-comey-indicted-again-time-over-anti-trump-post?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Apr 2026 18:37:43 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Robert S. Mueller III, the FBI director who transformed the nation’s premier law enforcement agency into a terrorism-fighting force after the September 11 attacks and who later became special counsel in charge of investigating ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, has died. He was 81. “With deep sadness, we are sharing the news that Bob passed away” on Friday night, his family said in a statement on Saturday. “His family asks that their privacy be respected.” No cause of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3347449/robert-mueller-special-counsel-who-investigated-russia-trump-campaign-ties-dies-81?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3347449/robert-mueller-special-counsel-who-investigated-russia-trump-campaign-ties-dies-81?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Mar 2026 17:59:56 +0000 Reuters Reuters A US judge on Wednesday repeatedly questioned the validity of the grand jury indictment of former FBI director James Comey secured by a prosecutor closely aligned with US President Donald Trump in the latest signal that the charges may be dismissed before trial. After repeated questioning by US District Judge Michael Nachmanoff, prosecutors acknowledged that the final version of the indictment was never presented to the entire grand jury that approved the charges after panel members previously... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3333461/us-judge-questions-validity-indictment-against-fbi-ex-chief-comey?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3333461/us-judge-questions-validity-indictment-against-fbi-ex-chief-comey?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Nov 2025 21:10:02 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg US President Donald Trump said he believed the Justice Department probably owes him compensation, following a report that he was seeking some US$230 million after he faced multiple federal investigations. “As far as all the litigation, everything that’s going on, yeah, they probably owe me a lot of money,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday at the White House. The New York Times reported earlier that Trump had initiated administrative claim processes alleging violations of his rights. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3329860/trump-says-us-justice-department-probably-owes-him-lot-money-over-probes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3329860/trump-says-us-justice-department-probably-owes-him-lot-money-over-probes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Oct 2025 23:34:00 +0000 Reuters Reuters The US Justice Department filed criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey on Thursday, in a dramatic escalation of President Donald Trump’s retribution campaign against his political enemies. If convicted, Comey could face up to five years in prison. He faces charges of making false statements and obstructing a congressional investigation. In a video posted on social media, Comey said: “My heart is broken for the Department of Justice, but I have great confidence in the federal... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3326906/ex-fbi-head-james-comey-criminally-charged-trump-targets-critics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3326906/ex-fbi-head-james-comey-criminally-charged-trump-targets-critics?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Sep 2025 23:03:38 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Hours after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, FBI Director Kash Patel declared online that “the subject” in the killing was in custody. The shooter was not. The two men who had been detained were quickly released, and Utah officials acknowledged that the gunman remained at large. The false assurance was more than a slip. It spotlighted the high-stakes uncertainty surrounding Patel’s leadership of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation when its credibility – and his own –... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3325455/charlie-kirk-killing-trumps-fbi-chief-kash-patel-faces-scrutiny-over-manhunt-blunder?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3325455/charlie-kirk-killing-trumps-fbi-chief-kash-patel-faces-scrutiny-over-manhunt-blunder?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Sep 2025 23:32:50 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press The FBI on Friday searched the Maryland home and Washington office of former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton as part of a criminal investigation into the potential mishandling of classified information, a person familiar with the matter said. Bolton was not detained and has not been charged with any crimes, said the person, who was not authorised to discuss the investigation by name and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Messages left with a spokesperson for Bolton... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3322867/fbi-searches-home-ex-trump-national-security-adviser-bolton-classified-documents-probe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3322867/fbi-searches-home-ex-trump-national-security-adviser-bolton-classified-documents-probe?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Aug 2025 12:01:26 +0000 Reuters Reuters The FBI has launched criminal probes into former CIA director John Brennan and former FBI director James Comey, Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday, citing sources. The probes are over alleged wrongdoing related to past government investigations about claims of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections in which President Donald Trump defeated former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, the news report said. The CIA and the Justice Department had no immediate comment. The FBI declined to... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3317465/fbi-probing-ex-fbi-and-cia-chiefs-over-trump-russia-investigation-us-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3317465/fbi-probing-ex-fbi-and-cia-chiefs-over-trump-russia-investigation-us-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jul 2025 23:19:44 +0000 A binder holding top-secret intelligence that contributed to a US assessment that Russia tried to help throw the 2016 US election to Donald Trump has been missing since the last days of his presidency, a source familiar with the issue said. The Russia intelligence was included with other documents in a binder that Trump directed the CIA to send to the White House just before he left office so he could declassify materials related to the FBI probe of Russian interference in the 2016 vote, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3245305/binder-intelligence-russian-interference-2016-us-election-missing-end-trump-term?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3245305/binder-intelligence-russian-interference-2016-us-election-missing-end-trump-term?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Dec 2023 03:31:51 +0000 Donald Trump said he’d suffered “personal and reputational damage and distress” from the publication of the notorious dossier that alleged ties between the Kremlin and the former US president’s successful run to the White House. Trump kicked off his data collection suit in a London court against ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele’s Orbis business intelligence firm on Monday, seeking a judge’s ruling that statements in the dossier were false. His lawyers said Trump intends to give evidence at the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3238134/donald-trump-claims-he-suffered-distress-leaked-dossier-alleging-russian-ties-during-london-court?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3238134/donald-trump-claims-he-suffered-distress-leaked-dossier-alleging-russian-ties-during-london-court?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Oct 2023 12:00:13 +0000 The FBI investigation into alleged collusion between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was based on flimsy evidence and seriously flawed, an independent US prosecutor said in a report published on Monday. Special Counsel John Durham was appointed in 2019 by then president Trump’s attorney general Bill Barr to address allegations – made most prominently by Trump himself – that the Russia investigation was a political “witch hunt.” Durham’s more than 300-page report follows a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3220666/us-special-counsel-john-durham-slams-fbi-investigation-trump-russia-collusion?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3220666/us-special-counsel-john-durham-slams-fbi-investigation-trump-russia-collusion?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 May 2023 23:19:51 +0000 Jury selection began on Thursday in a US$1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems against Fox Corp in a process to choose 12 people from a heavily Democratic county in Delaware to decide whether Fox News knowingly aired false claims on vote-rigging in the 2020 US presidential election. Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis, presiding over the case in Wilmington, is questioning prospective jurors behind closed doors in one of the most closely watched US defamation cases in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3216978/jury-selection-begins-dominions-us16-billion-lawsuit-against-fox-news?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3216978/jury-selection-begins-dominions-us16-billion-lawsuit-against-fox-news?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 13 Apr 2023 14:26:24 +0000 Though far from the only US president dogged by legal and ethical scandals, Donald Trump now occupies a unique place in history as the first indicted on criminal charges. Two others, like Trump, found themselves impeached by Congress – Bill Clinton for lying under oath about his affair with a White House intern, and Andrew Johnson for pushing the limits of his executive authority in a bitter power struggle following the Civil War. Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace over his role in the infamous... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3215507/among-160-years-us-presidential-scandals-trump-stands-alone?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3215507/among-160-years-us-presidential-scandals-trump-stands-alone?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 31 Mar 2023 04:07:17 +0000 A former top FBI official was charged on Monday with working for sanctioned Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, as US prosecutors ramp up efforts to enforce sanctions on Russian officials and police their alleged enablers. Charles McGonigal, who led the FBI’s counter-intelligence division in New York before retiring in 2018, pleaded not guilty to four criminal counts including sanctions violations and money laundering at a hearing in Manhattan federal court. He was released on US$500,000 bond,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3207806/ex-top-fbi-official-charged-working-sanctioned-russian-oligarch?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3207806/ex-top-fbi-official-charged-working-sanctioned-russian-oligarch?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Jan 2023 18:34:07 +0000 A Florida judge sanctioned former US president Donald Trump and one of his lawyers on Thursday, ordering them to pay nearly US$1 million for filing what he said was a bogus lawsuit against Trump’s 2016 rival Hillary Clinton and others. In a blistering filing, US District Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks accused Trump of a “pattern of abuse of the courts” for filing frivolous lawsuits for political purposes, which he said “undermines the rule of law” and “amounts to obstruction of justice”. “Here, we... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3207639/donald-trump-and-lawyer-fined-nearly-us1-million-frivolous-hillary-clinton-lawsuit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3207639/donald-trump-and-lawyer-fined-nearly-us1-million-frivolous-hillary-clinton-lawsuit?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Jan 2023 17:17:42 +0000 Yevgeny Prigozhin has had many roles. Convicted felon and hot dog vendor. Owner of a swanky St Petersburg restaurant and holder of lucrative government catering contracts. Founder of a mercenary military force involved in Russia’s various conflicts. Prigozhin has kept a low profile over the years. But in recent months, the 61-year-old entrepreneur with links to Russian President Vladimir Putin has become more public with his activities, especially involving Moscow’s eight-month-old war in... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3199194/who-putins-chef-and-what-russian-hot-dog-vendor-turned-mercenary-boss-cooking?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3199194/who-putins-chef-and-what-russian-hot-dog-vendor-turned-mercenary-boss-cooking?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 10 Nov 2022 19:49:50 +0000 Kremlin-connected entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted that he had interfered in US elections and would continue to do so – confirming for the first time the accusations that he has rejected for years. “We have interfered, are interfering and will continue to interfere. Carefully, precisely, surgically and in our own way,” Prigozhin said in remarks posted on social media on Monday. The statement, from the press service of his catering company that earned him the nickname “Putin’s chef”, came... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3198795/putins-chef-yevgeny-prigozhin-admits-interfering-us-elections?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3198795/putins-chef-yevgeny-prigozhin-admits-interfering-us-elections?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Nov 2022 17:07:18 +0000 The House January 6 committee is interviewing Hope Hicks, a long-time aide to former US president Donald Trump, according to a person familiar with the meeting. Tuesday’s interview comes as the investigation is winding down and as the panel has subpoenaed Trump for an interview in the coming weeks. The person requested anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting. Hicks did not play a major role in the White House response to the January 6, 2021 insurrection, in which hundreds of Trump’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3197250/us-capitol-attack-investigators-question-ex-donald-trump-aide-hope-hicks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3197250/us-capitol-attack-investigators-question-ex-donald-trump-aide-hope-hicks?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Oct 2022 21:34:24 +0000 Former US president Donald Trump sued CNN for defamation on Monday, seeking US$475 million in punitive damages and claiming that the network had carried out a “campaign of libel and slander” against him. Trump claims in his lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, that CNN had used its considerable influence as a leading news organisation to defeat him politically. CNN declined to comment on the case. Trump, a Republican, claims in the 29-page lawsuit that CNN had a long... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3194736/donald-trump-sues-cnn-defamation-seeking-us475?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3194736/donald-trump-sues-cnn-defamation-seeking-us475?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Oct 2022 21:29:24 +0000 US Justice Department officials who evaluated then President Donald Trump’s actions during the Russia investigation concluded that nothing he did, including firing the FBI director, rose to the level of obstruction of justice and that there was no precedent for a prosecution, according to a memo released Wednesday. The nine-page memo, prepared for then-Attorney General William Barr by a pair of senior Justice Department officials, offered a legal analysis on whether Trump had criminally... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3190081/why-was-donald-trump-cleared-russia-probe-new-memo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3190081/why-was-donald-trump-cleared-russia-probe-new-memo?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Aug 2022 22:47:20 +0000 Hillary Clinton personally signed off on a plan in 2016 to quietly pitch to the media the now-discredited theory that computer servers at former President Donald Trump’s company had a secret communications link with a Russian bank, her former campaign manager told a jury. Robby Mook, a witness in the trial of a former Clinton campaign lawyer charged with lying to the FBI, on Friday testified that he and others at the campaign “weren’t totally confident” in the veracity of the server data, but... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3178629/hillary-clinton-approved-leaking-trump-russia-link?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3178629/hillary-clinton-approved-leaking-trump-russia-link?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 May 2022 07:07:10 +0000 A Russian analyst who contributed to a dossier of Democratic-funded research into ties between Russia and Donald Trump was indicted Thursday on charges of lying to the FBI about his sources of information. The case against Igor Danchenko is part of special counsel John Durham’s ongoing investigation into the origins of the FBI’s probe into whether Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia had conspired to tip the outcome of that year’s presidential campaign. The five-count indictment accuses Danchenko, a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3154922/igor-danchenko-russian-source-anti-trump-steele?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3154922/igor-danchenko-russian-source-anti-trump-steele?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Nov 2021 18:36:26 +0000 FBI agents on Tuesday raided Washington and New York City homes linked to Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire under US sanctions who once employed Paul Manafort, a chairman of Donald Trump’s 2016 US presidential campaign. Two sources familiar with the investigation said the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan, also known as the Southern District of New York, is leading the probe related to Deripaska, a metals industry magnate with Kremlin ties. In Washington, FBI agents sealed off and searched a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3152936/fbi-raids-washington-mansion-linked-russian?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3152936/fbi-raids-washington-mansion-linked-russian?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 Oct 2021 18:09:23 +0000 The United States and its allies have accused China of hacking a Microsoft email server as part of a state-backed campaign, adding to growing claims of Chinese involvement in high-profile cyberattacks. Already an issue between China and the US before their relations deteriorated, cyber espionage has become another of the fronts on which Beijing and Washington are set to confront each other in the coming years. A coalition of accusers The US, Britain, the European Union and Nato on Monday accused... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3141865/what-are-hacking-accusations-against-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3141865/what-are-hacking-accusations-against-china?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Jul 2021 14:30:15 +0000 Former White House counsel Donald McGahn was questioned for hours on Friday by House Judiciary Committee Democrats about the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Donald Trump, US president at the time, tried to head it off. Few explosive or timely new revelations were expected from the closed-door interview. But McGahn’s appearance marks the end of a two-year legal stand-off over whether an executive branch official can be forced to testify to Congress, even... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3136156/donald-trumps-former-counsel-don-mcgahn-testifies?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3136156/donald-trumps-former-counsel-don-mcgahn-testifies?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Jun 2021 22:34:51 +0000 US President Donald Trump on Wednesday granted full pardons to former campaign manager Paul Manafort and former adviser Roger Stone, sweeping away the most important convictions made under the long-running Russia election probe. Trump also issued a full pardon for Charles Kushner, a real estate developer and the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. It was the second wave of pardons Trump has issued in two days. The announcement came just after Trump arrived in Palm Beach, Florida, for... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3115198/donald-trump-pardons-26-including-paul-manafort?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3115198/donald-trump-pardons-26-including-paul-manafort?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 24 Dec 2020 02:15:16 +0000 This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney on politico.com on December 14, 2020. US Attorney General William Barr is leaving his position, a decision that follows months of complaints from President Donald Trump about the administration’s top lawyer. Trump and Barr made a show of cordiality with the announcement, with Trump tweeting: “Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!” The... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3113944/us-attorney-general-william-barr-step-down?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3113944/us-attorney-general-william-barr-step-down?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Dec 2020 23:49:35 +0000 US President Donald Trump on Wednesday pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. “It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!” Trump wrote on Twitter. A retired Army general, Flynn pleaded... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3111402/donald-trump-pardons-ex-adviser-michael-flynn-who?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3111402/donald-trump-pardons-ex-adviser-michael-flynn-who?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Nov 2020 22:00:51 +0000 US President Donald Trump has told allies he plans to pardon his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday. Trump could still change his mind on the planned pardon, which is among a number of pardons under consideration by the Republican president, the source said. The news was first reported by Axios. Democrat Joe... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3111278/donald-trump-plans-pardon-former-aide-michael-flynn?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3111278/donald-trump-plans-pardon-former-aide-michael-flynn?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Nov 2020 05:45:51 +0000 US President Donald Trump would not say whether he plans to keep Bill Barr as US attorney general if he wins re-election in November. Trump said in an interview with the conservative outlet Newsmax that it was “too early” to tell if he would ask Barr to remain at the Justice Department. The president has recently expressed frustration with Barr for not doing more to prosecute his political enemies ahead of the November 3 election. “I have no comment. Can’t comment on that. It’s too early,” Trump... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3105657/bill-barrs-future-doubt-donald-trumps-pursuit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3105657/bill-barrs-future-doubt-donald-trumps-pursuit?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Oct 2020 08:40:39 +0000 Donald Trump repeatedly discussed with advisers the idea of naming his daughter Ivanka as his running mate in 2016 before settling for Mike Pence, according to a former Trump campaign aide who became a star witness in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Rick Gates, who in the summer of 2016 was Trump’s deputy campaign chairman, describes in a new book how Trump – wary of the “Never Trump” sentiment in the Republican Party and still stinging from his competitors’ attacks during the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3103416/donald-trump-considered-daughter-ivanka-2016?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3103416/donald-trump-considered-daughter-ivanka-2016?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Sep 2020 17:12:50 +0000 This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Kyle Cheney, Natasha Bertrand and Daniel Lippman on politico.com on September 9, 2020. Top Trump appointees at the Department of Homeland Security repeatedly sought to censor or stop reports on Russian influence activities in the United States, according to a whistle-blower report released by the US House Intelligence Committee. The report, filed by former senior DHS official Brian Murphy, alleges that... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3100927/whistle-blower-says-top-trump-appointees-tried?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3100927/whistle-blower-says-top-trump-appointees-tried?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Sep 2020 20:34:40 +0000 China has taken the most active role among countries seeking to interfere in the US election and has the biggest programme to influence domestic politics, national security adviser Robert O’Brien said on Friday, without providing any details. “We know the Chinese have taken the most active role,” O’Brien told reporters at a briefing. He said China “had the most massive programme to influence the United States politically”, followed by Iran and then Russia. US intelligence found that Russia... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3100342/china-actively-trying-interfere-us-election-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3100342/china-actively-trying-interfere-us-election-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Sep 2020 22:07:20 +0000 As the US presidential election looms and the battle for the soul of America awaits, this election promises to be like no other. Despite the pandemic, social unrest and four years of unorthodoxy in the White House, the lead-up to November will show President Donald Trump convincing the electorate to give him another four years, even against his litany of failures. It will be Trump’s exposure of rival Joe Biden’s weaknesses that should sway voters towards a second term for himself. Deficits in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3099131/four-more-years-why-america-likely-vote-donald-trump-after-all?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3099131/four-more-years-why-america-likely-vote-donald-trump-after-all?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 28 Aug 2020 17:30:12 +0000 This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Natasha Bertrand on politico.com on August 18, 2020. A little over two years ago, America’s top national security and intelligence officials, including the FBI director, director of National Intelligence and national security adviser, held a rare joint press conference at the White House to discuss the Trump administration’s approach to combating election interference from Russia. “It’s going to take... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3097879/its-william-evaninas-job-fight-russian-election?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3097879/its-william-evaninas-job-fight-russian-election?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Aug 2020 18:48:42 +0000 Michael Cohen, US President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, on Thursday promised to show how Trump cheated in the 2016 election with Russian help in an upcoming book titled Disloyal, A Memoir. “Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything – and I mean anything – to ‘win’ has always been his business model and way of life,” Cohen writes in the book’s foreword, which was published online on Thursday. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3097315/ex-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-says-book-will-show?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3097315/ex-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-says-book-will-show?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Aug 2020 00:00:53 +0000 US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday offered a US$10 million reward aimed at preventing foreign interference in the November election, as the State Department accused Russia of waging an increasingly sophisticated disinformation campaign. The reward marks one of the most public signs that members of President Donald Trump’s administration are taking election meddling seriously, despite anger by Trump himself over findings that Russia has assisted him. Pompeo pointed to efforts by... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3096265/us-offers-us10-million-reward-2020-election?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3096265/us-offers-us10-million-reward-2020-election?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Aug 2020 05:42:06 +0000 Former FBI counter-intelligence agent Peter Strzok is releasing a book on his concerns the president could be compromised. Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump is due to be published on September 8, publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media says. Strzok played a key role in the Russia investigation but his pejorative text messages about Donald Trump during the 2016 election campaign subsequently made him a target of the president’s wrath. The book will offer... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3095163/donald-trump-compromised-tell-all-book-ex-fbi-agent-who?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3095163/donald-trump-compromised-tell-all-book-ex-fbi-agent-who?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jul 2020 18:30:14 +0000 The former British spy who wrote the so-called Steele dossier told a British court that US President Donald Trump may have posed a serious risk to UK national security. The information recorded in a pre-election memo into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election produced by his firm, Orbis Business Intelligence, “had important national security implications for the UK, as well as the US,” Christopher Steele said in a court filing for a London libel trial. The contents of... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3094316/donald-trump-posed-risk-britain-ex-spy-says-steele-dossier-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3094316/donald-trump-posed-risk-britain-ex-spy-says-steele-dossier-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jul 2020 20:06:41 +0000 US Attorney General William Barr and the Justice Department are doing everything they can to prevent Michael Cohen from publishing a book that claims President Donald Trump made “virulently racist remarks” about Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela, according to a new lawsuit. Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawsuit, claims in the suit filed late Monday that Barr and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) are violating his First Amendment rights. The lawsuit provides new details on the haphazard effort to take... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3094150/trump-made-virulently-racist-remarks-against-nelson?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3094150/trump-made-virulently-racist-remarks-against-nelson?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Jul 2020 18:40:10 +0000 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said on Monday that he is putting Russia and other foreign governments “on notice” that he would act aggressively as president to counter any interference in US elections. The statement came hours after Democratic leaders issued a new warning that Congress appears to be the target of a foreign interference campaign. Biden said in a statement that he would treat foreign interference as an “an adversarial act that significantly affects the relationship... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3094005/biden-puts-russia-notice-over-interference-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3094005/biden-puts-russia-notice-over-interference-us?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Jul 2020 01:39:30 +0000 Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is now getting intelligence briefings, and said he has been told Russia continues to try to meddle in November’s US election. China also was conducting activities “designed for us to lose confidence in the outcome” of the 2020 election, Biden told supporters on Friday during an online fundraiser for his campaign. China says it’s not interested in meddling in US election after Trump comment “We know from before, and I guarantee you that I know... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3093741/joe-biden-warns-russia-china-election-meddling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3093741/joe-biden-warns-russia-china-election-meddling?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jul 2020 04:16:38 +0000 This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Matthew Choi on politico.com on July 13, 2020. Roger Stone's got a bone to pick. The long-time confidant of US President Donald Trump on Monday lamented his trial as unfair and led by partisan fiends, during his first public appearance since the president commuted his sentence last week. Speaking with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Stone named federal prosecutors and Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who presided over... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3093087/trump-ally-roger-stone-post-clemency-interview?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3093087/trump-ally-roger-stone-post-clemency-interview?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jul 2020 06:00:32 +0000 Former special counsel Robert Mueller sharply defended his investigation into ties between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, writing in a newspaper opinion piece that the probe was of “paramount importance” and asserting that a Trump ally, Roger Stone, “remains a convicted felon, and rightly so” despite the president’s decision to commute his prison sentence. The op-ed in The Washington Post marked Mueller’s first public statement on his investigation since his congressional... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3092818/robert-mueller-breaks-year-long-silence-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3092818/robert-mueller-breaks-year-long-silence-after?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 12 Jul 2020 03:21:28 +0000 US President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of his long-time political confidant Roger Stone on Friday, just days before he was set to report to prison. Democrats denounced the move as just another in a series of unprecedented interventions by the president in the nation’s justice system. Stone had been sentenced in February to three years and four months in prison for lying to Congress, witness tampering and obstructing the House of Representatives’ investigation into whether the Trump... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3092763/trump-commutes-prison-sentence-long-time-ally-roger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3092763/trump-commutes-prison-sentence-long-time-ally-roger?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Jul 2020 02:48:19 +0000 This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Nina Jankowicz on politico.com on July 5, 2020. On October 19, 2018, a criminal complaint in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election was unsealed. It lays out how the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency funded and implemented its online influence campaigns in the United States. The level of detail is astonishing. The complaint uncovers the... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3091907/how-anti-trump-flash-mob-found-itself-middle?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3091907/how-anti-trump-flash-mob-found-itself-middle?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Jul 2020 13:39:36 +0000 A US appeal court ordered charges against President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn to be dropped on Wednesday, handing the White House a victory in a case that was central to the Russia meddling investigation. The court endorsed Attorney General William Barr’s extraordinary decision to drop the criminal charges against Flynn even after he had twice pleaded guilty to lying to FBI investigators, overruling a lower court judge who was ready to sentence Flynn. Barr’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3090483/us-court-orders-ex-trump-aide-michael-flynns-case?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3090483/us-court-orders-ex-trump-aide-michael-flynns-case?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Jun 2020 16:53:46 +0000 US Attorney General William Barr said on Saturday that President Donald Trump had fired Geoffrey Berman, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan whose office is investigating Trump’s lawyer Rudolph Giuliani, after Berman publicly refused to step down from his post. In a letter to Berman, Barr said he was “surprised and quite disappointed” by Berman’s statement late on Friday night in which he refused to quit his job, saying Berman had chosen “public spectacle over public service”. “I have asked... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3089945/us-attorney-general-william-barr-says-trump-has?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3089945/us-attorney-general-william-barr-says-trump-has?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Jun 2020 20:34:59 +0000 Defying the White House, former US national security adviser John Bolton will release a book that suggests President Donald Trump committed impeachable offences beyond Ukraine and alleges that his entire foreign policy is motivated by domestic politics. Trump earlier this year warned Bolton not to publish his book while the president was still in the White House, whose lawyers have contended that large portions of the material in the memoir are classified. But publisher Simon and Schuster said... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3088922/john-bolton-accuses-trump-transgressions-beyond?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3088922/john-bolton-accuses-trump-transgressions-beyond?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Jun 2020 04:00:57 +0000 President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, who previously pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, asked a US appeal court on Tuesday to force a judge to dismiss the criminal case against him as requested by the Justice Department. The department’s May 7 reversal in the case drew accusations from Democrats and retired career prosecutors that Attorney General William Barr was politicising the US criminal justice system to benefit Trump’s friends and associates. In an... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3085147/ex-trump-aide-michael-flynn-who-admitted-lying-fbi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3085147/ex-trump-aide-michael-flynn-who-admitted-lying-fbi?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 19 May 2020 21:19:19 +0000