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Chess

Barr cancels second day of Russiagate testimony, escalating battle with U.S. Congress

Andy Sullivan, Sarah N. Lynch
Reuters
Wed, 01 May 2019 17:09 UTC
AG william barr
© Reuters
Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday canceled plans to testify before the House of Representatives about his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, further inflaming tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump and Democrats in Congress.

Barr was due to face the Democratic-controlled House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, but pulled out after the two sides were unable to agree on the format for the hearing.

"It's simply part of the administration's complete stonewalling of Congress," Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler told reporters.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said Nadler's proposal to have committee lawyers question Barr was "unprecedented and unnecessary," saying questions should come from lawmakers.
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Snakes in Suits

When Loretta met Bill on the tarmac

Eric Felten
RealClearInvestigations
Thu, 02 May 2019 17:01 UTC
Lynch/CLinton
© Fox NewsFormer AG Loretta Lynch • Former President Bill Clinton
What happened when Bill Clinton met then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch on the west side of Phoenix Sky Harbor airport between 7 and 8 PM on June 27, 2016? Just days before Hillary Rodham Clinton was to be interviewed by the FBI about her mishandling of classified emails, the former president intercepted the AG on her plane. Was it just a "casual" and "unscheduled" encounter, as the head spokesperson for the Department of Justice maintained? Or was the former president stalking Lynch to urge her to go easy on his wife?

We have a new window on what may have gone on inside Lynch's FBI jet after it landed - the story as told by the former attorney general to lawmakers and staff of the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Her account could easily be seen as self-serving, but it was given under penalty of perjury.

Lynch was questioned behind closed doors on Dec. 19, 2018 in the Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2131. The interview has remained private; no transcript of it has been released. But RealClearInvestigations has obtained a copy. In it, Lynch describes an encounter with Bill Clinton that is both perplexing and preposterous, a story that defies innocent explanation.
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Light Sabers

India calls for Pakistan's blacklisting by terror finance watchdog


The Economic Times
Thu, 02 May 2019 16:59 UTC
pakistani rangers and indian security forces
© AFPPakistani Rangers (in black) and Indian Border Security Force personnel (in brown) perform during a flag lowering ceremony at the Wagah border area on March 30, 2019.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) already has Pakistan on its "grey list" of countries with inadequate controls over curbing money laundering and terrorism financing.

India will ask the global money laundering and terror finance watchdog to put Pakistan on a blacklist of countries that fail to meet international standards in stopping financial crime, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) already has Pakistan on its "grey list" of countries with inadequate controls over curbing money laundering and terrorism financing.

But India wants Pakistan blacklisted, which would likely result in sanctions, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said last month.

"We want Pakistan downgraded on the FATF list," Jaitley told reporters, adding that the Paris-based FATF was due to meet in mid-May and India would make its request then.
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Eye 2

'Still salty about losing': Twitter users stunned by Hillary calling for China to hack Trump


RT
Thu, 02 May 2019 16:50 UTC
hillary
© MSNBC
Hillary Clinton appeared on TV proposing China illegally hack into President Donald Trump's tax returns, prompting Twitter users to question both her ability to move on from her presidential election defeat, and her sanity.

Clinton made the call on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow show Wednesday night, suggesting Democratic 2020 presidential candidates should seek out the help of the "only other adversary of ours, who's anywhere near as good as the Russians" to hack Trump's tax returns.

Ignoring the outcome of the Mueller Report and doubling down on her years of unfounded accusations that Russia colluded with election rival Donald Trump, Clinton said: "Since Russia is clearly backing Republicans, why don't we ask China to back us?"

"And not only that, China, if you're listening, why don't you get Trump's tax returns?" Clinton continued, echoing comments by Trump in Florida during the 2016 campaign in which he asked if Russia might find Clinton's deleted emails, but did not outright call for her to be hacked.
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Newspaper

"New era": Emperor Naruhito of Japan ascends the Chrysanthemum throne following father's abdication


CBS News
Wed, 01 May 2019 11:16 UTC
naruhito
© AFP/File/Imperial Household AgencyThis handout photo taken and released by Japan's Imperial Household Agency on May 1, 2019 shows Japan's Emperor Naruhito (L), watched by Empress Masako (C), giving a speech during a ceremony to receive the first audience after the accession to the throne at the Matsu-no-Ma state room inside the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Japan's new Emperor Naruhito formally ascended the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1, a day after his father abdicated from the world's oldest monarchy and ushered in a new imperial era.
A new emperor has taken over in Japan. Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne after his father, now-Emperor Emeritus Akihito, abdicated. It was the first time a Japanese emperor has stepped down in 200 years.

The change ushered in a new "era" in Japan. The era of Naruhito's reign on the Chrysanthemum Throne, as Japan's imperial seat has been known for centuries, has been dubbed Reiwa, or "enlightened happiness."

As CBS News senior foreign correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reported on Wednesday, Naruhito is widely expected to continue the work of his father; humanizing the emperor's role, as well as pressing for modern reforms to normalize life for the royal family.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Blackwater founder calls for 'Iraq-style' mercenary occupation of Venezuela

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Thu, 02 May 2019 10:15 UTC
ErikPrince
© The Smirking ChimpErik Prince
As if the past months of US push for regime change in Venezuela with officials like Elliott Abrams of Iran-Contra conviction infamy at the helm wasn't bizarre enough, things just got weirder, as Erik Prince has apparently been pitching a plan around Washington to privatize US coup efforts using his latest Blackwater inspired mercenary empire.

According to Reuters, Prince - the brother of billionaire Education Secretary Betsy DeVos who has over the past years since selling his mired-in-controversy Blackwater group (now Academi) revived his mercenary empire in China in the form of Frontier Services Group (FSG) - intends to "deploy a private army to help topple Venezuela's socialist president, Nicholas Maduro".

Price has reportedly sought access to Trump administration officials to whom he's attempting to pitch the whole operation, said to involve some 5,000 soldiers-for-hire to be used by opposition leader Juan Guaido, according to multiple sources who spoke to Reuters. The controversial private security CEO has sought investments from both Trump supporters and wealthy Venezuelan exiles, and reportedly held meetings over the plan as recently as mid-April.
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Snakes in Suits

Dems and MSM conveniently ignore 'crucial detail' in Mueller's letter to AG Barr

Scott Morefield
Daily Caller
Thu, 02 May 2019 10:15 UTC
William Barr
© Reuters / Erin ScottAttorney General William Barr testifies before a Senate appropriations subcommittee
Liberal media seized on news of special counsel Robert Mueller's letter to William Barr, which expressed frustration over the attorney general's initial depiction of his investigation's findings, and presented it as evidence of wrongdoing.

Yet, much of the anti-Trump left seemingly ignored a crucial detail of the Tuesday report from The Washington Post, which explained that during a phone conversation between the two, the attorney general actually asked the special counsel whether or not his memo was "inaccurate."

"There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," the letter read, according to the Post. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Dept. appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."
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Chess

AG Barr slams Dems for using criminal justice process as 'political weapon' during hearing

Alex Pappas
Fox News
Thu, 02 May 2019 10:15 UTC
william barr ag
Attorney General William Barr fired back Wednesday at Democrats who for weeks have called his integrity into question over his handling of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia report, suggesting during a testy Capitol Hill hearing they were only using the issue to score political points ahead of the 2020 election -- and advising that the DOJ's role in the controversy is now "over."

"We have to stop using the criminal justice process as a political weapon," Barr said during a back-and-forth with Connecticut Democratic Sen. Dick Blumenthal.

The exchange was one of several heated moments during Barr's first hearing -- before the Senate Judiciary Committee -- since the release of the Mueller report. The testimony covered everything from Barr's decision not to pursue an obstruction case against President Trump to process delays in getting a redacted version of Mueller's report to the public to Mueller's apparent concerns about how Barr initially relayed his findings to Congress.
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Snakes in Suits

Barr is the man for the job. It scares the heck out of those he's investigating.

Sara Carter
SaraACarter.com
Wed, 01 May 2019 20:01 UTC
william barr ag
Department of Justice Attorney General William Barr is the perfect man for the job. He is methodical, attentive, calm and rides the storm of chaos with the demeanor of a man who knows he is standing on the side of truth.

It is evident that former senior Obama administration officials and opponents of President Trump know that and fear it. It began last night with the 'non-story' that Special Counsel Robert Mueller prosecutors weren't happy with Barr's four page letter explaining their report on the Russia investigation.

"We did not understand exactly why the special counsel was not reaching a decision," Barr told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"We don't conduct criminal investigations just to collect information and put it out to the public. We do so to make a decision," Barr told lawmakers. He suggested that Mueller should have come to a decision but avoided the criticism of Democrats by passing the ball to him with regard to obstruction.
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Arrow Up

UK's May sacks defence minister Williamson over leaked 5G deal with China's Huawei


RT
Wed, 01 May 2019 22:50 UTC
gavin williamson
© REUTERS/Hannah McKay
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has dismissed Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson after he was found responsible for a leak from the National Security Council about Huawei's involvement in the UK's 5G network.

The scandal broke last week when the Daily Telegraph published the leaked data from the National Security Council meeting, during which the ministers agreed that the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei would be granted limited access to assist in developing the British 5G network.

A formal inquiry into the leak, led by the Cabinet Secretary Sir Mark Sedwill, was launched following the incident.

Comment: Surely May had a raft of reasons to sack Williamson, but this leak will infuriate the US who have been going hard with their propaganda push against China:

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