A FBI informant who gave the government information about a Russian bribery plot implicated in the sale of U.S. uranium rights tried unsuccessfully last year to recover upwards of $700,000 in bribes he said he was authorized to pay as part of the FBI investigation.

William D. Campbell has emerged now as the key figure in a congressional probe into Russia's 2010 purchase of U.S. uranium rights and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's role in approving the deal.

His identity had been shielded for weeks, but court records obtained by The Washington Times, as well as a report by Reuters, identified the man.

Mr. Campbell has not returned calls from The Washington Times seeking comment, but his civil suit, describing his involvement in the FBI investigation, matches details of the criminal case brought against Vadim Mikerin. Mikerin, who was the head of U.S. operations for Tenex, a subsidiary of Russia's atomic energy giant Rosatom, was convicted of money laundering and other crimes and in 2015 sentenced to four years in prison.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, House Intelligence Committee and House Oversight Committee have all begun to probe the circumstances of Rosatom's purchase of Canadian mining company Uranium One, which had mining rights in the U.S. Investigators have questioned whether the American agencies that signed off on the sale, including the State Department, were ever made aware of the FBI's ongoing investigation of Mikerin and Tenex.

Mr. Campbell told Reuters that he was the confidential informant cited in the Mikerin case. And Victoria Toensing, a lawyer for the informant, has previously told Fox News that her client filed a civil lawsuit to get an unspecified amount of money back that he paid out in bribes during the case after the FBI failed to return the money to him. She has not responded to subsequent requests for comment.

It's unclear what new information Mr. Campbell might be able to offer congressional investigators in their probes, or why he sought to speak with investigators this year.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a series of letters inquiring about the Uranium One deal on Oct. 12.

World-renowned intellectual giant and respected academic, MIT professor Noam Chomsky recently sat down for an interview called 'A Continuing Conversation with Geographers'. In the interview, he clearly makes his thoughts known regarding the Trump administration's ongoing media driven pseudo-scandal involving Russia, and specifically concerning Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Russian lawyer.

Chomsky, the author of more than 100 books, including "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media," in which he breaks down how U.S. corporate media has been weaponized as a means of controlling public opinion by propagandizing the American people, didn't mince his words, previously noting:

"It's a pretty remarkable fact that - first of all, it is a joke. Half the world is cracking up in laughter. The United States doesn't just interfere in elections. It overthrows governments it doesn't like, institutes military dictatorships."

"Simply in the case of Russia alone-it's the least of it-the U.S. government, under Clinton, intervened quite blatantly and openly, then tried to conceal it, to get their man Yeltsin in, in all sorts of ways," said Chomsky. "So, this, as I say, it's considered-it's turning the United States, again, into a laughingstock in the world."

"So why are the Democrats focusing on this?" he said. "In fact, why are they focusing so much attention on the one element of Trump's programs which is fairly reasonable, the one ray of light in this gloom: trying to reduce tensions with Russia? That's-the tensions on the Russian border are extremely serious. They could escalate to a major terminal war. Efforts to try to reduce them should be welcomed."

"Just a couple of days ago," said Chomsky, "the former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Jack Matlock, came out and said he just can't believe that so much attention is being paid to apparent efforts by the incoming administration to establish connections with Russia." He said, 'Sure, that's just what they ought to be doing.'"

Continuing, Chomsky said, "So, you know, yeah, maybe the Russians tried to interfere in the election. That's not a major issue. Maybe the people in the Trump campaign were talking to the Russians. Well, okay, not a major point, certainly less than is being done constantly."

"And it is a kind of a paradox," he said, "that the one issue that seems to inflame the Democratic opposition is the one thing that has some justification and reasonable aspects to it."

In response to media inquiries concerning the U.S. administration's refusal to extend the waiver of statutory restrictions on the General Delegation of the PLO to the United States in Washington D.C., PLO Executive Committee Member Dr. Hanan Ashrawi condemned such a move and said:

"Instead of holding Israel liable for its persistent violations of international law and conventions, the U.S. administration and Congress are threatening to punish the Palestinian people because of statements made by President Mahmoud Abbas at the United Nations and other leaders pertaining to ICC accountability for Israel and for its war crimes in Palestine.

It is ironic that the U.S. is taking steps to punish the victim (the occupied) and not the perpetrator of the crime (the occupier).

Thursday on Bloomberg, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), said when she calls for President Donald Trump to be impeached, she "inspires" people.

Waters said, "Let me just say this - I have learned over the years that I have been in this business that there are few people who are willing to speak truth to power and to talk about what really is bothering our society and our democracy. It is not thought well of to step outside of that box. When I talk about impeachment, I described what I think about this president. I think he is deplorable. I think he defined himself in the campaign, the way that he mocked and mimicked a disabled journalist, the way he talked about grabbing women by their private parts, the way he called names of his peers. I think that is unacceptable. For people to allow this kind of behavior to be normalized is beyond what I believe our democracy should be all about."

The pro-business Free Democratic Party abruptly announced its exit from three-way talks to form the German government on Sunday, citing a lack of common ground. The setback may see Germany hold new elections, challenging Merkel's all but secured chancellorship.

The chances for a so-called "Jamaica coalition" of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU), the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the Greens have worsened after the FDP slammed the door on exploratory talks late Sunday, with its chairman, Christian Lindner, saying that the party would rather not be in the government than agree with the terms of the proposed coalition accord.

"Today there was no progress but rather there were setbacks, while the achieved compromises were questioned," Lindner said, following marathon 12-hour talks.

Why has the PR team hired by Mandalay Bay been pushing bogus conspiracy theories clearly meant to discredit legitimate inquiry into the Las Vegas shooting?

In another strange twist to the largest mass-shooting in recent U.S. history, a damning report indicates that the parent company of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, MGM Resorts International, is paying crisis management firm Joele Frank to spread disinformation about the massacre online.

According to a bombshell report, published by Thomas Michael on Medium, the crisis management firm is deliberately spreading ridiculous conspiracy theories on social media in an attempt to discredit legitimate inquiry into the bizarre official narrative - and actively trying to muddy the water about events surrounding the mass-shooting.

The British publicist who set up a meeting between senior Trump campaign figures and a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer says he exaggerated an email promising damaging information about Hillary Clinton.

Rob Goldstone also said he had accepted invitations to meet federal investigators examining allegations of Russian collusion with Donald Trump's election team.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, he said he was keen to set the record straight about his role in introducing Mr Trump's son, Donald Jr, and other officials to a lawyer promising to "incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia" with "official documents".

The European Union will cut funds allocated to Turkey due to the "deteriorating situation in relation to democracy, rule of law and human rights" there, according to a European Parliament (EP) statement.


The bloc will shrink the so-called "pre-accession funds" for Turkey by 105m euros ($124m) and suspend an additional 70m euros in the 2018 budget, the statement said on Saturday.

Ankara is entitled to receive 4.45 billion euros from the EU between 2014 and 2020 in the framework of the bloc's "Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance".

The Council of the EU and the EP, the two legislative institutions of the bloc, still need to formally approve the new budget.

President Trump's expansion of war is most evident in the skies of Somalia where an acceleration in drone strikes have been reported.

U.S. Africa Command has conducted fourteen airstrikes since August bringing the year's total to eighteen. The increased tempo of airstrikes started in September between the Kismayo and Mogadisu region.

Earlier this month, we reported on Trump's administration hitting a new milestone - when U.S. Africa Command launched its first airstrike against the Islamic State-linked fighters - further accelerating the US presence..

U.S. Africa Command has released data on 18 strikes this year, more than four times the average over the previous seven years.

On Sunday, Former CIA Director John Brennan and Former National Intelligence Director (NID) James Clapper appeared on CNN's morning talk show, State of the Union, to discuss Donald Trump's brief meeting with Vladimir Putin in Vietnam. The two ex-Intel chiefs were sharply critical of Trump and wondered why the president did not "not acknowledge and embrace" the idea that Russia meddled in the 2016 elections. According to Brennan, Russia not only "poses a national security problem" for the US, but also "Putin is committed to undermining our system, our democracy, and our whole process."

Naturally, CNN anchor, Jake Tapper, never challenged Brennan or Clapper on any of the many claims they made regarding Russia nor did he interrupt either man while they made, what appeared to be, carefully scripted remarks about Trump, Putin and the ongoing investigation.