President Donald Trump is poised to pardon Scooter J. Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, according to sources familiar with the president's thinking.

The president has already signed off on the pardon, which is something he has been considering for several months, sources told ABC News.

The move would mark another controversial pardon for Trump and could raise questions as an increasing number of the president's political allies have landed themselves in legal jeopardy. The White House has repeatedly said that no pardons are currently on the table for people caught up in the Russia investigation.

Early in his term, Trump pardoned controversial former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio after he was found guilty in July on criminal contempt charges stemming from his refusal to stop imprisoning suspected undocumented immigrants.

UK broadcaster Sky News cut short Major-General Jonathan Shaw, formerly one the British Army's most senior officers, in mid-sentence, as he cast doubt on London's narrative on the alleged Syrian government gas attack in Douma.

News presenter Samantha Washington asked Shaw a narrowly-worded question, asking if Russian denials about the government's responsibility would mean it's necessary for any UK intervention in Syria to be approved by parliament.

But Shaw, who retired in 2012 to become a security expert, wanted to take the discussion back a step.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's raid on President Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen has backfired in the eyes of voters, according to Rasmussen Reports.

Prior to what many are describing as Mueller's unprecedented stunt, the special counsel and former Obama official was held in high regard by a majority of the public. Back in October, a full 52 percent believed "Mueller's investigation is an honest attempt to determine criminal wrongdoing."

That number is now down -6 points to just 46 percent.

When I wrote the article about the "Most Dangerous Decade" two weeks ago, I didn't realize that my time frame was too optimistic. What's happening now in Syria has the potential to start WW III - numerous American, British and French aircraft carriers, submarines and fighter jets have converged just off the Syrian coast, while Russian warships and planes are scrambling to defend and retaliate.

Western neoconservatives and hawks are driving the international situation to increasing tension and danger. Not content with the destruction of Iraq and Libya based on false claims, they are now pressing for a direct US attack on Syria.

As a dangerous prelude, Israeli jets flying over Lebanese airspace fired missiles against the T4/Tiyas Airbase west of Palmyra.

This was Predicted

As reported at Tass, the Chief of Russia's General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, predicted the current events almost a month ago. The report from March 13 says,

"Russia has hard facts about preparations for staging the use of chemical weapons against civilians by the government forces. After the provocation, the US plans to accuse Syria's government forces of using chemical weapons ... furnish the so-called 'evidence' ... and Washington plans to deliver a missile and bomb strike against Damascus' government districts."

Gerasimov noted that Russian military advisors are staying in the Syrian Defense Ministry's facilities in Damascus and

"in the event of a threat to our military servicemen's lives, Russia's Armed Forces will take retaliatory measures to target both the missiles and their delivery vehicles."

The situation is clearly dangerous with risk of sliding into international conflict and even WW3. If that happens, it would mean the demise of civilization. All of this so that the West can continue supporting the sectarian armed groups seeking to overthrow the Assad government ... in violation of international law and the UN Charter.

France's President Macron raised the stakes for war in Syria by claiming to have proof chemical weapons were used by the "regime" last weekend. Macron is thus making a joint military strike on Syria with the US more likely.

From the outset of the dubious chemical weapons incident on April 7 in the city of Douma, near the Syrian capital Damascus, US President Donald Trump has relied heavily on his French counterpart for guidance on what military action to take.

Bloomberg has described Emmanuel Macron as Trump's "go-to guy in Europe." The American president is said to trust Macron more than any other European leader. When the news of the alleged chemical weapons incident broke, it was Macron whom Trump phoned first - much to the chagrin of the British and their presumed "special relationship" with Washington.

In a series of follow-up calls, the French reportedly exchanged intelligence with the White House to show that chemical munitions had been used against civilians by the Syrian government forces of President Bashar Assad. It seems it was due to the French lead that Trump adopted such a bellicose position, blaming "animal Assad" and Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the "atrocity."

The US and its allies' allegations of a chemical attack by Syrian government forces near Damascus are based on speculation since the US doesn't have any intelligence assets on the ground, former CIA analyst John Kiriakou told RT.

"On the ground the intelligence is non-existent, we don't have an embassy there anymore, we don't have any kind of official or formal presence there anymore, and... what the military collects remotely can only go so far," Kiriakou, a former CIA officer-turned whistleblower, told RT.

The Pentagon earlier implied that it has some intelligence on hand, including of its own, which it has to look into before a final decision on Syria can be made. "We're still assessing the intelligence - ourselves and our allies," US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday.

Kiriakou doubts that any of the countries that have leveled accusations against Syria possess any clear intelligence. For instance, British PM Theresa May, he said, chose to use reservations, saying, "all indications point to" the Syrian government culpability instead of explicitly attributing the blame to Damascus.

"That tells me that there is no intelligence that says: this is what happened, this is who did it."

Facing widespread opposition from Democrats over his political beliefs, Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump's nominee to take over the State Department, took a hard line on Russia in his confirmation hearing.

Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee grilled the former congressman from Kansas, who headed the CIA for the past 15 months, about his beliefs regarding gay marriage, Muslims, abortion, etc. They did not, however, object to his positions on Russia, which were in line with those laid out by Hillary Clinton after her loss to Trump in the 2016 presidential election.

Pompeo described Russia as "a danger to our country" and blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for any "bad blood" between Washington and Moscow. He also vowed to "confront [the Russians] at every vector, cyber, economic, et cetera. We need to make sure Putin doesn't succeed."

When Clinton's former running mate Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) asked if the US should back off from regime change and democracy promotion because Russia or another country might feel justified to engage in the same policies, Pompeo responded with a variant of

"it's different when we do it. This is a unique, exceptional country," he said. "Russia is unique, but not exceptional. I mean, look at the election meddling, right?" Pompeo continued, to grins from Senate Democrats. "The words 'democracy promotion' and 'Vladimir Putin' are unlikely to be used in the same sentence, paragraph, or document - maybe the same century." The US should be proud of the "way we engage with the peoples of the world," which is "different in kind" from how Russia does things, Pompeo continued.

US President Donald Trump has ordered top administration officials to "negotiate entry" back into the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, the deal he pulled out of last year, describing it as a "horrible" one.

The apparent U-turn in Donald Trump's stance on the agreement was announced by Republican senators, following a meeting at the White House on Thursday. The President instructed White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to explore the options to re-join the deal.

"The best thing the United States can do to push back against Chinese cheating now is to lead the other eleven Pacific nations that believe in free trade and the rule of law. It is good news that today the President directed Larry Kudlow and Ambassador Lighthizer to negotiate U.S. entry into TPP,"

Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) said in a statement. The US president said: "Larry, go get it done,"while instructing the official, Sasse told reporters.

The TPP was a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States, negotiated in the mid-2000s and signed in February 2016. It never entered force, as most signatories failed to ratify it in time.

US Secretary of Defense James Mattis reiterated that the Pentagon still has no independent evidence to confirm that there was a chemical weapons attack in Syria last week, but said he personally believes there was one.

"I believe there was a chemical attack. We are looking for the actual evidence," the secretary told lawmakers on Thursday.

He added that the fact-finding mission by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) may arrive at the site of the alleged attack in the town of Douma "within a week," but stressed that the inspectors' mandate would be limited to establishing whether chemical weapons were used at the location or not. He accused Russia and Syria of obstructing the probe, despite Syria inviting the OPCW inspectors there in the first place.

"As each day goes by - you know it's an impersistent gas - it becomes more and more difficult to confirm it," he said.