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Trump walks back sanctions against Russia, contradicting Nikki Haley

President Trump is walking back plans to impose new economic sanctions against Russia announced Sunday by U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. The planned sanctions were an attempt to punish Russia for its support of Syrian President Bashar Assad after a chemical weapons attack earlier this month. {"1222314563954":{"mpxId":"1222314563954","canonical_url":"https://www.today.com/video/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","canonicalUrl":"https://www.today.com/video/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","legacy_url":"https://www.today.com/video/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","playerUrl":"https://www.today.com/offsite/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","ampPlayerUrl":"https://player.today.com/offsite/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","relatedLink":"","sentiment":"Positive","shortUrl":"https://www.today.com/video/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","description":"Daughter of former New York Gov. George Pataki, Allison Pataki details how her life was changed by her husband’s stroke in her new memoir, “Beauty in the Broken Places.” TODAY’s Jenna Bush Hager reports.","title":"How author Allison Pataki’s life was changed by her husband’s stroke","thumbnail":"https://media4.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/201804/tdy_health_jenna_stroke_180430_1920x1080.today-vid-rail.jpg","socialTitle":"How author Allison Pataki’s life was changed by her husband’s stroke","seoHeadline":"How author Allison Pataki’s life was changed by her husband’s 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five years after her escape from the Cleveland home of Ariel Castro, who held her and two others captive for over a decade, Michelle Knight (now known as Lily Rose Lee) joins Megyn Kelly TODAY to talk about her ordeal and her new memoir, “Life After Darkness.” She talks about her recent marriage and her prospects for having a child.","title":"Cleveland kidnapping survivor Michelle Knight talks about new life, marriage","thumbnail":"https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Video/201804/tdy_mk_news_michelle_knight_180430.today-vid-rail.jpg","socialTitle":"Cleveland kidnapping survivor Michelle Knight talks about new life, marriage","seoHeadline":"Cleveland kidnapping survivor Michelle Knight talks about new life, 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Amid the historic developments formally ending the Korean War, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has promised to close down a nuclear test site in May. NBC’s Keir Simmons reports for TODAY from London. {"1222314563954":{"mpxId":"1222314563954","canonical_url":"https://www.today.com/video/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","canonicalUrl":"https://www.today.com/video/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","legacy_url":"https://www.today.com/video/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","playerUrl":"https://www.today.com/offsite/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","ampPlayerUrl":"https://player.today.com/offsite/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","relatedLink":"","sentiment":"Positive","shortUrl":"https://www.today.com/video/how-author-allison-pataki-s-life-was-changed-by-her-husband-s-stroke-1222314563954","description":"Daughter of former New York Gov. 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As Malcolm Forbes Baldwin, the acting chairman of the president’s Council for Environmental Quality, told industry executives in 1981, “There can be no more important or conservative concern than the protection of the globe itself.”

Among those who called for urgent, immediate and far-reaching climate policy were Senators John Chafee, Robert Stafford and David Durenberger; the E.P.A. administrator, William K. Reilly; and, during his campaign for president, George H.W. Bush.

It was understood that action would have to come immediately. At the start of the 1980s, scientists within the federal government predicted that conclusive evidence of warming would appear on the global temperature record by the end of the decade, at which point it would be too late to avoid disaster.

Comey Testimony a Prism for Viewing American Politics

n bars, V.F.W. halls, offices and living rooms, Americans were riveted by the testimony of James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, a moment of high drama about the conduct of President Trump, the workings of American democracy and the threats of Russian involvement in the presidential election

“He’s causing his own demise,” said Chad Cunningham, 45, an Air Force veteran who has voted for Republicans and Democrats but sat out the last presidential election. “He’s not doing anything for this country except embarrassing us.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday slammed the Trump administration's move to restrict coronavirus task force members from testifying before Congress this month.

The White House issued a memo seeking to limit task force members' hearing appearances after recently blocking Dr. Anthony Fauci from testifying before a House subcommittee this week. Fauci is still expected to appear before a Republican-led Senate committee later this month.

"For primary response departments, including HHS, DHS, and State, in order to preserve department-wide resources, no more than one COVID-related hearing should be agreed to with the department's primary House and Senate authorizing committee and appropriations subcommittee in the month of May, for a total of no more than four COVID-related hearings department-wide," the memo states.

Trump Accuses Comey of Lying to Congress

President Donald Trump tweeted Friday morning that James Comey's testimony gave him "total and complete vindication," and he accused the former FBI director of lying under oath. "Despite so many false statements and lies, total and complete vindication," he tweeted. "..and WOW, Comey is a leaker!"

But Kasowitz simultaneously cheered Comey's confirmation that he had told Trump that Trump was not personally under investigation by the FBI and said his testimony "makes clear that the president never sought to impede the investigation into attempted Russian interference in the 2016 election."

Is Trump closer to obstruction of justice?

James Comey may not have added much new detail in testimony on Thursday about his one-to-one meetings with Donald Trump but he did add something: he set the scene, and law professors say that could be a missing piece in an obstruction of justice case against the president.

We knew that already - Mr Comey made details of the meeting public several weeks ago - and Committee Republicans sought on Thursday to paint it as an innocent exchange: "I hope" was not an instruction, they said.

A Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday that testimony he heard from Bill Taylor, the top US diplomat in Ukraine, about President Donald Trump's dealings with the country was "startling" and the most "detailed (and) specific" he's heard so far in the impeachment inquiry. "Well, John, it was pretty startling testimony. You know, when the ambassador got done with his opening statement -- which is now public so we can talk about it under the rules -- you could hear a pin drop in the room," Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut told CNN's John Berman on "New Day."

On Tuesday, Taylor testified before three House committees that he had been told Trump would withhold military aid to Ukraine until it publicly declared an investigation would be launched that included Burisma, the company whose board Joe Biden's son Hunter sat on, and Ukraine's alleged involvement in the 2016 election, according to a copy of Taylor's opening statement obtained by CNN

"I know we're having this long conversation about what the definition of a quid pro quo is, but there's no question from his testimony that everything in the words of Ambassador (to the European Union Gordon) Sondland are contingent on the Ukrainians agreeing to go after Burisma, agreeing to go after Biden and all the other sort of things they asked for," Himes said on Wednesday.

The top US diplomat in Ukraine, Bill Taylor, testified Tuesday that he had been told President Donald Trump would withhold military aid to the country until it publicly declared investigations would be launched that could help his reelection chances — including into former Vice President Joe Biden, according to a copy of Taylor's opening statement obtained by CNN.

Taylor's explosive testimony is likely to add fuel to Democrats' impeachment inquiry into Trump and Ukraine, with Democratic lawmakers leaving the closed door session before three House committees declaring Taylor's testimony was damning for the President. The testimony also undercuts White House assertions that there was no "quid pro quo" tying security assistance with the opening of an investigation, as Taylor says he was told repeatedly that the two were linked.

Taylor testified that US Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland told him he'd made a mistake by telling the Ukrainian officials that a White House meeting with Zelensky "was dependent on a public announcement of the investigations."

Since he took office, President Donald Trump has frequently claimed a “deep state” is trying to sabotage his presidency, denouncing a supposed corrupt conspiracy in the U.S.

Articles of Impeachment against Trump may be drafted on the testimony of career bureaucrats, relying on routine skills built over decades of public service. It’s their credibility, expertise, and meticulous records that may prove the most damaging to a president who has long disparaged such discipline.

Taylor said he was told that Trump would withhold the aid until the country’s leaders publicly announced investigations into Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, and into unsubstantiated allegations of Ukrainian collusion with Democrats in the 2016 election

Ten years ago, I left my job as a tenured university professor to work as an intelligence analyst for the federal government, primarily in the State Department but with an intervening tour at the National Intelligence Council

My focus was on the impact of environmental and climate change on national security, a growing concern of the military and intelligence communities

I always appreciated the apolitical nature of the work. Our job in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research was to generate intelligence analysis buttressed by the best information available, without regard to political considerations

WASHINGTON ― When it comes to President Donald Trump and Russian interference in the election, the issue is the cover-up, not the crime. That’s the takeaway from former FBI Director James Comey’s dramatic testimony before Congress on Thursday

By firing Comey, Trump created a powerful enemy no longer entirely constrained by the traditions of the FBI or the desire to keep his job. Compounding their error, the Trump administration and the president himself angered Comey with what Comey called their “shifting explanations” for his firing that left him “confused” and “concerned.”

The American people should have full confidence in Mueller, who preceded Comey as head of the FBI, Comey said Thursday. Mueller, he said, is a straight shooter who will “turn over all the rocks” in the course of the investigation. Comey added that Mueller would never have agreed to become special counsel last month “if he wasn’t going to get full independence.”

Bill Taylor, currently the top official at the US Embassy in Ukraine, will get his moment before congressional investigators Tuesday. Taylor was one of the officials whose text messages were released by House Democrats earlier this month. His explanation for why he said he felt the US was trading foreign aid to Ukraine for political favors to the President could be a key piece of evidence for House investigators.As investigators build their case for impeachment against President Donald Trump, half of Americans now say Trump should be impeached and removed from office, according to a newly released CNN poll. That's a new high in CNN polling on the topic.

Kurt Volker handed over the text messages that showed concern about a quid pro quo.Marie Yovanovitch said she was targeted by Rudy Giuliani and stood up for foreign service officers.Fiona Hill said that her boss, former national security adviser John Bolton, compared the shadow diplomacy being done on President Donald Trump's behalf to a "drug deal."George Kent, according to The Washington Post, said Trump soured on Ukraine after talking to Russia's Vladimir Putin and Hungary's Viktor Orban. He also backed up Yovanovitch and said he lit flares in 2015 about Hunter Biden.Gordon Sondland said Trump told him to work with Giuliani on Ukraine.

Taylor is expected to be asked about the text messages he sent US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland in September, before the whistleblower complaint was released.

When the House of Representatives launched its impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump over the Ukraine scandal, the White House decried it as "invalid" and "baseless," and ordered some subpoenaed officials not to testify to Congress. This obstructionist strategy worked once before, as the White House effectively stonewalled the House Judiciary Committee's investigation of Robert Mueller's findings on Russian election interference by instructing executive branch employees not to comply with subpoenas.

Former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch defied the White House's instruction to remain silent and instead testified to the House about the efforts of Trump's counsel, Rudy Giuliani, to have her removed from her post; one House member said she gave a "gripping and emotional account of presidential abuse of power."

Fiona Hill, Trump's former top Russia adviser, testified White House officials were alarmed by Trump's potentially illegal conduct toward Ukraine even before the July 25 call with President Volodymyr Zelensky. And Ambassador Gordon Sondland testified Trump ordered diplomatic professionals to deal with Ukraine through Giuliani, which left Sondland "disappointed" -- particularly when he discovered (later, he claimed) that Giuliani's agenda included prompting Ukraine to investigate Trump's political rivals.

onald Trump has shown little taste for military adventure. He avoided the draft in Vietnam. He fell out with his once-beloved generals. He stunned the world by pulling troops out of Syria and abandoning America’s Kurdish allies.

the president has shown how he and his allies intend to fight impeachment: with a blitzkrieg aimed at deflecting, distracting and discrediting. What he lacks in coherent strategy, he makes up for in shock and awe.

most Republicans are still willing to march behind him, not by defending what many see as indefensible – the president’s offer of a quid pro quo to Ukraine – but by throwing sand into the gears of the impeachment process. With the help of Fox News, they are set to intensify attacks on the legitimacy of the inquiry itself, demonising its leaders and sowing doubt wherever possible.

Some of Parnas’s claims here deserve particular scrutiny, especially those not backed by documentary evidence.

His testimony was self-interested: He both had reasons to exact personal revenge on Trump, and hoped that his cooperation might induce authorities to lighten his sentence. All of this was true, but Cohen (like Parnas) brought documents to back up his claims, and his testimony has largely been substantiated since.

the defense is troubling even if true. If Cohen and Parnas are such obvious villains, how is it that they came to be close to the president, putatively working as part of his legal teams? The same question applies to any number of other criminals, con men, and charlatans we’ve come to know over the past four years as Trump associates.

The man, Farea al-Muslimi, said his friends and neighbors used to know of the United States primarily through “my stories of the wonderful experiences I had” here. “Now, however, when they think of America, they think of the fear they feel at the drones over their heads. What the violent militants had failed to achieve, one drone strike accomplished in an instant.” A man killed in the strike was well known locally, Mr. Muslimi also asserted, and could easily have been arrested by Yemeni forces.

Retired Col. Martha McSally of the Air Force said that drones offered more “oversight and precision” because they could hover over a target, with the ability to abort a strike until the last second, and with the “chain of command” and lawyers watching. She also said that even when it appeared possible to arrest someone rather than killing him, there were risks of civilian casualties in “capture missions,” too. Such operations also take longer to plan, and create the risk that an American commando might be killed or captured, she said.

Jeff Sessions Wanted to ‘Drop the Case’ Against KKK Lynching, Attorney Testified

they’re sure to include questions that were raised when he was nominated for a federal judgeship in 1986. His confirmation was derailed largely by the testimony of Thomas Figures, an assistant U.S. attorney in Alabama when Sessions was U.S. attorney.

Sessions and his supporters, then as now, defend his civil rights record based on several cases to which Figures was also assigned, including the conviction of Henry Hays for the 1981 murder by lynching of a Donald Figures.

Ms. Pao contends she was discriminated against.

What is really under examination in this trial is the question of why there are so few women in leadership positions in Silicon Valley. At stake is any hope that the tech world can claim to be a progressive place, or even a fair one.

Were women simply not interested in becoming venture capitalists, “or did the venture capital world fight them off?”

Representative John Sarbanes, Democrat of Maryland and lead sponsor of The Government by the People Act, described the current post-Citizens United reform strategy as “the empowerment approach” as opposed to a “rules based approach.

“The thing about money is that it always seems to find a way around the rules,” Sarbanes said. A “power-based reform” seeks to “match power with power” instead

The first is a shift away from candidate dependence on PACs and other special interest sources and an increase in the amount of money politicians raise from their own constituents.

Republicans on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, in their frantic effort to discredit Mr. Cohen, went after him while steadfastly ignoring the actual evidence he produced

in the most transparent and ham-handed way, they saw no evil and heard no evil, unless it involved Mr. Cohen. Republicans on the committee tried to destroy the credibility of his testimony, not because they believe that his testimony is false, but because they fear it is true.

By now Republicans must know, deep in their hearts, that Mr. Cohen’s portrayal of Mr. Trump as a “racist,” “a con man” and “a cheat” is spot on.