Tag: president

Former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday said President Donald Trump wanted him fired because of his investigation into possible obstruction of justice as part of the Russia investigation. Asked at a U.S. House hearing whether Trump wanted Mueller fired for investigating possible obstruction of justice by Trump or his associates, Mueller referred to his report on the investigation and replied: "That's what it says in the report, yes. I stand by the report." Mueller's first hearing before the House...

The 16-year-old Swedish environmentalist Greta Thunberg is to address the French parliament on Tuesday afternoon but she is likely to get a frosty reaction from a group of right-wing MPs. On Saturday, Guillaume Larrivé, presidential candidate of Les Républicains, called on his colleagues to "boycott" Thunberg’s speech at the National Assembly. “We don't need apocalyptic gurus to fight climate change intelligently, we need scientific progress and political courage.” Republican Julien Aubert also announced that he would not show up to “applaud the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday defended the integrity of his Russia investigation during a dramatic congressional hearing and reiterated that he had not cleared President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice or, as the president has said, totally exonerated Trump. Mueller, answering questions publicly for the first time on his inquiry, appeared for eagerly anticipated testimony at the first of two back-to-back televised congressional hearings that carry high stakes for Trump and Democrats...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday defended the integrity of his Russia investigation during a dramatic congressional hearing and reiterated that he had not cleared President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice or, as the president has said, totally exonerated Trump. Mueller appeared for eagerly anticipated testimony at the first of two back-to-back congressional hearings that carry high stakes for Trump and Democrats who are split between impeaching him or moving on to the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller arrived on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to testify at a pair of televised hearings that carry high stakes for President Donald Trump and Democrats who are split between impeaching him or moving on to the 2020 election. Mueller, whose inquiry detailed extensive contacts between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia at a time when Moscow was interfering in the 2016 election with hacking and propaganda, is set to appear beginning at...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday said in dramatic U.S. congressional testimony he had not exonerated President Donald Trump of obstruction of justice and defended the integrity of his inquiry under repeated attacks by conservative Republican allies of the president. Mueller initially testified he would have sought to indict Trump were it not for a Justice Department policy against charging a sitting president. But hours later he corrected himself and said “we did not reach...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Claiming “victory” in two high-profile hearings on Wednesday with former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives vowed to push forward with their investigations of President Donald Trump. Court action could come as soon as Thursday or Friday, with the Democrats’ determination pointing to many more months of digging by lawmakers into Trump, his presidency and private business interests. But the outlook for impeachment proceedings seemed as remote as ever even...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A day before Robert Mueller’s eagerly anticipated congressional testimony, a senior Democratic U.S. lawmaker on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump’s Justice Department of arrogance in instructing the former special counsel to limit the scope of his remarks and said it lacked the authority for such a directive. On Wednesday, Mueller is scheduled to appear at back-to-back hearings before the Democratic-led House of Representatives Judiciary and Intelligence committees to discuss his inquiry into Russia’s role in the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller emphasized on Wednesday he had not exonerated Donald Trump of obstruction of justice, as the president has claimed, but his long-awaited congressional testimony did little to add momentum to any Democratic impeachment ambitions and Trump heartily declared victory. In seven hours of congressional testimony, Mueller accused Trump of not always being truthful, called his support for the 2016 release of stolen Democratic emails “problematic” and said Russia would again try to...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in San Francisco on Wednesday stopped the Trump administration from enforcing a new rule that would bar almost all asylum applications at the U.S.-Mexico border. Judge Jon Tigar in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California issued a preliminary injunction blocking the rule, enacted on July 16, that would require asylum-seekers to first pursue safe haven in a third country through which they had traveled on their way to...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday said U.S. President Donald Trump and his adult children must face part of a lawsuit alleging they used their family name to promote sham marketing opportunities, but dismissed racketeering claims at the center of the case. U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan said the plaintiffs, including investors in a Trump-endorsed business called American Communications Network, could pursue state law-based claims of fraud, false advertising and unfair competition. But the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday sued to block a U.S. House of Representatives committee from obtaining his New York state tax returns, with his lawyer accusing the Democratic-controlled panel of “presidential harassment.” In a filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Trump’s lawyers argued that a law passed by New York state earlier this month that would give the House Ways and Means Committee access to the president’s state tax returns violates...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate will vote within days on whether to override President Donald Trump’s vetoes of legislation to block the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Wednesday. McConnell said the Senate would hold the vote before Aug. 2, when lawmakers leave Washington for a five-week-long recess. The three resolutions of disapproval are not expected to garner the two-thirds majority in the 100-member Senate...

(Reuters) - A new U.S. rule aimed at slashing the number of asylum cases at the southern border with Mexico faces a court test on Wednesday when a federal judge will hear arguments about whether to block the measure pending trial. Groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union sued President Donald Trump’s administration after it issued a so-called interim final rule on July 16 that would require asylum-seekers to first pursue safe haven in a third country through...