America is waiting for the testimony of fired FBI Director James Comey next week since it could make or break the five-month-old trump administration. However, U.S. President Donald Trump can use his executive privilege to prevent government employees from sharing information.
Gray area
Kellyanne Conway, the senior adviser to the White House, said Trump might allow Comey to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee. She was quoted as saying that the White House, with the rest of the world, will be watching Comey’s testimony, Reuters reported.
The hint that Trump would not block Comey’s testimony could be because he is no longer with FBI, and as a private citizen, is not covered by the president’s executive privilege. Legal experts pointed out the use of the privilege could be questioned in court, and it is uncertain if the conversation between Comey and Trump could be the subject of the executive privilege. Despite the gray area, Conway is not ruling out the president will use the executive privilege since, in the end, it is Trump who will decide on it.
Putin to the rescue
The Congressional investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. election confirms the international perception that Russia interferes in national elections. The latest to complain was new French President Emmanuel Macron who publicly shamed Russian President Vladimir Putin in a press conference in Marseilles due to the alleged release by two state-run news outlets of fake news to destroy Macron’s campaign.
Putin denied Russia had a hand in the recent French election, but he conceded on Thursday that some Russians might have meddled in the U.S. election on their own. However, on Friday, the former KGB spy went back to defend his ex-BFF when he said perhaps Trump run a better campaign than rival Hillary Clinton to explain the billionaire’s unexpected poll victor.
Fake evidence
Putin even pointed back the blame on U.S. intelligence agencies which are currently probing the link between Russian diplomats and members of the Trump campaign. The Russian president raised the possibility that the intelligence agencies used fake evidence alleging Moscow agents hacked the Democratic Party.
The Russian president said at the St.
Petersburg International Economic Forum that the reports of Russian hacking are just harmful gossip which damages international relations and the global economy. Putin claimed he reviewed the U.S. intelligence reports and concluded it had no meaningful evidence. It based the conclusions on assumptions, he claimed.
Putin is expected to meet Trump in July at the G20 in Hamburg, Germany. He is said to be keen on fixing the damaged Moscow-Washington relationship caused by the U.S. air strike on Syria.
