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Trump is morally unfit to be president, says ex-FBI chief

Agencies
April 16, 2018

Washington, Apr 16: Former FBI Director James Comey said in his first televised interview since being fired that he believed Donald Trump was "morally unfit to be president," and that it was "possible" that the Russians had material that could be used to blackmail him.

In a wide-ranging conversation with George Stephanopoulos broadcast on ABC late Sunday, Comey took aim at Trump in no uncertain terms, comparing his administration to a mafia family, likening his presidency to a forest fire and asserting there was evidence that he had committed a crime.

He said, curiously, that he would not favor impeaching Trump to remove him from office, because that "would let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe they're duty-bound to do directly" - meaning through elections. But he made clear his view of whether Trump was fit to hold the position.

"This president does not reflect the values of this country," Comey said.

The interview airs just days before Comey is set to release a new book and embark on a media tour to promote it. Much of what Comey said to Stephanopoulos mirrors what he wrote, although his televised, extemporaneous comments are sure to attract the attention of the president, who is an avid TV viewer.

On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted criticism of Comey, denying some of Comey's allegations and alleging that Comey revealed classified information and lied to Congress.

"Slippery James Comey, a man who always ends up badly and out of whack (he is not smart!), will go down as the WORST FBI Director in history, by far!" Trump wrote.

The Washington Post was allowed to review a complete transcript of the Comey interview, which lasted nearly five hours.

As he did in his book, Comey detailed in the interview Trump's fixation on unproven allegations that he watched prostitutes urinate on one another in a Moscow hotel in 2013, asserting that Trump at one point said he was contemplating ordering Comey to investigate and disprove the incident because he did not want "even a 1 percent chance" that his wife, first lady Melania Trump, would believe it happened.

Comey said that struck him as odd. "I remember thinking, 'How could your wife think there's a 1 percent chance you were with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow?' " he said, adding that his assessment was it's possible Trump is guilty of the accusation.

"I honestly never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I don't know whether the current president of the United States was with prostitutes peeing on each other in Moscow in 2013," Comey said. "It's possible, but I don't know."

Comey said it was possible, too, that the Russians might have material that could be used to blackmail Trump.

"Do you think the Russians have something on Donald Trump?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"I think it's possible. I don't know. These are more words I never thought I'd utter about a president of the United States, but it's possible," Comey responded.

Comey described in great detail several conversations he had with Trump, telling Stephanopoulos of how the president asked for his loyalty and how that interaction and others reminded him of his time as a prosecutor in New York pursuing mob families, for whom loyalty to the boss and the organization were the only values that mattered.

"It's the family, the family, the family, the family," Comey said.

Trump has denied asking for Comey's loyalty.

Comey offered a blunt assessment of a conversation with Trump on Feb. 14, 2017, during which Comey maintains the president said of an investigation the FBI was conducting into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, "I hope you can let it go." Trump disputes Comey's account.

"With that direction, was President Trump obstructing justice?" Stephanopoulos asked.

 "Possibly," Comey responded. "I mean, it's certainly some evidence of obstruction of justice. That something really important just happened and that I was a little - another one of those outta-body experiences, like, 'Really? The president just kicked out the attorney general to ask me to drop a criminal investigation.' Wow, the world continues to go crazy."

Comey even took aim at Trump's personal appearance, remarking how his "tie was too long, as it always is" and that his face "looked slightly orange up close with small white - half moons under his eyes, which I assume are from tanning goggles."

The former FBI boss acknowledged he had grave misgivings about the Trump presidency even before it began.

In a meeting with President Barack Obama in the last days of his administration, Comey says he told the president: "I dread the next four years. But in many ways, I feel great pressure to stay to try and protect the institution I lead."

While Trump bore the brunt of his criticism, Comey also took aim at others - including Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whom Trump has been contemplating removing from his post.

Comey said Rosenstein had "acted dishonorably" in authoring a memo lambasting Comey's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she was secretary of state. Trump cited the memo in firing Comey, and Comey said he came to believe Rosenstein was "part of the family now. I can't trust him."

He later said, though, that he did not believe Rosenstein would fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller if ordered by Trump to do so, and that Rosenstein "has an opportunity in overseeing Bob Mueller to restore some of his professional reputation."

As he has in the past, Comey offered a vigorous defense of his handling of the Clinton email investigation.

Parts of the interview are likely to revive the fury of Clinton supporters who think he cost her the presidency by reopening the email investigation less than two weeks before the election.

When Stephanopoulos asked him if the decision was "influenced by your assumption that Hillary Clinton was going to win," Comey replied: "It must have been. I don't remember consciously thinking about that, but it must have been. 'Cause I was operating in a world where Hillary Clinton was going to beat Donald Trump."

He also said he was sorry for how he handled the first announcement in July 2016 that he was closing the Clinton email probe without seeking any charges. He says he agrees now with the criticism that his remarks muddied important issues.

"I'm sorry that I caused all kinds of confusion and pain with the way I described her conduct that led people into all kinds of side roads," Comey said.

He also spoke at length about his complicated relationship with former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. Previously, Comey's defenders have argued that a Russian intelligence document the FBI received in early 2016 suggesting Lynch would protect Clinton in some fashion from the email probe meant that he had to cut her out of the final decision-making process.

But The Washington Post has reported that many FBI officials viewed the allegation against Lynch as dubious at best - and possibly one of Russia's very first disinformation efforts during the 2016 campaign.

Comey said he didn't believe the allegation, but feared that if it ever came out, it would destroy the credibility of the Justice Department and the FBI.

"There was material that I knew someday, when it's declassified, and I thought that would be decades in the future, would cause historians to wonder, 'Hmm, was there some strange business goin' on there? Was Loretta Lynch somehow carrying water for the campaign and controlling what the FBI did?' "

So partly for that reason, he said, Comey decided to announce on his own his recommendation that no charges be filed in the Clinton case.

Throughout the interview, Comey stressed the importance of telling the truth, a theme in his book. He described being initially reluctant to prosecute Martha Stewart for lying to investigators, but then recalled a case when he was a federal prosecutor in Richmond and had charged a minister with the same thing.

"And there once was a day when people were afraid of goin' to hell if they took an oath in the name of God and violated it. We've drifted away from that day. And so in its place has to be a fear that if you lie and the government can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt, they will prosecute you in order to send a message to all the others who might be called upon to give evidence," Comey said. "We must prosecute people who lie in the middle of an investigation."

The comments come a day after the Justice Department inspector general released a report accusing Andrew McCabe, Comey's former deputy, of lying repeatedly as they investigated a media disclosure he had authorized. The inspector general says McCabe even lied to Comey, though McCabe disputes Comey's account.

After he was fired, Comey said, Trump issued an order that he was not to be allowed back in the FBI building, even to retrieve his belongings. His firing came as Comey was visiting the FBI office in Los Angeles, and for a brief moment it wasn't even clear if he would be allowed to ride on the government plane back to Washington.

When he did get on the plane, he decided to open a bottle of wine. "I drank red wine from a paper cup and just looked out at the lights of the country I love so much as we flew home," he said.

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News Network
May 27,2020

Geneva, May 27: The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide has increased by nearly 100,000 over the past 24 hours to surpass 5.4 million, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said.

According to the WHO, the global case tally currently stands at 5,404,512 -- a rise by 99,780 over the past day.

The death count worldwide amounts to 343,514 -- an increase by 1,486.

Most cases of infection are recorded in the Americas -- 2,454,452, with 143,739 deaths.

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News Network
April 2,2020

United Nations, Apr 2: The global economy could shrink by up to one per cent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a reversal from the previous forecast of 2.5 per cent growth, the UN has said, warning that it may contract even further if restrictions on the economic activities are extended without adequate fiscal responses.

The analysis by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) said the COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting global supply chains and international trade. With nearly 100 countries closing national borders during the past month, the movement of people and tourism flows have come to a screeching halt.

"Millions of workers in these countries are facing the bleak prospect of losing their jobs. Governments are considering and rolling out large stimulus packages to avert a sharp downturn of their economies which could potentially plunge the global economy into a deep recession. In the worst-case scenario, the world economy could contract by 0.9 per cent in 2020," the DESA said, adding that the world economy had contracted by 1.7 per cent during the global financial crisis in 2009.

It added that the contraction could be even higher if governments fail to provide income support and help boost consumer spending.

The analysis noted that before the outbreak of the COVID-19, world output was expected to expand at a modest pace of 2.5 per cent in 2020, as reported in the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2020.

Taking into account rapidly changing economic conditions, the UN DESA's World Economic Forecasting Model has estimated best and worst-case scenarios for global growth in 2020.

In the best-case scenario with moderate declines in private consumption, investment and exports and offsetting increases in government spending in the G-7 countries and China global growth would fall to 1.2 per cent in 2020.

"In the worst-case scenario, the global output would contract by 0.9 per cent instead of growing by 2.5 per cent in 2020," it said, adding that the scenario is based on demand-side shocks of different magnitudes to China, Japan, South Korea, the US and the EU, as well as an oil price decline of 50 per cent against our baseline of USD 61 per barrel.

The severity of the economic impact will largely depend on two factors - the duration of restrictions on the movement of people and economic activities in major economies; and the actual size and efficacy of fiscal responses to the crisis.

A well-designed fiscal stimulus package, prioritising health spending to contain the spread of the virus and providing income support to households most affected by the pandemic would help to minimise the likelihood of a deep economic recession, it said.

According to the forecast, lockdowns in Europe and North America are hitting the service sector hard, particularly industries that involve physical interactions such as retail trade, leisure and hospitality, recreation and transportation services. Collectively, such industries account for more than a quarter of all jobs in these economies.

The DESA said as businesses lose revenue, unemployment is likely to increase sharply, transforming a supply-side shock to a wider demand-side shock for the economy.

Against this backdrop, the UN-DESA is joining a chorus of voices across the UN system calling for well-designed fiscal stimulus packages which prioritize health spending and support households most affected by the pandemic.

Urgent and bold policy measures are needed, not only to contain the pandemic and save lives, but also to protect the most vulnerable in our societies from economic ruin and to sustain economic growth and financial stability, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Liu Zhenmin said.

The analysis also warns that the adverse effects of prolonged economic restrictions in developed economies will soon spill over to developing countries via trade and investment channels.

A sharp decline in consumer spending in the European Union and the United States will reduce imports of consumer goods from developing countries.

Developing countries, particularly those dependent on tourism and commodity exports, face heightened economic risks. Global manufacturing production could contract significantly, and the plummeting number of travellers is likely to hurt the tourism sector in small island developing States, which employs millions of low-skilled workers, it said.

Meanwhile, the decline in commodity-related revenues and a reversal of capital flows are increasing the likelihood of debt distress for many nations. Governments may be forced to curtail public expenditure at a time when they need to ramp up spending to contain the pandemic and support consumption and investment.

UN Chief Economist and Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development Elliot Harris said the collective goal must be a resilient recovery which puts the planet back on a sustainable track. We must not lose sight how it is affecting the most vulnerable population and what that means for sustainable development, he said.

The alarms raised by UN-DESA echo another report, released on March 31, in which UN experts issued a broad appeal for a large-scale, coordinated, comprehensive multilateral response amounting to at least 10 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP).

According to estimates by the Johns Hopkins University, confirmed coronavirus cases across the world now stand at over 932,600 and over 42,000 deaths.

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News Network
July 1,2020

As Peru begins to ease its strict coronavirus lockdown, the country's biggest LGBTQ nightclub opened its doors on Tuesday, but there will be no nighttime revellers; its dance floor will instead be filled with shelves stocked with groceries.

Instead of slinging cocktails at the bar or dancing on stage, ValeTodo Downtown's famed staff of drag queens will sell customers daily household products as the space reopens as a market while nightclubs are ordered to remain closed.

The Peruvian government will lift the lockdown in most regions of the country at the beginning of July but will keep borders closed, as well as nightclubs and bars.

The lockdown has been a struggle for the club's 120 employees like drag queen Belaluh McQueen. Her life completely changed when the government announced the quarantine. Her nights were spent at home, rather than performing as a dancer at the club in vivid-coloured costumes.

"I was very depressed because I have been doing this art for years, but you have to adapt to new challenges for the future," said McQueen, who is identified by her stage name.

Now McQueen is back to work as a grocery store employee, wearing a sequined suit, high heels and a mask. A DJ will play club music as patrons shop. "We have a new job opportunity," McQueen added.

Renamed as Downtown Market, the club, which has been a mainstay hallmark of the local LGBTQ community, ushered in its reopening with an inauguration ceremony.

"Before, I used to come here to dance and have a good time, but now we come to buy," said Alexandra Herrera, a regular attendee of the club. "The thing is to reinvent yourself."

The club's general manager, Claudia Achuy, said that the pandemic impacted the heart of Lima nightlife, but she chose to reopen as a market rather than risk cutting staff. "If we had just stayed as a nightclub we did not have a close horizon or a way of working," Achuy said.

Peru's confirmed coronavirus cases rose to 282,364 with 9,504 associated deaths on Monday, according to government data. It has the second-highest outbreak in Latin America after Brazil, according to a Reuters tally.

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