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THE REPUBLICAN LEADER of the House investigation into Russian interference in the US election stepped aside today after being criticized for compromising the probe in visits to the White House.
Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, had sought to turn the investigation away from Russia and toward President Donald Trump’s allegations that the previous Obama administration had abused its powers by spying on Trump and his advisers.
Rancor over this, and over Nunes’s sharing top secret intelligence reports with Trump but not members of his own committee, had driven the committee’s probe to a halt.
The committee was originally tasked with examining how Russia interfered in last year’s presidential campaign and whether any Trump aides or associates collaborated with Moscow.
Democrats accused Nunes of seeking to protect Trump by focusing on allegations of abuse by president Barack Obama’s staff.
Trump himself has repeatedly branded the idea that Russia may have helped him to victory in the November election as “fake news,” while demanding attention to whether Obama staff combed top secret intercepts to dig up information on Trump’s team.
Nunes said he was temporarily stepping aside from the probe to answer allegations made to Congress’s ethics body by Democratic groups that he had revealed classified information to the public.
“The charges are entirely false and politically motivated, and are being leveled just as the American people are beginning to learn the truth about the improper unmasking of the identities of US citizens and other abuses of power,” he said in a statement.
Getting ‘back on track’
Adam Schiff, the Democratic vice chairman of the committee, said Nunes’ move would allow the Russia probe to get “fully back on track.”
“The important work of investigating the Russian involvement in our election never subsided, but we have a fresh opportunity to move forward in the unified and nonpartisan way that an investigation of this seriousness demands,” he said.
Nunes’ move ends weeks of very public tensions between himself and Schiff that had draw criticism from all quarters of Congress.
The House panel is one of several bodies examining the Russia scandal. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been investigating the issue since June, when it became clear to US intelligence that the Russian government was behind hacks of Democratic Party communications and a misinformation campaign that targeted Trump rival Hillary Clinton.
In January, after the election, US intelligence chiefs said they had concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had masterminded the effort to damage Clinton.
In Congress, the House and Senate intelligence committees have been leading separate probes, and the open fight between Nunes and Schiff had raised concerns that the House investigation would be subsumed by politics.
Abuse of intelligence intercepts?
Nunes further raised doubts after he went to the White House on March 21 to view top secret files he said indicated abuse of intelligence by the Obama administration.
The files were intelligence intercepts of the communications of foreign officials, which were either with US officials, or mentioned their names. Under US privacy laws, the names of Americans in such intercept files have to be masked.
But Nunes said publicly he had discovered files where the names had been unmasked by unnamed Obama officials, and he took his discovery to Trump, while not sharing it with his committee.
The move appeared to boost Trump’s claims that Obama officials had misused intelligence powers to spy on Trump’s administration before and after the election.
“Trump Russia story is a hoax,” the president tweeted on 27 March.
The real story turns out to be SURVEILLANCE and LEAKING! Find the leakers.
While Democrats blasted Trump and his supporters for trying to change the direction of the investigation, Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice added fuel to the fire on Tuesday when she acknowledged reports that she had done some of the unmasking.
Rice said what she had done was legal and was done as part of an intensified look into how Russia had interfered in the election.
“The allegation is that somehow Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes. That’s absolutely false,” she told MSNBC television.
“From basically August through the end of the administration (20 January) we were hearing more and more, getting more and more information about Russian interference in our electoral process. It was of grave concern,” she said.
Windows phone hasn’t really got any traction in the market. One interesting thing is that a lot of people who have the phones really like them. I have used a Windows phone since Windows 7 and I am on my third upgrade. I think to fully appreciate the advantages you have to use the features. There is excellent integration of cloud storage, email and contacts with your Microsoft account. You can open office attachments in email and edit on the go. It is also excellent if you want to add a work email account and have in a separate window with it’s own tile. For the game enthusiasts there is an excellent selection of Xbox games. Most of the popular social media apps are available bit it is true that there is less choice than apple or android. I think the failure of windows 8.1 on desktop probably put a lot of people off windows phones. Ironically Windows 8.1 is really nice on a windows phone. The emergence of Windows may make people look a bit closer at Windows phone. Anyway looking forward to my Windows 10 upgrade in the new year.
By the way I don’t work for microsoft
That’s some decent storage
Due upgrade was thinking of switching to android Samsung s6 but my cloud storage, contacts email etc arevon Microsoft I wonder is there much hassle or should I get a 950
It’s useful for my purposes with OneNote, Office Lens and integration with Office but not as adaptable as Android.
I just upgraded to the 950 from a Samsung Galaxy S5. So far, I’m impressed. What I find nice are the little things that make using the phone easy. Searching for apps / contacts on the phone is really intuitive. the groove music app is great too. And one nice feature is the ability to put playlists directly on the front tiles. great for Bluetooth integrated cars / speakers etc…
On the downside, I does overheat a fair bit, and I would recommend a cover for it, but generally I’m impressed. I haven’t tried out the continuum integration yet, but I will get to that at some stage.
The devices look great but no one is going to fork out €600 or a long contract on something they might hate. Maybe some sort of like it or your money back guarantee could be good.
It may be a device you can flip to Android if you don’t like Windows
To write as a CON that Windows 10 is buggy and needs works is just pathetic if you don’t back it up with examples. Anyway have you ever seen an OS without bugs??? I feel the CONS are just written because you couldn’t find any…
In the same boat dropped my 925 on a wooden floor and the screen went in bits. Not it’s first fall to be fair!
“With an infrared light glowing while it searches for you, it quickly recognises you and unlocks your phone, making for a more convenient experience than a fingerprint.” .. I got the new iPhone 6s plus and I just have to touch the sensor and they thing unlocks. the problem is that the Camera on the Lumia is not as good as iPhone. I moved to android for a year, got the note 3, liked the phone and size, but the camera was not great and I didn’t really use the stylus much. its hard to beat an iPhone.
It’s quite easy to beat an Iphone. Drop it on a soft pillow and the screen cracks! I’ve dropped the Lumia on a tiled floor and it was grand.Tough aul phones Nokias!
You`re are one of the lucky one`s RTibe . I dropped my 925 Lumia about a year ago, and the screen went to s**t. Loved that phone. Replaced it with a 1520 Lumia, which I picked up preowned for a steal. If you can get past it`s size it`s a superb phone with excellent specs. Everybody too their own I say. And Robert in my opinion the Lumia camera is the best you can get on a phone, just saying!
Hardcore fans = codeword for employees of Microsoft, the only people who seem to use Lumina phones
I don’t work for them and am on my third Lumia. Excellent storage, really good camera and feels more solid than most androids. However I will admit, the lack of apps is an issue. Not enough to put me off though!
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