Washington tries to insulate Trump from Russia scandalFebruary 15, 2017 - 11:14 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The White House battled Tuesday, February 14 to insulate Donald Trump from a scandal over his top aide's contacts with Russia, as it emerged that the president was aware of the problem for weeks before acting, AFP reports. With calls for an independent investigation gathering pace, the White House admitted that Trump was told three weeks ago that national security advisor Michael Flynn may have misled colleagues about his Kremlin contacts. The retired three-star general and former head of US defense intelligence initially denied discussing sanctions strategy with Russia's ambassador Sergey Kislyak before taking office. That may have breached US law on negotiating with foreign powers, and at minimum was a significant break with the norm that incoming administrations accept the US has "one government at a time." Flynn was asked to resign on Monday, after what the White House said were weeks of internal investigation that turned up no evidence of wrongdoing but "eroded" trust. Law enforcement and intelligence agents intercepted calls and obtained phone records showing that members of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and other aides had repeated contacts with top Russian intelligence officials in the year that preceded the November 8 presidential election, The New York Times reported. After finding evidence that Russia was seeking to disrupt the election, US intelligence agencies tried to determine whether the Trump campaign was cooperating with Moscow on hacking and other related efforts, according to the Times. However, the newspaper said, the current and former US officials it cited have not yet found evidence of such collusion. Paul Manafort, a former Trump advisor who was among those campaign officials picked up on the calls, dismissed the claims as "absurd" in an interview with the Times. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Narek Manasyan wins European Boxing Championships silver for Armenia Armenia’s Narek Manasyan (92kg) won Armenia’s second silver medal at the European Boxing Championships 2024 on April 28. Blinken urges Azerbaijan to continue negotiations with Armenia Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has urged Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to continue negotiations with Armenia. Pashinyan, Blinken talk Armenia-U.S. ties over the phone Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had a phone conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on April 28, Pashinyan’s office reports. Titus, Bilirakis lead legislation to sanction Azerbaijani war criminals Representatives Dina Titus (D-NV) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) have introduced the bipartisan legislation. |