Bob Woodward: Trump's aides stole his papers 'to protect the country'
By Jeremy Herb, Jamie Gangel and Dan Merica, CNN
Updated 1520 GMT (2320 HKT) September 4, 2018
(CNN)WARNING: This story contains graphic language.
President Donald Trump's closest aides have taken extraordinary measures in the White House to try to stop what they saw as his most dangerous impulses, going so far as to swipe and hide papers from his desk so he wouldn't sign them, according to a new book from legendary journalist Bob Woodward.
Woodward's 448-page book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," provides an unprecedented inside-the-room look through the eyes of the President's inner circle. From the Oval Office to the Situation Room to the White House residence, Woodward uses confidential background interviews to illustrate how some of the President's top advisers view him as a danger to national security and have sought to circumvent the commander in chief.
Many of the feuds and daily clashes have been well documented, but the picture painted by Trump's confidants, senior staff and Cabinet officials reveal that many of them see an even more alarming situation — worse than previously known or understood. Woodward offers a devastating portrait of a dysfunctional Trump White House, detailing how senior aides — both current and former Trump administration officials — grew exasperated with the President and increasingly worried about his erratic behavior, ignorance and penchant for lying.
Chief of staff John Kelly describes Trump as an "idiot" and "unhinged," Woodward reports. Defense Secretary James Mattis describes Trump as having the understanding of "a fifth or sixth grader." And Trump's former personal lawyer John Dowd describes the President as "a fucking liar," telling Trump he would end up in an "orange jump suit" if he testified to special counsel Robert Mueller.
"He's an idiot. It's pointless to try to convince him of anything. He's gone off the rails. We're in crazytown," Kelly is quoted as saying at a staff meeting in his office. "I don't even know why any of us are here. This is the worst job I've ever had."
Trump irritated he wasn't interviewed by Woodward for upcoming book
Trump irritated he wasn't interviewed by Woodward for upcoming book
CNN obtained a copy of Woodward's book, scheduled for release September 11. The explosive revelations about Trump from those closest to him are likely to play into the November midterm election battle. The book also has stunning new details about Trump's obsession with the Russia probe, describing for the first time confidential conversations between the President's lawyers and Mueller. It recounts a dramatic session in the White House residence in which Trump failed a mock Mueller interview with his lawyers.
Woodward sums up the state of the Trump White House by writing that Trump was an "emotionally overwrought, mercurial and unpredictable leader." Woodward writes that the staff's decision to circumvent the President was "a nervous breakdown of the executive power of the most powerful country in the world."
Circumventing the President
The book opens with a dramatic scene. Former chief economic adviser Gary Cohn saw a draft letter he considered dangerous to national security on the Oval Office desk.
The letter would have withdrawn the US from a critical trade agreement with South Korea. Trump's aides feared the fallout could jeopardize a top-secret national security program: the ability to detect a North Korean missile launch within just seven seconds.
Woodward reports Cohn was "appalled" that Trump might sign the letter. "I stole it off his desk," Cohn told an associate. "I wouldn't let him see it. He's never going to see that document. Got to protect the country."
Bob Woodward's new book puts readers 'face to face with Trump'
Bob Woodward's new book puts readers 'face to face with Trump'
Cohn was not alone. Former staff secretary Rob Porter worked with Cohn and used the same tactic on multiple occasions, Woodward writes. In addition to literally stealing or hiding documents from Trump's desk, they sought to stall and delay decisions or distract Trump from orders they thought would endanger national security.
"A third of my job was trying to react to some of the really dangerous ideas that he had and try to give him reasons to believe that maybe they weren't such good ideas," said Porter, who as staff secretary handled the flow of presidential papers until he quit amid domestic violence allegations. He and others acted with the acquiescence of former chief of staff Reince Priebus, Woodward reports.
Woodward describes repeated attempts to bypass Trump as "no less than an administrative coup d'état."
The Russia obsession
Woodward's book relies on hundreds of hours of taped interviews and dozens of sources in Trump's inner circle, as well as documents, files, diaries and memos, including a note handwritten by Trump himself. Woodward explains that he talked with sources on "deep background," meaning he could use all the information but not say who provided it.
His reporting comes with the credibility of a long and storied history that separates this book from previous efforts on Trump. The author and Washington Post journalist has won two Pulitzer Prizes, including one for his coverage of the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
In one revelatory anecdote, Woodward describes a scene in the White House residence. Trump's lawyer, convinced the President would perjure himself, put Trump through a test — a practice interview for the one he might have with Mueller. Trump failed, according to Dowd, but the President still insisted he should testify.
Woodward writes that Dowd saw the "full nightmare" of a potential Mueller interview, and felt Trump acted like an "aggrieved Shakespearean king."
But Trump seemed surprised at Dowd's reaction, Woodward writes. "You think I was struggling?" Trump asked.
Then, in an even more remarkable move, Dowd and Trump's current personal attorney Jay Sekulow went to Mueller's office and re-enacted the mock interview. Their goal: to argue that Trump couldn't possibly testify because he was incapable of telling the truth.
"He just made something up. That's his nature," Dowd said to Mueller.
The passage is an unprecedented glimpse behind the scenes of Mueller's secretive operation — for the first time, Mueller's conversations with Trump's lawyers are captured.
"I need the president's testimony," Mueller said. "What was his intent on Comey? ... I want to see if there was corrupt intent."
Despite Dowd's efforts, Trump continued to insist he could testify. "I think the President of the United States cannot be seen taking the fifth," Trump said.
Dowd's argument was stark: "There's no way you can get through these. ... Don't testify. It's either that or an orange jump suit."
What he couldn't say to Trump, according to Woodward, was what Dowd believed to be true: "You're a fucking liar."
Trump's insults and humiliation
Throughout the book, Woodward portrays the President as a man obsessed with his standing in the media and with his core supporters. Trump appears to be lonely and increasingly paranoid, often watching hours of television in the White House residence. "They're out to get me," Trump said of Mueller's team.
Trump's closest advisers described him erupting in rage and profanity, and he seemed to enjoy humiliating others.
"This guy is mentally retarded," Trump said of Sessions. "He's this dumb southerner," Trump told Porter, mocking Sessions by feigning a southern accent.
Trump said that Priebus is "like a little rat. He just scurries around."
And Trump demeaned former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to his face, when Giuliani was the only campaign surrogate willing to defend then-candidate Trump on television after the "Access Hollywood" tape, a bombshell video where Trump described sexually assaulting women.
"Rudy, you're a baby," Trump told the man who is now his attorney. "I've never seen a worse defense of me in my life. They took your diaper off right there. You're like a little baby that needed to be changed. When are you going to be a man?"
Trump's predecessors are not spared either. In a conversation with Sen. Lindsey Graham, Trump called President Barack Obama a "weak dick" for not acting in Syria, Woodward reports.
National security concerns
Woodward's book takes readers inside top-secret meetings. On July 27, 2017, Trump's national security leaders convened a gathering at "The Tank" in the Pentagon. The goal: an intervention to try to educate the President on the importance of allies and diplomacy.
Trump's philosophy on diplomacy was personal. "This is all about leader versus leader. Man versus man. Me versus Kim," he said of North Korea.
His inner circle was worried about "The Big Problem," Woodward writes: Trump's lack of understanding that his crusade to impose tariffs could endanger global security.
But the meeting didn't go as planned.
Trump went off on his generals. "You should be killing guys. You don't need a strategy to kill people," Trump said of Afghanistan.
He questioned the wisdom of keeping US troops in South Korea.
"So Mr. President," Cohn said to Trump, "what would you need in the region to sleep well at night?"
"I wouldn't need a fucking thing," the President said. "And I'd sleep like a baby."
After Trump left the Tank, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared: "He's a fucking moron."
The book provides the context for the now-infamous quote that marked the beginning of the end for Tillerson's tenure. Tillerson tried to downplay the dispute -- "I'm not going to deal with petty stuff like that," he said at a news conference after NBC reported the remark — but he was ultimately fired via tweet.
Woodward also quotes an unnamed White House official who gave an even more dire assessment of the meeting: "It seems clear that many of the president's senior advisers, especially those in the national security realm, are extremely concerned with his erratic nature, his relative ignorance, his inability to learn, as well as what they consider his dangerous views."
A recurrent theme in Woodward's book is Trump's seeming disregard for national security concerns because of his obsession with money — trade deficits and the cost of troops overseas.
In meeting after meeting, Trump questions why the US has to pay for such a large troop presence in South Korea.
"We're doing this in order to prevent World War III," Mattis, the defense secretary, bluntly explained to Trump at one January 2018 meeting, which prompted Mattis to tell close associates afterward that Trump had the understanding of a "fifth or sixth grader."
Trump still wasn't convinced. "I think we could be so rich if we weren't stupid," he later said in the meeting, arguing the US was being played as "suckers," Woodward reports.
The 'Ernest Hemingway' of Twitter
Trump's tweets — and his infatuation with Twitter — are a theme throughout the book.
Woodward reveals that Trump ordered printouts of his tweets and studied them to find out which ones were most popular. "The most effective tweets were often the most shocking," Woodward writes.
Twitter was a source of great consternation for national security leaders, who feared — and warned Trump — "Twitter could get us into a war."
Appalled by some of his more outrageous posts, Trump's aides tried to form a Twitter "committee" to vet the President's tweets, but they failed to stop their boss.
Priebus, who was blindsided when Trump announced his firing on Twitter, referred to the presidential bedroom as "the devil's workshop" and called the early morning hours and Sunday night — a time of many news-breaking tweets — "the witching hour."
Trump, however, saw himself as a Twitter wordsmith.
"It's a good thing," Trump said when Twitter expanded its character count to 280, "but it's a bit of a shame because I was the Ernest Hemingway of 140 characters."
'A zoo without walls'
Finally, "Fear" is filled with slights, insults and takedowns from both family and staff that speak to the chaos, infighting and drama that Trump allows to fester around him.
Both Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are targeted by the inner circle.
There is a pointed shot at Ivanka from the President's now-ostracized chief strategist Steve Bannon, who frequently clashed with the first daughter and her husband.
"You're nothing but a fucking staffer!" Bannon screamed at Ivanka at a staff meeting, according to Woodward. "You walk around this place and act like you're in charge, and you're not. You're on staff!"
"I'm not a staffer!" she shouted back. "I'll never be a staffer. I'm the first daughter" — she really used the title, Woodward writes — "and I'm never going to be a staffer!"
Two of the harshest comments in the book are directed at Trump and come from his chiefs of staff.
After Trump's Charlottesville, Virginia, controversy, in which he failed to condemn white supremacists, Cohn tried to resign but was instead dressed down by Trump and accused of "treason."
Kelly, who is Trump's current chief of staff, told Cohn afterward, according to notes Cohn made of the exchange: "If that was me, I would have taken that resignation letter and shoved it up his ass six different times."
And Priebus, Trump's first chief of staff, encapsulated the White House and the thrust of Woodward's book by describing the administration as a place with "natural predators at the table."
"When you put a snake and a rat and a falcon and a rabbit and a shark and a seal in a zoo without walls," Priebus is quoted as saying, "things start getting nasty and bloody."
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Trump-Russia inquiry: How did we get here? - BBC News
Trump-Russia inquiry: How did we get here?
12 July 2017
The news that the president's son, Donald Trump Jr, has admitted meeting a Russian lawyer who promised to reveal damaging material on Hillary Clinton is just the latest twist in a row over the president's potential ties to Russia.
Here's how it all unfolded:
11 July: Donald Trump Jr releases an email chain that reveals how the meeting was set up. The intermediary, a British publicist, said the lawyer represented the Russian government.
9 July: Trump Jr admits he met Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya on 9 June 2016 after being told that she had damaging material on Mrs Clinton. He insists the lawyer provided "no meaningful information" but it marks the first time a member of President Trump's inner circle has admitted seeking Russian help in winning the election.
25 June: President Trump accuses Barack Obama of inaction after a Washington Post article says the former president knew well before the 8 November election about the accusations against Russia
15 June: US media report that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating President Trump for possible obstruction of justice in asking for the end of an inquiry into sacked national security adviser Michael Flynn, and in the firing of FBI chief James Comey
08 June: Mr Comey testifies to a Senate panel, saying the president asked for his loyalty and to drop the inquiry into Mr Flynn. But he backs up the president by saying he had assured him he was not under personal scrutiny
26 May: The New York Times and the Washington Post report that Jared Kushner allegedly proposed setting up a back channel between the Kremlin and the White House through Mr Kislyak. He reportedly wanted to use Russian facilities to avoid any US interception of discussions with Moscow
18 May: The department of justice appoints ex-FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to look into the Russian matter
17 May: Russian President Vladimir Putin offers to release a record of Mr Trump's 10 May meeting with Russian officials. Moscow maintains that Mr Trump did not pass on classified information
16 May: US media reports that Mr Comey wrote a memo about his 14 February meeting with the president, saying that Mr Trump asked him to shut down his agency's inquiry into Mr Flynn. The White House says that is "not an accurate description"
15 May: Media reports suggest Mr Trump let slip highly classified information during his meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian envoy Sergei Kislyak
11 May: In an interview with NBC News, Mr Trump says: "When I decided to just do it [fire Mr Comey], I said to myself, I said, 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story...'
Mr Trump met Sergei Lavrov (L) and Ambassador Kislyak (R) last Wednesday
10 May: The president meets a Russian delegation in the Oval Office and US press is excluded. A photographer for a Russian state news agency is allowed in
9 May: The president sends his bodyguard to deliver a letter to FBI HQ, informing Mr Comey that he is fired. The White House says Mr Trump fired Mr Comey on the recommendation of the deputy attorney general, who argued that Mr Comey botched an inquiry into Hillary Clinton's emails
8 May: Mr Trump meets Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to discuss firing Mr Comey. The president later tweets: "The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?"
3 May: Mr Comey testifies before a congressional panel about why he decided to re-open the Clinton investigation just days before the election. He says it makes him "mildly nauseous" to think he may have had an impact on the election
2 May: The president tweets: "FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!"
12 April: Mr Trump says in an interview he has "confidence" in Mr Comey
30 March: Mr Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, says his client wants immunity to testify on alleged Russian election meddling. Mr Flynn "has a story to tell", but needs to guard against "unfair prosecution", Mr Kelner says in a statement
20 March: Mr Comey confirms publicly for the first time in a congressional hearing that the FBI is investigating Russia's alleged interference in the US election and that there is no evidence to support the president's wiretapping allegations
4 March: The president claims on Twitter that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his phones during the US election. A spokesman for Mr Obama denies the claim. Mr Comey reportedly asks the Justice Department to publicly reject the allegation, but no such denial is forthcoming
2 March: Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuses himself from any current or future Russia investigations after it emerges that he met Russian officials during the US election campaign, which he had not previously disclosed to Congress
16 February: Mr Trump says Mr Flynn is "a fine person" during a raucous 77-minute press conference at the White House, but that he was "not happy" with his performance
14 February: Mr Trump again meets Mr Comey. Mr Flynn, meanwhile, is under investigation for his contacts with the Russian ambassador and his business dealings with Russian and Turkish lobbyists
13 February: Mr Flynn resigns. In his resignation letter, he writes: "I inadvertently briefed the vice-president elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador"
11/12 February: Mr Flynn spends the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump's Florida estate, alongside the president and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Trump administration faces its first international crisis: a North Korean missile launch
10 February: President Trump tells reporters aboard Air Force One he has not seen media reports about Mr Flynn: "I don't know about that. I haven't seen it"
27 January: Mr Comey and Mr Trump have dinner. Mr Trump later says that during the meal Mr Comey asked to keep his job and assured the president he was not under investigation. But Comey associates say the president asked the law enforcement chief to pledge his loyalty. Mr Comey reportedly declined to do so
26/27 January: The Justice Department contacts the top lawyer in the White House, Donald McGahn, about Mr Flynn's communications with Mr Kislyak, warning that Mr Flynn may be vulnerable to Russian blackmail.
20 January: President Trump and his executive team, including Mr Flynn, take office
15 January: Vice-President Mike Pence says, on US television network CBS, that he spoke to Mr Flynn about his phone call with the Russian envoy and asserts it had "nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions"
6 January 2017: President-elect Trump meets Mr Comey for the first time for an intelligence briefing on a report concluding that Russia had interfered with the US election
29 December 2016: Mr Obama announces sanctions expelling 35 Russian diplomats for the country's alleged interference in the US presidential elections. On the same day, Mr Flynn holds a phone call with the Russian ambassador
28 December 2016: Mr Flynn and Mr Kislyak, exchange Christmas text messages
December 2016: White House adviser and Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner meets Russian ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak, at Trump Tower in New York. He also meets the head of a US-sanctioned, Russia state-owned bank
18 November 2016: Mr Flynn is announced as the next US national security adviser, despite major questions over his links to Russia. His role, as part of the president's executive office, does not require approval from the Senate
10 November 2016: Then-President Barack Obama warns newly elected President Donald Trump against hiring Mr Flynn as his national security adviser
December 2015: Michael Flynn, a retired US Army lieutenant general, is paid more than $45,000 (£35,000) by state-sponsored broadcaster Russia Today to address the network's 10th anniversary gala in Moscow
12 July 2017
The news that the president's son, Donald Trump Jr, has admitted meeting a Russian lawyer who promised to reveal damaging material on Hillary Clinton is just the latest twist in a row over the president's potential ties to Russia.
Here's how it all unfolded:
11 July: Donald Trump Jr releases an email chain that reveals how the meeting was set up. The intermediary, a British publicist, said the lawyer represented the Russian government.
9 July: Trump Jr admits he met Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya on 9 June 2016 after being told that she had damaging material on Mrs Clinton. He insists the lawyer provided "no meaningful information" but it marks the first time a member of President Trump's inner circle has admitted seeking Russian help in winning the election.
25 June: President Trump accuses Barack Obama of inaction after a Washington Post article says the former president knew well before the 8 November election about the accusations against Russia
15 June: US media report that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating President Trump for possible obstruction of justice in asking for the end of an inquiry into sacked national security adviser Michael Flynn, and in the firing of FBI chief James Comey
08 June: Mr Comey testifies to a Senate panel, saying the president asked for his loyalty and to drop the inquiry into Mr Flynn. But he backs up the president by saying he had assured him he was not under personal scrutiny
26 May: The New York Times and the Washington Post report that Jared Kushner allegedly proposed setting up a back channel between the Kremlin and the White House through Mr Kislyak. He reportedly wanted to use Russian facilities to avoid any US interception of discussions with Moscow
18 May: The department of justice appoints ex-FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to look into the Russian matter
17 May: Russian President Vladimir Putin offers to release a record of Mr Trump's 10 May meeting with Russian officials. Moscow maintains that Mr Trump did not pass on classified information
16 May: US media reports that Mr Comey wrote a memo about his 14 February meeting with the president, saying that Mr Trump asked him to shut down his agency's inquiry into Mr Flynn. The White House says that is "not an accurate description"
15 May: Media reports suggest Mr Trump let slip highly classified information during his meeting with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian envoy Sergei Kislyak
11 May: In an interview with NBC News, Mr Trump says: "When I decided to just do it [fire Mr Comey], I said to myself, I said, 'you know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made up story...'
Mr Trump met Sergei Lavrov (L) and Ambassador Kislyak (R) last Wednesday
10 May: The president meets a Russian delegation in the Oval Office and US press is excluded. A photographer for a Russian state news agency is allowed in
9 May: The president sends his bodyguard to deliver a letter to FBI HQ, informing Mr Comey that he is fired. The White House says Mr Trump fired Mr Comey on the recommendation of the deputy attorney general, who argued that Mr Comey botched an inquiry into Hillary Clinton's emails
8 May: Mr Trump meets Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to discuss firing Mr Comey. The president later tweets: "The Russia-Trump collusion story is a total hoax, when will this taxpayer funded charade end?"
3 May: Mr Comey testifies before a congressional panel about why he decided to re-open the Clinton investigation just days before the election. He says it makes him "mildly nauseous" to think he may have had an impact on the election
2 May: The president tweets: "FBI Director Comey was the best thing that ever happened to Hillary Clinton in that he gave her a free pass for many bad deeds!"
12 April: Mr Trump says in an interview he has "confidence" in Mr Comey
30 March: Mr Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, says his client wants immunity to testify on alleged Russian election meddling. Mr Flynn "has a story to tell", but needs to guard against "unfair prosecution", Mr Kelner says in a statement
20 March: Mr Comey confirms publicly for the first time in a congressional hearing that the FBI is investigating Russia's alleged interference in the US election and that there is no evidence to support the president's wiretapping allegations
4 March: The president claims on Twitter that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his phones during the US election. A spokesman for Mr Obama denies the claim. Mr Comey reportedly asks the Justice Department to publicly reject the allegation, but no such denial is forthcoming
2 March: Attorney General Jeff Sessions recuses himself from any current or future Russia investigations after it emerges that he met Russian officials during the US election campaign, which he had not previously disclosed to Congress
16 February: Mr Trump says Mr Flynn is "a fine person" during a raucous 77-minute press conference at the White House, but that he was "not happy" with his performance
14 February: Mr Trump again meets Mr Comey. Mr Flynn, meanwhile, is under investigation for his contacts with the Russian ambassador and his business dealings with Russian and Turkish lobbyists
13 February: Mr Flynn resigns. In his resignation letter, he writes: "I inadvertently briefed the vice-president elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian ambassador"
11/12 February: Mr Flynn spends the weekend at Mar-a-Lago, Mr Trump's Florida estate, alongside the president and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Trump administration faces its first international crisis: a North Korean missile launch
10 February: President Trump tells reporters aboard Air Force One he has not seen media reports about Mr Flynn: "I don't know about that. I haven't seen it"
27 January: Mr Comey and Mr Trump have dinner. Mr Trump later says that during the meal Mr Comey asked to keep his job and assured the president he was not under investigation. But Comey associates say the president asked the law enforcement chief to pledge his loyalty. Mr Comey reportedly declined to do so
26/27 January: The Justice Department contacts the top lawyer in the White House, Donald McGahn, about Mr Flynn's communications with Mr Kislyak, warning that Mr Flynn may be vulnerable to Russian blackmail.
20 January: President Trump and his executive team, including Mr Flynn, take office
15 January: Vice-President Mike Pence says, on US television network CBS, that he spoke to Mr Flynn about his phone call with the Russian envoy and asserts it had "nothing whatsoever to do with those sanctions"
6 January 2017: President-elect Trump meets Mr Comey for the first time for an intelligence briefing on a report concluding that Russia had interfered with the US election
29 December 2016: Mr Obama announces sanctions expelling 35 Russian diplomats for the country's alleged interference in the US presidential elections. On the same day, Mr Flynn holds a phone call with the Russian ambassador
28 December 2016: Mr Flynn and Mr Kislyak, exchange Christmas text messages
December 2016: White House adviser and Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner meets Russian ambassador to the US, Sergei Kislyak, at Trump Tower in New York. He also meets the head of a US-sanctioned, Russia state-owned bank
18 November 2016: Mr Flynn is announced as the next US national security adviser, despite major questions over his links to Russia. His role, as part of the president's executive office, does not require approval from the Senate
10 November 2016: Then-President Barack Obama warns newly elected President Donald Trump against hiring Mr Flynn as his national security adviser
December 2015: Michael Flynn, a retired US Army lieutenant general, is paid more than $45,000 (£35,000) by state-sponsored broadcaster Russia Today to address the network's 10th anniversary gala in Moscow
Trump Russia affair: Key questions answered - BBC News
Trump Russia affair: Key questions answered
13 July 2018
Donald Trump has been dogged by suspicion over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin
For more than a year the Trump-Russia affair has dominated front pages and mired the president's administration in conflict and controversy. But what is it exactly? How did it begin? And where is it going?
The inquiry is being led by Robert Mueller, a widely respected former director of the FBI. Holed up in an unremarkable office in Washington DC, Mr Mueller's team is quietly pulling threads from one of the most high-profile political inquiries in US history.
Four people connected with Donald Trump's campaign and presidency have been charged and further indictments could be issued. President Trump denies any wrongdoing and no solid evidence has emerged to implicate him.
We've put together a straightforward guide to what we know, what we don't know, and what Mr Mueller may know that we don't.
What's it all about?
President Trump's campaign and transition teams have been accused of colluding with Russian agents to influence the US election in the then-Republican candidate's favour.
US intelligence agencies concluded in 2016 that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scale of the US election against Hillary Clinton, with a state-authorised campaign of cyber attacks and fake news stories planted on social media.
Both the Russian and US presidents have poured scorn on suggestions of collusion, with Mr Trump calling it "the greatest political witch hunt in history".
What contact do we know about?
At least 12 Trump associates had contacts with Russians during the campaign or transition, according to an analysis of public records by CNN, with at least 19 face-to-face interactions with Russians or Kremlin-linked figures and at least 51 individual communications.
Trump aides known to have had contact with Russians include the president's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, his son Donald Trump Jr, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and the Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The president's supporters point out that interactions with foreign nationals are routine during any White House campaign, but two Trump aides have admitted lying about the encounters.
Who's been charged?
The special counsel has indicted 32 people, including four members of Mr Trump's campaign team or administration and 25 Russians, as well as three Russian companies.
On the US side, indictments have been issued against:
Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman
Rick Gates, a former business associate of Mr Manafort and campaign adviser
George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser
Michael Flynn, Mr Trump's former national security adviser
Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who lied to the FBI about his contact with Gates - he was jailed for 30 days
Richard Pinedo, who admitted an identity theft charge
Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian citizen and former aide to Mr Manafort
Mr Manafort has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including tax evasion and a multi-million dollar money laundering scheme. Mr Manafort is now facing two federal criminal trials - one, on charges of money laundering and illegal lobbying, is due to begin in September. Another, on tax fraud charges, started in July 2018.
Pressure grew on Mr Manafort after his long-time business associate Gates pleaded guilty in February to similar charges. Mr Gates will be required to co-operate with the investigation in return for a plea.
Mr Papadopoulos is said to have attempted to set up meetings between Mr Trump and Russian representatives, and he has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. Mr Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI over meetings he had with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
Mr Papadopoulos was dismissed by Mr Trump as a "coffee boy", but both he and Mr Gates had access to high-level meetings over a significant period of time. They will be required by Mr Mueller to testify about their involvement in the campaign, as well as turn over any relevant documents.
The charges against other Russians came in two batches:
On 16 February 2018, 13 Russians connected to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian "troll factory", were charged; they were accused of spreading fake news stories through US social media. Among the 13 was Yevgeny Prigozhin, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin
On 13 July 2018, 12 Russian intelligence officers were charged with hacking the Democratic National Committee, using spear phishing emails and malicious software
Why are the Flynn charges important?
By far the most senior member of the Trump team to be indicted is Mr Flynn, who admitted one count of making false statements. This was a much lesser charge than analysts say he might have faced for conducting business as a private citizen with a foreign power. Such plea deals are only offered when a witness has incriminating evidence on someone more senior than themselves.
Mr Trump sacked Mr Flynn last February, saying he had lied to Vice-President Mike Pence about meeting the Russian envoy to the US. Questions have been raised over how much Mr Trump knew about Mr Flynn's contacts with the Russian ambassador and when. The answers to those questions could form part of Mr Flynn's plea bargain.
How many investigations are ongoing?
As well as the special counsel inquiry by Mr Mueller under the aegis of the Justice Department there are four congressional investigations:
The Senate and House Intelligence Committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee are investigating alleged Kremlin meddling and any collusion with Trump aides
The House Oversight Committee is scrutinising links between Trump associates and Russian officials
Who is special counsel Robert Mueller?
A former prosecutor, Mr Mueller went on to become the second-longest serving FBI director in history, after J Edgar Hoover. His Senate confirmation vote as FBI director went 98-0 in his favour. A special Senate vote to extend his term beyond the usual 10 years to 12 passed 100-0.
With a team of experienced lawyers drawn from private practice and from the justice department, as well as FBI officers, Mr Mueller has worked quietly from an unassuming building in south-west Washington, not issuing any public comment on his investigation.
Can't Trump just sack Mueller?
Reports swirled in December that the president might fire the special counsel and confer a presidential pardon on Mr Flynn, in an attempt to gut the investigation.
The rumours began after one of the president's lawyers accused the special counsel of illegally obtaining emails from the Trump transition team. The Mueller investigation said all material was obtained legally.
Firing Mr Mueller would be seen by Democrats as a brazen attempt to obstruct justice and could trigger an effort to impeach the president. For now though, it seems to be off the table. A White House lawyer said there was "no consideration about firing or replacing the special counsel".
What happened with James Comey?
Back in February 2017, before Mr Mueller was appointed as special counsel, the FBI was investigating Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russian officials.
Then-head of the FBI, James Comey, attended a briefing in the Oval Office at the White House, along with Vice-President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. According to a detailed account of the meeting written by Mr Comey immediately afterwards, the president asked Mr Pence and Mr Sessions to leave the room before suggesting Mr Comey end the Flynn investigation.
The FBI director's notes quote the president as saying: "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go."
Mr Comey prepared memos from his notes and shared them with other senior FBI officials, saying he was concerned about the nature of the meeting.
A few months later, in May, the president sacked Mr Comey, citing "this Russia thing", a move that shocked Washington and led to talk of a cover-up.
What about the Don Jr meeting?
Another focal point of the press coverage, and possibly the investigation, is a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York City involving Mr Trump's son, Donald Jr, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and an influential Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.
The meeting occurred after a Russian intermediary contacted Mr Trump Jr with a promise to provide material that would "incriminate" Hillary Clinton - the Democratic candidate - and be "very useful to your father". Mr Trump Jr replied: "I love it."
Mr Trump Jr later defended the meeting, saying Ms Veselnitskaya offered only "inane nonsense" and nothing came of it, but he also told Fox News' Sean Hannity "in retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently".
In January 2018, in an extraordinary break from the administration he once served, Steve Bannon, a former White House chief strategist, called the meeting "treasonous" and "unpatriotic", and said the justice department would "crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV".
The president responded furiously that Mr Bannon had "lost his mind".
What is the Christopher Steele dossier?
In January 2017, a secret dossier was leaked to the press. It had been compiled by a former British intelligence official and Russia expert, Christopher Steele, who had been paid to investigate Mr Trump's ties to Russia.
The dossier alleged Moscow had compromising material on Mr Trump, including claims he was once recorded with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel during a 2013 trip for one of his Miss Universe pageants. Mr Trump emphatically denies this.
The file purported to show financial and personal links between Mr Trump, his advisers and Moscow. It also suggested the Kremlin had cultivated Mr Trump for years before he ran for president.
Mr Trump dismissed the dossier, arguing its contents were based largely on unnamed sources. It was later reported that Mr Steele's report was funded as opposition research by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.
Fusion GPS, the Washington-based firm that was hired to commission the dossier, had previously been paid via a conservative website to dig up dirt on Mr Trump.
Who is 'coffee boy' George Papadopoulos?
Mr Papadopoulos's role in the drama begins with a May 2016 drink in a London bar with an Australian diplomat. He told the envoy that Russia had "political dirt" on Hillary Clinton - a conversation which was later reported by Australian authorities to the FBI and may have prompted the bureau's investigation into the campaign.
In late October 2017, court documents emerged showing Mr Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the timing of meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.
He falsely claimed he had met two figures with Russian connections before joining the Trump campaign in March 2016. In fact, he met them after joining the campaign. After lying to the FBI, he deleted an incriminating Facebook account and destroyed a phone.
Emails reveal that he communicated with high-level figures in the Trump campaign. He was pictured in March 2016 seated at a foreign policy meeting with Mr Trump, Jeff Sessions and others, a photo Mr Trump shared on Twitter.
How did Russia (allegedly) hack a US election?
It didn't, exactly. Hacking voter machines, and rigging elections generally, is very, very difficult. Hacking people? That would be easier.
The special counsel charges show that Russia effectively ran a two-pronged operation. The first prong in mid-2016 allegedly involved sending rafts of so-called "phishing" emails to figures in the Democratic Party - an unsophisticated method used by everyone from state-sponsored actors to low-level scammers for duping people into giving up their passwords.
Hackers gained access to the Democratic National Committee's systems and leaked tens of thousands of emails revealing the inner workings of the Clinton campaign and the party's operations, along with mundane, embarrassing details.
The second prong allegedly involved flooding social media networks, especially Facebook, with bogus stories designed to smear the Democrats and undermine the Clinton campaign.
According to testimony by Facebook before Congress, Russia-backed content reached as many as 126 million Americans on the social network during and after election.
What did Obama know and when?
In August 2016, an envelope arrived at the White House marked for the eyes of President Barack Obama and three senior aides.
According to the Washington Post, the envelope had come by courier from the CIA, and contained a bombshell revelation - Mr Putin was directing a state-sponsored effort to interfere with the US election.
The FBI was already looking at ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, but the CIA memo seemed to confirm Russian efforts to throw the election Mr Trump's way.
According to reporting in the Post and elsewhere, the Obama administration agonised over whether to divulge the alleged operations. Reportedly fearful of appearing to attempt to interfere politically, they stayed relatively quiet.
Other intelligence agencies were slow in reaching the same conclusion as the CIA, and congressional Republicans were reluctant to offer support to a public condemnation of Moscow.
Warnings were issued to Russian officials, but it wasn't until the main US intelligence agencies agreed, in late September, that President Obama directed them to make a public statement. To avoid appearing partisan, the statement would not carry his name.
How far will the inquiry go?
The special counsel investigation could potentially extend into 2019, the Washington Post has reported, which would infuriate a White House that is eager to draw a line under the affair.
Mr Trump's legal team has been in talks with federal investigators about the president himself being questioned by Mr Mueller.
The president has been non-committal, suggesting he might not need to be interviewed because, he maintains, there has been no collusion.
What about obstruction of justice?
There's been a lot of speculation that Mr Mueller is considering an obstruction of justice case against the president. It's hard to say if the sacking of Mr Comey alone constitutes a case, legal experts differ on this point. The hitch is that the charge carries a fairly high threshold - proof of "corrupt intent".
If the president intentionally pressed Mr Comey to drop the investigation into Mr Flynn, that could be considered a corrupt attempt to obstruct justice, but it is not clear cut. And even if it were, bringing charges against a sitting president is far from straightforward.
Could Trump be guilty of obstruction of justice?
A recent and controversial book by the journalist Michael Wolff claims Mr Trump went to some lengths to stop Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the justice department's investigation, another possible case of obstruction. But the veracity of several parts of Mr Wolff's book has been called into question.
How does impeachment work?
It is effectively impossible to bring criminal charges against a sitting president - any case would have to be brought by the executive branch, of which Mr Trump is the boss.
As for impeachment, there is political resonance to obstruction of justice charges - it factored in the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the resignation of Richard Nixon, prior to near-certain impeachment.
But it remains highly unlikely at this stage. A majority in the House of Representatives is first required to approve an article of impeachment, and the Republican Party controls both houses of Congress.
In the event of a successful House vote, the Senate holds a trial presided over by the Supreme Court chief justice, and a two-thirds majority vote is required in the Senate to convict the president.
That's a high bar - two presidents, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson, have been acquitted at this stage.
What does the American public think?
Polls suggest that most people are taking it seriously.
A Pew Research Center poll in March 2018 found that 59% of people believed Trump officials definitely or probably had improper contact with Russia during the election campaign.
Earlier, in November 2017, 49% of people surveyed in a joint ABC News /Washington Post poll thought Donald Trump was likely to have committed a crime, compared with 44% who said it was unlikely, and 53% who said they thought the charges against Mr Manafort, Mr Gates, and Mr Papadopoulos indicated a broader conspiracy.
13 July 2018
Donald Trump has been dogged by suspicion over his ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin
For more than a year the Trump-Russia affair has dominated front pages and mired the president's administration in conflict and controversy. But what is it exactly? How did it begin? And where is it going?
The inquiry is being led by Robert Mueller, a widely respected former director of the FBI. Holed up in an unremarkable office in Washington DC, Mr Mueller's team is quietly pulling threads from one of the most high-profile political inquiries in US history.
Four people connected with Donald Trump's campaign and presidency have been charged and further indictments could be issued. President Trump denies any wrongdoing and no solid evidence has emerged to implicate him.
We've put together a straightforward guide to what we know, what we don't know, and what Mr Mueller may know that we don't.
What's it all about?
President Trump's campaign and transition teams have been accused of colluding with Russian agents to influence the US election in the then-Republican candidate's favour.
US intelligence agencies concluded in 2016 that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scale of the US election against Hillary Clinton, with a state-authorised campaign of cyber attacks and fake news stories planted on social media.
Both the Russian and US presidents have poured scorn on suggestions of collusion, with Mr Trump calling it "the greatest political witch hunt in history".
What contact do we know about?
At least 12 Trump associates had contacts with Russians during the campaign or transition, according to an analysis of public records by CNN, with at least 19 face-to-face interactions with Russians or Kremlin-linked figures and at least 51 individual communications.
Trump aides known to have had contact with Russians include the president's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, his son Donald Trump Jr, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and the Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The president's supporters point out that interactions with foreign nationals are routine during any White House campaign, but two Trump aides have admitted lying about the encounters.
Who's been charged?
The special counsel has indicted 32 people, including four members of Mr Trump's campaign team or administration and 25 Russians, as well as three Russian companies.
On the US side, indictments have been issued against:
Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman
Rick Gates, a former business associate of Mr Manafort and campaign adviser
George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser
Michael Flynn, Mr Trump's former national security adviser
Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who lied to the FBI about his contact with Gates - he was jailed for 30 days
Richard Pinedo, who admitted an identity theft charge
Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian citizen and former aide to Mr Manafort
Mr Manafort has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, including tax evasion and a multi-million dollar money laundering scheme. Mr Manafort is now facing two federal criminal trials - one, on charges of money laundering and illegal lobbying, is due to begin in September. Another, on tax fraud charges, started in July 2018.
Pressure grew on Mr Manafort after his long-time business associate Gates pleaded guilty in February to similar charges. Mr Gates will be required to co-operate with the investigation in return for a plea.
Mr Papadopoulos is said to have attempted to set up meetings between Mr Trump and Russian representatives, and he has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russians. Mr Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI over meetings he had with Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
Mr Papadopoulos was dismissed by Mr Trump as a "coffee boy", but both he and Mr Gates had access to high-level meetings over a significant period of time. They will be required by Mr Mueller to testify about their involvement in the campaign, as well as turn over any relevant documents.
The charges against other Russians came in two batches:
On 16 February 2018, 13 Russians connected to the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian "troll factory", were charged; they were accused of spreading fake news stories through US social media. Among the 13 was Yevgeny Prigozhin, an associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin
On 13 July 2018, 12 Russian intelligence officers were charged with hacking the Democratic National Committee, using spear phishing emails and malicious software
Why are the Flynn charges important?
By far the most senior member of the Trump team to be indicted is Mr Flynn, who admitted one count of making false statements. This was a much lesser charge than analysts say he might have faced for conducting business as a private citizen with a foreign power. Such plea deals are only offered when a witness has incriminating evidence on someone more senior than themselves.
Mr Trump sacked Mr Flynn last February, saying he had lied to Vice-President Mike Pence about meeting the Russian envoy to the US. Questions have been raised over how much Mr Trump knew about Mr Flynn's contacts with the Russian ambassador and when. The answers to those questions could form part of Mr Flynn's plea bargain.
How many investigations are ongoing?
As well as the special counsel inquiry by Mr Mueller under the aegis of the Justice Department there are four congressional investigations:
The Senate and House Intelligence Committees and the Senate Judiciary Committee are investigating alleged Kremlin meddling and any collusion with Trump aides
The House Oversight Committee is scrutinising links between Trump associates and Russian officials
Who is special counsel Robert Mueller?
A former prosecutor, Mr Mueller went on to become the second-longest serving FBI director in history, after J Edgar Hoover. His Senate confirmation vote as FBI director went 98-0 in his favour. A special Senate vote to extend his term beyond the usual 10 years to 12 passed 100-0.
With a team of experienced lawyers drawn from private practice and from the justice department, as well as FBI officers, Mr Mueller has worked quietly from an unassuming building in south-west Washington, not issuing any public comment on his investigation.
Can't Trump just sack Mueller?
Reports swirled in December that the president might fire the special counsel and confer a presidential pardon on Mr Flynn, in an attempt to gut the investigation.
The rumours began after one of the president's lawyers accused the special counsel of illegally obtaining emails from the Trump transition team. The Mueller investigation said all material was obtained legally.
Firing Mr Mueller would be seen by Democrats as a brazen attempt to obstruct justice and could trigger an effort to impeach the president. For now though, it seems to be off the table. A White House lawyer said there was "no consideration about firing or replacing the special counsel".
What happened with James Comey?
Back in February 2017, before Mr Mueller was appointed as special counsel, the FBI was investigating Michael Flynn over his contacts with Russian officials.
Then-head of the FBI, James Comey, attended a briefing in the Oval Office at the White House, along with Vice-President Mike Pence and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. According to a detailed account of the meeting written by Mr Comey immediately afterwards, the president asked Mr Pence and Mr Sessions to leave the room before suggesting Mr Comey end the Flynn investigation.
The FBI director's notes quote the president as saying: "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go. He is a good guy. I hope you can let this go."
Mr Comey prepared memos from his notes and shared them with other senior FBI officials, saying he was concerned about the nature of the meeting.
A few months later, in May, the president sacked Mr Comey, citing "this Russia thing", a move that shocked Washington and led to talk of a cover-up.
What about the Don Jr meeting?
Another focal point of the press coverage, and possibly the investigation, is a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower in New York City involving Mr Trump's son, Donald Jr, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and an influential Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya.
The meeting occurred after a Russian intermediary contacted Mr Trump Jr with a promise to provide material that would "incriminate" Hillary Clinton - the Democratic candidate - and be "very useful to your father". Mr Trump Jr replied: "I love it."
Mr Trump Jr later defended the meeting, saying Ms Veselnitskaya offered only "inane nonsense" and nothing came of it, but he also told Fox News' Sean Hannity "in retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently".
In January 2018, in an extraordinary break from the administration he once served, Steve Bannon, a former White House chief strategist, called the meeting "treasonous" and "unpatriotic", and said the justice department would "crack Don Junior like an egg on national TV".
The president responded furiously that Mr Bannon had "lost his mind".
What is the Christopher Steele dossier?
In January 2017, a secret dossier was leaked to the press. It had been compiled by a former British intelligence official and Russia expert, Christopher Steele, who had been paid to investigate Mr Trump's ties to Russia.
The dossier alleged Moscow had compromising material on Mr Trump, including claims he was once recorded with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel during a 2013 trip for one of his Miss Universe pageants. Mr Trump emphatically denies this.
The file purported to show financial and personal links between Mr Trump, his advisers and Moscow. It also suggested the Kremlin had cultivated Mr Trump for years before he ran for president.
Mr Trump dismissed the dossier, arguing its contents were based largely on unnamed sources. It was later reported that Mr Steele's report was funded as opposition research by the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.
Fusion GPS, the Washington-based firm that was hired to commission the dossier, had previously been paid via a conservative website to dig up dirt on Mr Trump.
Who is 'coffee boy' George Papadopoulos?
Mr Papadopoulos's role in the drama begins with a May 2016 drink in a London bar with an Australian diplomat. He told the envoy that Russia had "political dirt" on Hillary Clinton - a conversation which was later reported by Australian authorities to the FBI and may have prompted the bureau's investigation into the campaign.
In late October 2017, court documents emerged showing Mr Papadopoulos had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the timing of meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.
He falsely claimed he had met two figures with Russian connections before joining the Trump campaign in March 2016. In fact, he met them after joining the campaign. After lying to the FBI, he deleted an incriminating Facebook account and destroyed a phone.
Emails reveal that he communicated with high-level figures in the Trump campaign. He was pictured in March 2016 seated at a foreign policy meeting with Mr Trump, Jeff Sessions and others, a photo Mr Trump shared on Twitter.
How did Russia (allegedly) hack a US election?
It didn't, exactly. Hacking voter machines, and rigging elections generally, is very, very difficult. Hacking people? That would be easier.
The special counsel charges show that Russia effectively ran a two-pronged operation. The first prong in mid-2016 allegedly involved sending rafts of so-called "phishing" emails to figures in the Democratic Party - an unsophisticated method used by everyone from state-sponsored actors to low-level scammers for duping people into giving up their passwords.
Hackers gained access to the Democratic National Committee's systems and leaked tens of thousands of emails revealing the inner workings of the Clinton campaign and the party's operations, along with mundane, embarrassing details.
The second prong allegedly involved flooding social media networks, especially Facebook, with bogus stories designed to smear the Democrats and undermine the Clinton campaign.
According to testimony by Facebook before Congress, Russia-backed content reached as many as 126 million Americans on the social network during and after election.
What did Obama know and when?
In August 2016, an envelope arrived at the White House marked for the eyes of President Barack Obama and three senior aides.
According to the Washington Post, the envelope had come by courier from the CIA, and contained a bombshell revelation - Mr Putin was directing a state-sponsored effort to interfere with the US election.
The FBI was already looking at ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, but the CIA memo seemed to confirm Russian efforts to throw the election Mr Trump's way.
According to reporting in the Post and elsewhere, the Obama administration agonised over whether to divulge the alleged operations. Reportedly fearful of appearing to attempt to interfere politically, they stayed relatively quiet.
Other intelligence agencies were slow in reaching the same conclusion as the CIA, and congressional Republicans were reluctant to offer support to a public condemnation of Moscow.
Warnings were issued to Russian officials, but it wasn't until the main US intelligence agencies agreed, in late September, that President Obama directed them to make a public statement. To avoid appearing partisan, the statement would not carry his name.
How far will the inquiry go?
The special counsel investigation could potentially extend into 2019, the Washington Post has reported, which would infuriate a White House that is eager to draw a line under the affair.
Mr Trump's legal team has been in talks with federal investigators about the president himself being questioned by Mr Mueller.
The president has been non-committal, suggesting he might not need to be interviewed because, he maintains, there has been no collusion.
What about obstruction of justice?
There's been a lot of speculation that Mr Mueller is considering an obstruction of justice case against the president. It's hard to say if the sacking of Mr Comey alone constitutes a case, legal experts differ on this point. The hitch is that the charge carries a fairly high threshold - proof of "corrupt intent".
If the president intentionally pressed Mr Comey to drop the investigation into Mr Flynn, that could be considered a corrupt attempt to obstruct justice, but it is not clear cut. And even if it were, bringing charges against a sitting president is far from straightforward.
Could Trump be guilty of obstruction of justice?
A recent and controversial book by the journalist Michael Wolff claims Mr Trump went to some lengths to stop Attorney General Jeff Sessions from recusing himself from the justice department's investigation, another possible case of obstruction. But the veracity of several parts of Mr Wolff's book has been called into question.
How does impeachment work?
It is effectively impossible to bring criminal charges against a sitting president - any case would have to be brought by the executive branch, of which Mr Trump is the boss.
As for impeachment, there is political resonance to obstruction of justice charges - it factored in the impeachment of Bill Clinton and the resignation of Richard Nixon, prior to near-certain impeachment.
But it remains highly unlikely at this stage. A majority in the House of Representatives is first required to approve an article of impeachment, and the Republican Party controls both houses of Congress.
In the event of a successful House vote, the Senate holds a trial presided over by the Supreme Court chief justice, and a two-thirds majority vote is required in the Senate to convict the president.
That's a high bar - two presidents, Bill Clinton and Andrew Johnson, have been acquitted at this stage.
What does the American public think?
Polls suggest that most people are taking it seriously.
A Pew Research Center poll in March 2018 found that 59% of people believed Trump officials definitely or probably had improper contact with Russia during the election campaign.
Earlier, in November 2017, 49% of people surveyed in a joint ABC News /Washington Post poll thought Donald Trump was likely to have committed a crime, compared with 44% who said it was unlikely, and 53% who said they thought the charges against Mr Manafort, Mr Gates, and Mr Papadopoulos indicated a broader conspiracy.
Syria war: Russia 'resumes Idlib air strikes' - BBC News
Sept.4, 2018.
Syria war: Russia 'resumes Idlib air strikes'
There are 2.9 million people in Idlib, many of whom have already been displaced from elsewhere
Russian warplanes have reportedly bombed the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib, as government troops mass ahead of what may be a major offensive.
If confirmed, they would be the first such air strikes there in three weeks.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump warned Syria's Bashar al-Assad against launching a "reckless attack" on Idlib.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the warning and said the Syrian army was "getting ready" to clear a "cradle of terrorism" there.
Five reasons why the battle for Idlib matters
Why is there a war in Syria?
Mr Peskov said the al-Qaeda-linked jihadists dominating Idlib were threatening Russian military bases in Syria and blocking a political solution to the civil war.
The UN has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if an all-out assault takes place.
What did the air strikes target?
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that Russian jets had carried out about 30 raids on about 16 rebel-held areas in western Idlib, the mountains of Latakia province, and the Sahl al-Ghab plain.
The pro-opposition Step News Agency reported Russian strikes on the villages of Inab, al-Janudiya, Tal Aawar, Sririf, Jadraya and al-Bariya.
A news outlet affiliated to the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) posted photographs showing plumes of smoke rising from several villages.
The Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are commonly known as the White Helmets, reported that three civilians had been killed in the strikes on Jisr al-Shughour.
The Syrian Observatory said the Russian air strikes were the first for 22 days and came hours after three pro-government fighters were killed by rebel rocketfire in the Jabal Turkmen area of Latakia.
What are pro-government forces doing?
Syrian army soldiers and allied militiamen have been gearing up for what has been described as a phased offensive on Idlib, the rebels' last remaining stronghold.
HTS, which is designated by the UN as a terrorist organisation and has an estimated 10,000 fighters in Idlib, and rival rebel factions backed by neighbouring Turkey have said they will fight back.
On Monday night, Mr Trump warned Russia and Iran, which has sent military advisers and thousands of militiamen to Syria, that they "would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy".
On Tuesday, Mr Peskov questioned the US president's approach to solving the problem of HTS and other jihadists operating in Idlib.
Rebel fighters in Idlib are preparing for an attack by pro-government forces
"To just make some warnings, not taking into account a very dangerous negative potential of the whole situation in Syria, is probably an incomplete, not all-encompassing approach," he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
The Kremlin spokesman said situation in Idlib would be on the top of the agenda at a summit of the presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey in Iran on Friday.
Why is the international community so worried?
UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura has warned of a "perfect storm" if the government goes ahead with a full-scale offensive.
The jihadists must be defeated but not at the expense of thousands of civilian lives, Mr de Mistura told reporters last week.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Idlib are already experiencing dire conditions
He called for further talks on a political solution, or for humanitarian corridors to be set up to allow civilians to be evacuated temporarily to a safer area, most likely one under government control.
The UN says Idlib is home to some 2.9 million people, including a million children. More than half of the civilians have already been displaced at least once from elsewhere in Syria and have nowhere left to go.
UN officials say as many as 800,000 people could be displaced and that the already high number of people in need of aid could increase dramatically.
"A worst-case scenario in Idlib will overwhelm capacities and has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen through this crisis," John Ging of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned.
Syria war: Russia 'resumes Idlib air strikes'
There are 2.9 million people in Idlib, many of whom have already been displaced from elsewhere
Russian warplanes have reportedly bombed the rebel-held Syrian province of Idlib, as government troops mass ahead of what may be a major offensive.
If confirmed, they would be the first such air strikes there in three weeks.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump warned Syria's Bashar al-Assad against launching a "reckless attack" on Idlib.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov rejected the warning and said the Syrian army was "getting ready" to clear a "cradle of terrorism" there.
Five reasons why the battle for Idlib matters
Why is there a war in Syria?
Mr Peskov said the al-Qaeda-linked jihadists dominating Idlib were threatening Russian military bases in Syria and blocking a political solution to the civil war.
The UN has warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if an all-out assault takes place.
What did the air strikes target?
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group, reported that Russian jets had carried out about 30 raids on about 16 rebel-held areas in western Idlib, the mountains of Latakia province, and the Sahl al-Ghab plain.
The pro-opposition Step News Agency reported Russian strikes on the villages of Inab, al-Janudiya, Tal Aawar, Sririf, Jadraya and al-Bariya.
A news outlet affiliated to the al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) posted photographs showing plumes of smoke rising from several villages.
The Syria Civil Defence, whose rescue workers are commonly known as the White Helmets, reported that three civilians had been killed in the strikes on Jisr al-Shughour.
The Syrian Observatory said the Russian air strikes were the first for 22 days and came hours after three pro-government fighters were killed by rebel rocketfire in the Jabal Turkmen area of Latakia.
What are pro-government forces doing?
Syrian army soldiers and allied militiamen have been gearing up for what has been described as a phased offensive on Idlib, the rebels' last remaining stronghold.
HTS, which is designated by the UN as a terrorist organisation and has an estimated 10,000 fighters in Idlib, and rival rebel factions backed by neighbouring Turkey have said they will fight back.
On Monday night, Mr Trump warned Russia and Iran, which has sent military advisers and thousands of militiamen to Syria, that they "would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy".
On Tuesday, Mr Peskov questioned the US president's approach to solving the problem of HTS and other jihadists operating in Idlib.
Rebel fighters in Idlib are preparing for an attack by pro-government forces
"To just make some warnings, not taking into account a very dangerous negative potential of the whole situation in Syria, is probably an incomplete, not all-encompassing approach," he was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
The Kremlin spokesman said situation in Idlib would be on the top of the agenda at a summit of the presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey in Iran on Friday.
Why is the international community so worried?
UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura has warned of a "perfect storm" if the government goes ahead with a full-scale offensive.
The jihadists must be defeated but not at the expense of thousands of civilian lives, Mr de Mistura told reporters last week.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Idlib are already experiencing dire conditions
He called for further talks on a political solution, or for humanitarian corridors to be set up to allow civilians to be evacuated temporarily to a safer area, most likely one under government control.
The UN says Idlib is home to some 2.9 million people, including a million children. More than half of the civilians have already been displaced at least once from elsewhere in Syria and have nowhere left to go.
UN officials say as many as 800,000 people could be displaced and that the already high number of people in need of aid could increase dramatically.
"A worst-case scenario in Idlib will overwhelm capacities and has the potential to create a humanitarian emergency at a scale not yet seen through this crisis," John Ging of the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs warned.
Trump warns Syria not to 'recklessly attack' Idlib province - Reuters
SEPTEMBER 4, 2018 / 8:38 AM
Trump warns Syria not to 'recklessly attack' Idlib province
David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Iran and Russia not to “recklessly attack” Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province, warning that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed.
“The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!” Trump wrote in a tweet.
A source has told Reuters that Assad is preparing a phased offensive to regain Idlib.
The northern province and surrounding areas are the last major enclave held by insurgents fighting Assad, who has been backed by both Russian and Iranian forces in Syria’s seven-year-old civil war. They are home to some three million civilians.
Trump has sought better relations with Russia since taking office in 2017 but the United States has been unable to rein in Moscow’s military and diplomatic support for Assad.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said Washington views any government assault on Idlib as an escalation of Syria’s war, and the State Department warned that Washington would respond to any chemical attack by Damascus.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wrote on Twitter late on Monday: “All eyes on the actions of Assad, Russia, and Iran in Idlib. #NoChemicalWeapons”
Iran called for militants to be “cleaned out” of Idlib, as it prepared for talks with Syria and Russia about confronting the last major enclave held by rebels opposed to Assad.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Damascus to discuss plans for an upcoming summit between the leaders of Iran, Russia and Turkey, which Tehran will host on Sept. 7 to discuss Idlib, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
Turkey, which has long supported anti-Assad rebels, has cooperated with Russia and Iran on talks over Syria in recent years and has troops in the Idlib region on an observation mission.
Last week, Iran’s defense minister traveled to Damascus and signed an agreement for defense cooperation between the two countries with his Syrian counterpart.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Alistair Bell
Trump warns Syria not to 'recklessly attack' Idlib province
David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Iran and Russia not to “recklessly attack” Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province, warning that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed.
“The Russians and Iranians would be making a grave humanitarian mistake to take part in this potential human tragedy. Hundreds of thousands of people could be killed. Don’t let that happen!” Trump wrote in a tweet.
A source has told Reuters that Assad is preparing a phased offensive to regain Idlib.
The northern province and surrounding areas are the last major enclave held by insurgents fighting Assad, who has been backed by both Russian and Iranian forces in Syria’s seven-year-old civil war. They are home to some three million civilians.
Trump has sought better relations with Russia since taking office in 2017 but the United States has been unable to rein in Moscow’s military and diplomatic support for Assad.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said Washington views any government assault on Idlib as an escalation of Syria’s war, and the State Department warned that Washington would respond to any chemical attack by Damascus.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wrote on Twitter late on Monday: “All eyes on the actions of Assad, Russia, and Iran in Idlib. #NoChemicalWeapons”
Iran called for militants to be “cleaned out” of Idlib, as it prepared for talks with Syria and Russia about confronting the last major enclave held by rebels opposed to Assad.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Damascus to discuss plans for an upcoming summit between the leaders of Iran, Russia and Turkey, which Tehran will host on Sept. 7 to discuss Idlib, Iran’s Fars news agency reported.
Turkey, which has long supported anti-Assad rebels, has cooperated with Russia and Iran on talks over Syria in recent years and has troops in the Idlib region on an observation mission.
Last week, Iran’s defense minister traveled to Damascus and signed an agreement for defense cooperation between the two countries with his Syrian counterpart.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Alistair Bell
Aretha Franklin's eulogy was 'offensive and distasteful,' family says - Reuters
Sept. 4, 2018 / 4:07 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Aretha Franklin's eulogy was 'offensive and distasteful,' family says
(Reuters) - Members of Aretha Franklin’s family felt the eulogy for the Queen of Soul delivered by a pastor at her funeral last week was “offensive and distasteful”, they said on Monday.
Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., the pastor at Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, spent his time at the podium raising social issues he said were critical to the black community.
Williams used the “platform to push his negative agenda” which Franklin’s family “does not agree with,” family members said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
“We found the comments to be offensive and distasteful,” the family said. “Rev. Jasper Williams spent more than 50 minutes speaking and at no time did he properly eulogize her.”
Family, friends and fans of Franklin offered a rousing farewell on Friday at an eight-hour service featuring tributes from former U.S. President Bill Clinton and civil rights leaders, as well as emotional performances by entertainers Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson and Gladys Knight.
Williams, picked because of past eulogies for family members, said in his remarks that single black mothers alone could not raise black boys to become men and that black lives would not matter “until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves.”
He defended his comments at a news conference on Sunday.
“Respect for each other is the key to us changing the road we are on as a race,” he said.
Franklin died at her Detroit home on Aug. 16 from pancreatic cancer. Having sung at the inaugurations of three presidents, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, she was an American institution, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then President George W. Bush in 2005.
Detroit treated Franklin’s death like that of royalty, with people filing past her body in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History for two days to pay their respects.
Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
Aretha Franklin's eulogy was 'offensive and distasteful,' family says
(Reuters) - Members of Aretha Franklin’s family felt the eulogy for the Queen of Soul delivered by a pastor at her funeral last week was “offensive and distasteful”, they said on Monday.
Rev. Jasper Williams Jr., the pastor at Salem Baptist Church in Atlanta, spent his time at the podium raising social issues he said were critical to the black community.
Williams used the “platform to push his negative agenda” which Franklin’s family “does not agree with,” family members said in a statement emailed to Reuters.
“We found the comments to be offensive and distasteful,” the family said. “Rev. Jasper Williams spent more than 50 minutes speaking and at no time did he properly eulogize her.”
Family, friends and fans of Franklin offered a rousing farewell on Friday at an eight-hour service featuring tributes from former U.S. President Bill Clinton and civil rights leaders, as well as emotional performances by entertainers Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson and Gladys Knight.
Williams, picked because of past eulogies for family members, said in his remarks that single black mothers alone could not raise black boys to become men and that black lives would not matter “until black people start respecting black lives and stop killing ourselves.”
He defended his comments at a news conference on Sunday.
“Respect for each other is the key to us changing the road we are on as a race,” he said.
Franklin died at her Detroit home on Aug. 16 from pancreatic cancer. Having sung at the inaugurations of three presidents, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, she was an American institution, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then President George W. Bush in 2005.
Detroit treated Franklin’s death like that of royalty, with people filing past her body in the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History for two days to pay their respects.
Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Clarence Fernandez
How Richard Liu built JD.com into a $45 billion tech giantby Sherisse Pham - CNN Money
How Richard Liu built JD.com into a $45 billion tech giantby Sherisse Pham @Sherisse
September 4, 2018: 5:39 AM ET
Chinese tech CEO Richard Liu arrested, then released in US
Chinese e-commerce company JD.com is often overshadowed by its bigger rival Alibaba. But now it's in the global spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Richard Liu, the billionaire founder and CEO of JD.com (JD), made headlines around the world this week after he was arrested in the United States on suspicion of sexual misconduct.
The company says Liu, who has since returned to China, was falsely accused. But the attention isn't going away.
His name remains a top trending topic on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform, where users are sharing the police mug shot of Liu dressed in orange prison garb and discussing the future of his $45 billion company.
"Company founders in China definitely enjoy a kind of celebrity status," said Benjamin Cavender, a Beijing-based analyst with China Market Research Group. "Consumers are more likely to be aware of Richard Liu's problems than they would be in most other markets."
JD.com is China's second-largest online shopping site after Jack Ma's Alibaba (BABA). Getting in early on the rise of e-commerce in China has helped make Liu, 45, one of China's richest tech tycoons with an estimated net worth of more than $7 billion.
In an effort to distinguish himself from the competition, Liu has said he wanted his company to sell authentic goods and be in full control of delivering them.
JD has built a sprawling logistics network, tapping into hundreds of stores and warehouses around the country. Using everything from bicycles to drones, the company boasts that 90% of goods bought on JD.com are delivered the same day or the next.
01 Richard Liu FILE RESTRICTED
Richard Liu is one of China's richest men.
Selling BMWs and watches online
JD.com sells products ranging from high-end fashion to fresh groceries, targeting China's more affluent shoppers. Big name brands like Japanese retailer Muji, luxury watchmaker Chopard and car manufacturer BMW (BAMXF) have flagship stores on the site, which has more than 300 million active users.
The company's tag line — Authentic Products, Delivered Today — takes a dig at Alibaba and other rivals who have been plagued by complaints of not doing enough to pull fake goods from their platforms.
Like Alibaba, JD.com is trying to reach new customers overseas. The company has been spending heavily to expand operations to Southeast Asia and Europe.
JD's major investors include Chinese tech giant Tencent (TCEHY) and US retailer Walmart (WMT), whose Chinese business it bought in 2016. Google (GOOGL) invested $550 million in the company in June.
Liu owns about 16% of JD but controls 79.5% of its voting rights, meaning a scandal tied to him could have outsized repercussions for the company.
Dreaming of meat
The billionaire tycoon comes from humble beginnings.
He was born Liu Qiangdong in Suqian, a village around 250 miles northwest of Shanghai.
He grew up just as China was beginning a sweeping program of economic reforms. While the country would experience explosive growth in the coming decades, Liu's hometown and family remained poor for most of his younger years. During a speech at his childhood middle school last year, he told kids that he used to dream of eating meat, because he had pork just once or twice a year.
When he got into Renmin University, a top college in Beijing, Liu recalled his entire village pitching in to help send him off.
"They donated a total of 76 eggs and 500 yuan to send me off for the opportunity that changed my life," he said in a company blog post.
When he graduated from college, most of Liu's classmates wanted to go into government, or study abroad. Liu didn't want to be a bureaucrat and he couldn't afford to go overseas. He was also keenly aware of the fact that his family was too poor to afford medicine for his grandmother.
"I needed to make money to pay for her medical care," Liu said in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
So in 1998, he set up a business selling computer accessories in Zhongguancun, a tech hub in northwest Beijing.
SARS outbreak drove Liu online
By 2003, Liu's business had grown to a dozen brick-and-mortar stores.
But then the SARS outbreak hit China. Customers and workers were reluctant to be outdoors, where they might come in contact with the deadly respiratory virus. Liu closed his shops and told most of the employees to stay home while he huddled with managers to figure out how to move inventory.
"Then one day, one of our managers said: 'Why don't we sell our products from the internet?'" Liu said at a retail conference earlier this year. "So we needn't see our customers. [There] was no risk anymore, from both sides," he said.
Liu founded what would eventually become JD.com the following year at a time when e-commerce was just starting to take off in China as more and more people gained access to the internet.
-- Serenitie Wang and Jackie Wattles contributed to this report.
CNNMoney (Hong Kong)
First published September 4, 2018: 5:39 AM ET
September 4, 2018: 5:39 AM ET
Chinese tech CEO Richard Liu arrested, then released in US
Chinese e-commerce company JD.com is often overshadowed by its bigger rival Alibaba. But now it's in the global spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
Richard Liu, the billionaire founder and CEO of JD.com (JD), made headlines around the world this week after he was arrested in the United States on suspicion of sexual misconduct.
The company says Liu, who has since returned to China, was falsely accused. But the attention isn't going away.
His name remains a top trending topic on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform, where users are sharing the police mug shot of Liu dressed in orange prison garb and discussing the future of his $45 billion company.
"Company founders in China definitely enjoy a kind of celebrity status," said Benjamin Cavender, a Beijing-based analyst with China Market Research Group. "Consumers are more likely to be aware of Richard Liu's problems than they would be in most other markets."
JD.com is China's second-largest online shopping site after Jack Ma's Alibaba (BABA). Getting in early on the rise of e-commerce in China has helped make Liu, 45, one of China's richest tech tycoons with an estimated net worth of more than $7 billion.
In an effort to distinguish himself from the competition, Liu has said he wanted his company to sell authentic goods and be in full control of delivering them.
JD has built a sprawling logistics network, tapping into hundreds of stores and warehouses around the country. Using everything from bicycles to drones, the company boasts that 90% of goods bought on JD.com are delivered the same day or the next.
01 Richard Liu FILE RESTRICTED
Richard Liu is one of China's richest men.
Selling BMWs and watches online
JD.com sells products ranging from high-end fashion to fresh groceries, targeting China's more affluent shoppers. Big name brands like Japanese retailer Muji, luxury watchmaker Chopard and car manufacturer BMW (BAMXF) have flagship stores on the site, which has more than 300 million active users.
The company's tag line — Authentic Products, Delivered Today — takes a dig at Alibaba and other rivals who have been plagued by complaints of not doing enough to pull fake goods from their platforms.
Like Alibaba, JD.com is trying to reach new customers overseas. The company has been spending heavily to expand operations to Southeast Asia and Europe.
JD's major investors include Chinese tech giant Tencent (TCEHY) and US retailer Walmart (WMT), whose Chinese business it bought in 2016. Google (GOOGL) invested $550 million in the company in June.
Liu owns about 16% of JD but controls 79.5% of its voting rights, meaning a scandal tied to him could have outsized repercussions for the company.
Dreaming of meat
The billionaire tycoon comes from humble beginnings.
He was born Liu Qiangdong in Suqian, a village around 250 miles northwest of Shanghai.
He grew up just as China was beginning a sweeping program of economic reforms. While the country would experience explosive growth in the coming decades, Liu's hometown and family remained poor for most of his younger years. During a speech at his childhood middle school last year, he told kids that he used to dream of eating meat, because he had pork just once or twice a year.
When he got into Renmin University, a top college in Beijing, Liu recalled his entire village pitching in to help send him off.
"They donated a total of 76 eggs and 500 yuan to send me off for the opportunity that changed my life," he said in a company blog post.
When he graduated from college, most of Liu's classmates wanted to go into government, or study abroad. Liu didn't want to be a bureaucrat and he couldn't afford to go overseas. He was also keenly aware of the fact that his family was too poor to afford medicine for his grandmother.
"I needed to make money to pay for her medical care," Liu said in January at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
So in 1998, he set up a business selling computer accessories in Zhongguancun, a tech hub in northwest Beijing.
SARS outbreak drove Liu online
By 2003, Liu's business had grown to a dozen brick-and-mortar stores.
But then the SARS outbreak hit China. Customers and workers were reluctant to be outdoors, where they might come in contact with the deadly respiratory virus. Liu closed his shops and told most of the employees to stay home while he huddled with managers to figure out how to move inventory.
"Then one day, one of our managers said: 'Why don't we sell our products from the internet?'" Liu said at a retail conference earlier this year. "So we needn't see our customers. [There] was no risk anymore, from both sides," he said.
Liu founded what would eventually become JD.com the following year at a time when e-commerce was just starting to take off in China as more and more people gained access to the internet.
-- Serenitie Wang and Jackie Wattles contributed to this report.
CNNMoney (Hong Kong)
First published September 4, 2018: 5:39 AM ET
Ahead of midterms, Democrats lead in cash, candidates and voters - MSNBC News
Ahead of midterms, Democrats lead in cash, candidates and voters
As the runners near the 2018 vote, metrics show clear trends — an enthusiastic electorate, a diverse pool of candidates and an advantage for Democrats.
by Dante Chinni and Sally Bronston / Sep.02.2018 / 10:54 PM ET
Ahead of midterms, Democrats lead in cash, candidates and voters
SEP.02.201802:11
WASHINGTON — Labor Day traditionally begins the homestretch of a campaign season, or the moment when uninterested voters actually tune into the election. As the runners near the last turn in 2018, the numbers show some clear trends: An enthusiastic electorate, a diverse pool of candidates and a solid advantage for Democrats in the House.
Enthusiasm has been apparent throughout the primary season in a long list of states, from Iowa to California. That voter interest showed again last week in Florida and Arizona.
The number of voters participating in Arizona's primary on Tuesday was up by more than 146,000, almost 17 percentage points, compared to 2014. In Florida, the numbers were even more remarkable. Tuesday’s total vote tally was up by more than 1 million, a 50 percent spike from the 2014 numbers.
Democrats led the way in the state. Votes cast in the Democratic gubernatorial primary were up more than 80 percent compared to 2014.
And the numbers out of primary season reflect a Democratic edge in a few different ways.
First, in perhaps the most meaningful way, there are the dollar amounts. Yes, politics is about ideas and candidates, but it doesn’t mean much without the money to get the message out. And, on the whole, Democratic candidates have an edge there.
So far in 2018, Democratic House candidates have raised $620 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. That’s $150 million more than the $470 million that Republican House candidates have raised — almost a one-third higher.
And the figures look similar in the Senate. There, Democratic candidates have raised $368 million to the $258 million that Republican candidates have raised — a difference of $110 million or 42 percent more.
Perhaps the most interesting difference between Democrats and Republicans in 2018 is the number of spaces that will be filled on ballots in November.
There are only four congressional districts where Democrats won’t have a candidate on the ballot this fall, according to Ballotpedia. That’s compared to 39 districts where Republicans aren’t running a candidate.
That matters for two reasons.
First, as Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.” That is, Democrats have candidates on the ballot in case something strange happens — a scandal, a news event — in districts where Republicans look sure to win.
Julián Castro: Gillum's victory shows multicultural voices, votes are Dems' 'secret sauce'
Second, that number shows there is enough Democratic enthusiasm in some of those long-shot districts to field a candidate and to make Republicans take a stand on President Donald Trump, who is inherently divisive.
In addition, that number of uncontested districts for the Democrats, four, is remarkably low. There were 27 districts where the Democrats didn’t field a candidate in 2014 and 36 in 2014. The Republican number has been in the 30s for the past three elections.
As we noted in this space just a few weeks ago, the 2018 candidate pool is set to be the most diverse in history. And the numbers show that indeed this looks like the Year of the Woman.
The number of women who have won primaries to become nominees for major offices set a new record this year. There are 14 such female nominees for governor, 21 for Senate and 226 for the House.
Those women running in the House are also mostly Democratic. Excluding incumbents, Democrats have nominated women in half of their races, according to David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report. Republicans have nominated women in 18 percent of them.
So as the horserace and the battle for congressional control move into focus, where does that leave us? There is a reason to believe the Democrats have a very big edge, at least in the House.
The Cook Political Report reports that there are 70 House districts where the incumbent party is dealing with a competitive race — that is a district that is a “lean” or worse for the incumbent party. Of those 70 districts, the GOP currently holds 65 and only five are held by Democrats.
That means Republicans are headed into fall needing to play a lot of defense in the House.
The Senate looks better for the GOP because of the map. Democrats are defending 26 seats this fall to the Republicans' nine and many of those Democratic seats are in states won by Trump in 2018, such as Florida, Indiana, Missouri and West Virginia.
Of course, all these numbers come with a word of warning after 2016’s election surprise. Two months is a lifetime in Washington in most years and several lifetimes in this environment.
But on Labor Day, we can say this for certain about 2018: Voters are engaged, the candidate pool is diverse and Democrats hold an edge.
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern defends $50,000 flight - BBC News
Sept. 4, 2018.
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern defends $50,000 flight
Ms Ardern has said that there would have been "equal criticism" had she chosen not to go
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has defended a decision to have a plane make an extra flight so she can spend less time away from her baby.
Ms Ardern, who still breastfeeds her baby, is headed to the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru for a day on Wednesday.
The air force plane that dropped her deputy Winston Peters there on Monday is being sent back to New Zealand to pick her up.
The round trip will cost taxpayers an estimated NZ$80,000 ($52,873; £41,173).
Nauru: The island where children have given up on life
"I weighed this up. I even went to the extent of checking whether or not I could hitch a ride with Australia. We checked multiple options to try to find alternate ways for me to get there," she told the NZ Herald newspaper on Monday.
"The option was go for a short time or not go at all. If I didn't go, I imagine there would have been equal criticism... damned if I did and damned if I didn't."
She added that she was told the Air Force plane was unable to stay on Nauru in any case, and would have had to park at the Marshall Islands, which is an hour away.
'Proud of her effort'
Ms Arden was not able to go to Nauru on Monday because of the length of time she would have had to spend away her from 11-week-old daughter.
The baby is too young to get the vaccinations required to visit Nauru.
Ardern and Bhutto: Two different pregnancies in power
Mums on how to survive a short maternity leave
Ardern 'stardust' wins in New Zealand
On social media, reactions to the trip were mixed.
"[I'm] proud our leader is making the effort [to take] a day trip to get to Nauru," said one user on Twitter.
But others questioned whether she needed to go at all.
"It's not necessary [for her to attend] if the deputy PM is attending already..." another added.
Ms Ardern said that if she had decided not to attend, that would have made her the first prime minister since 1971 to not attend the Pacific Islands Forum since 1971 outside of an election cycle.
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern defends $50,000 flight
Ms Ardern has said that there would have been "equal criticism" had she chosen not to go
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has defended a decision to have a plane make an extra flight so she can spend less time away from her baby.
Ms Ardern, who still breastfeeds her baby, is headed to the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru for a day on Wednesday.
The air force plane that dropped her deputy Winston Peters there on Monday is being sent back to New Zealand to pick her up.
The round trip will cost taxpayers an estimated NZ$80,000 ($52,873; £41,173).
Nauru: The island where children have given up on life
"I weighed this up. I even went to the extent of checking whether or not I could hitch a ride with Australia. We checked multiple options to try to find alternate ways for me to get there," she told the NZ Herald newspaper on Monday.
"The option was go for a short time or not go at all. If I didn't go, I imagine there would have been equal criticism... damned if I did and damned if I didn't."
She added that she was told the Air Force plane was unable to stay on Nauru in any case, and would have had to park at the Marshall Islands, which is an hour away.
'Proud of her effort'
Ms Arden was not able to go to Nauru on Monday because of the length of time she would have had to spend away her from 11-week-old daughter.
The baby is too young to get the vaccinations required to visit Nauru.
Ardern and Bhutto: Two different pregnancies in power
Mums on how to survive a short maternity leave
Ardern 'stardust' wins in New Zealand
On social media, reactions to the trip were mixed.
"[I'm] proud our leader is making the effort [to take] a day trip to get to Nauru," said one user on Twitter.
But others questioned whether she needed to go at all.
"It's not necessary [for her to attend] if the deputy PM is attending already..." another added.
Ms Ardern said that if she had decided not to attend, that would have made her the first prime minister since 1971 to not attend the Pacific Islands Forum since 1971 outside of an election cycle.
Trump attacks Sessions over prosecutions of Republicans - BBC News
Sept. 4, 2018.
Trump attacks Sessions over prosecutions of Republicans
Jeff Sessions has been a frequent target of Mr Trump's very public ire
US President Donald Trump has accused Attorney General Jeff Sessions of damaging the midterm re-election chances of two Republican members of Congress by prosecuting them.
The justice department's decision to file charges against the men put "easy wins" in doubt, Mr Trump tweeted.
One is accused of insider trading and the other of campaign violations.
The tweet has sparked fresh criticism that Mr Trump is illegally seeking to interfere with the justice system.
The president has often clashed with Mr Sessions over the inquiry into claims that Russia tried to help him win the 2016 election.
The criticism began in the early months of the administration last year, when the attorney general recused himself from the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mr Trump has repeatedly described the inquiry as a "witch hunt".
All you need to know about Trump Russia story
Who is US Attorney General Jeff Sessions?
Trump attorney general 'to stay in job'
His latest barb against Mr Sessions came with just over two months to go before the midterm elections on 6 November. The Democrats are seeking to wrest control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans.
In a tweet, Mr Trump criticised the prosecution of "two very popular Republican Congressmen".
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......
4:25 AM - Sep 4, 2018
Last month Representative Christopher Collins was charged with participating in an insider trading scheme. He has denied wrongdoing but said he would not seek re-election.
Later in August Representative Duncan Hunter and his wife were indicted for allegedly using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses. They too deny the charges.
The investigation into Mr Hunter began under the presidency of Barack Obama, but the Collins inquiry was launched last year.
Both men were early supporters of Mr Trump when he launched his bid for the presidency.
The justice department has not commented on the tweet. But it has drawn fire from a number of critics, including Mr Trump's fellow party members.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse said the justice department should remain politically neutral in deciding whether or not to prosecute.
"The United States is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice - one for the majority party and one for the minority party. These two men have been charged with crimes because of evidence, not because of who the president was when the investigations began."
US political scientist and columnist Brian Klass called Mr Trump's outburst "insane".
Brian Klaas
✔
@brianklaas
No exaggeration: if any other elected leader in a Western democracy tried to instruct their top law enforcement official to shield their political allies from prosecution for political reasons like this, they would be forced to resign within hours. This is insane.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......
3:52 PM - Sep 4, 2018
Other critics argue that midterm elections are not a good reason to delay prosecution.
Skip Twitter post by @SMKleinman
Steven Kleinman
@SMKleinman
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
Mr. President,
Are you suggesting that members of Congress are above the law? The Department of Justice clearly has sufficient evidence to charge Mssrs. Collins and Hunter with felonies. The courts shall decide their guilt or innocence.
This is disgraceful.
Best Regards,
Steve
2:03 PM - Sep 4, 2018
Jason Hermes
@JasonHermes77
Replying to @Jay_jay_mars and 2 others
No, he's suggesting that members of Congress who support him are above the law!
4:01 PM - Sep 4, 2018
Preet Bharara
✔
@PreetBharara
I still can’t get over this tweet. It’s the most outrageous and damning proof of Trump’s utter contempt for the rule of law to come directly out of his mouth. It’s also full of basic and provable lies. It will be Exhibit A in his undoing.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......
3:04 PM - Sep 4, 2018
Trump attacks Sessions over prosecutions of Republicans
Jeff Sessions has been a frequent target of Mr Trump's very public ire
US President Donald Trump has accused Attorney General Jeff Sessions of damaging the midterm re-election chances of two Republican members of Congress by prosecuting them.
The justice department's decision to file charges against the men put "easy wins" in doubt, Mr Trump tweeted.
One is accused of insider trading and the other of campaign violations.
The tweet has sparked fresh criticism that Mr Trump is illegally seeking to interfere with the justice system.
The president has often clashed with Mr Sessions over the inquiry into claims that Russia tried to help him win the 2016 election.
The criticism began in the early months of the administration last year, when the attorney general recused himself from the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Mr Trump has repeatedly described the inquiry as a "witch hunt".
All you need to know about Trump Russia story
Who is US Attorney General Jeff Sessions?
Trump attorney general 'to stay in job'
His latest barb against Mr Sessions came with just over two months to go before the midterm elections on 6 November. The Democrats are seeking to wrest control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans.
In a tweet, Mr Trump criticised the prosecution of "two very popular Republican Congressmen".
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......
4:25 AM - Sep 4, 2018
Last month Representative Christopher Collins was charged with participating in an insider trading scheme. He has denied wrongdoing but said he would not seek re-election.
Later in August Representative Duncan Hunter and his wife were indicted for allegedly using campaign funds to pay for personal expenses. They too deny the charges.
The investigation into Mr Hunter began under the presidency of Barack Obama, but the Collins inquiry was launched last year.
Both men were early supporters of Mr Trump when he launched his bid for the presidency.
The justice department has not commented on the tweet. But it has drawn fire from a number of critics, including Mr Trump's fellow party members.
Republican Senator Ben Sasse said the justice department should remain politically neutral in deciding whether or not to prosecute.
"The United States is not some banana republic with a two-tiered system of justice - one for the majority party and one for the minority party. These two men have been charged with crimes because of evidence, not because of who the president was when the investigations began."
US political scientist and columnist Brian Klass called Mr Trump's outburst "insane".
Brian Klaas
✔
@brianklaas
No exaggeration: if any other elected leader in a Western democracy tried to instruct their top law enforcement official to shield their political allies from prosecution for political reasons like this, they would be forced to resign within hours. This is insane.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......
3:52 PM - Sep 4, 2018
Other critics argue that midterm elections are not a good reason to delay prosecution.
Skip Twitter post by @SMKleinman
Steven Kleinman
@SMKleinman
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
Mr. President,
Are you suggesting that members of Congress are above the law? The Department of Justice clearly has sufficient evidence to charge Mssrs. Collins and Hunter with felonies. The courts shall decide their guilt or innocence.
This is disgraceful.
Best Regards,
Steve
2:03 PM - Sep 4, 2018
Jason Hermes
@JasonHermes77
Replying to @Jay_jay_mars and 2 others
No, he's suggesting that members of Congress who support him are above the law!
4:01 PM - Sep 4, 2018
Preet Bharara
✔
@PreetBharara
I still can’t get over this tweet. It’s the most outrageous and damning proof of Trump’s utter contempt for the rule of law to come directly out of his mouth. It’s also full of basic and provable lies. It will be Exhibit A in his undoing.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Two long running, Obama era, investigations of two very popular Republican Congressmen were brought to a well publicized charge, just ahead of the Mid-Terms, by the Jeff Sessions Justice Department. Two easy wins now in doubt because there is not enough time. Good job Jeff......
3:04 PM - Sep 4, 2018
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