Trump blasts FBI, Justice Dept bosses in showdown over Republican memo - Reuters

FEBRUARY 2, 2018 / 10:47 PM / UPDATED 5 MINUTES AGO

Trump blasts FBI, Justice Dept bosses in showdown over Republican memo

Reuters Staff

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday accused the FBI and the Justice Department’s top officials of politicizing its investigations as the White House prepared to approve the release of a controversial secret Republican memo alleging FBI bias against him in its Russia probe.

U.S. President Donald Trump addresses the Republican National Committee's winter meeting at the Washington Hilton in Washington, U.S., February 1, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

“The top Leadership and Investigators of the FBI and the Justice Department have politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago,” Trump said on Twitter, even as he backed rank- and-file employees.

Representatives for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department could not be immediately reached for comment.

The FBI earlier this week expressed “grave concerns about material omissions of fact” in the Republican memo, which was seen as having the potential to prompt high-level resignations in U.S. law enforcement agencies if released.

FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump after the president fired predecessor James Comey. There has been speculation that Wray might resign if Trump allows release of the memo. An association representing FBI agents has backed Wray’s stance.

A White House official said on Thursday Trump was likely to give Congress approval on Friday to release the document that has gripped Washington and further inflamed tensions between the Republican president and the nation’s top domestic law enforcement agency.

The four-page document has become a flashpoint in a wider battle between Republicans and Democrats over special counsel Robert Mueller’s criminal probe into potential collusion between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia. The probe grew out of the FBI’s Russia investigation after Trump fired Comey.

Russia has denied collusion and Trump has called the probe a “witch hunt.”

Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Peter Graff and Jeffrey Benkoe

Trump vs. the FBI - Bloomberg

Trump vs. the FBI

By Kathleen Hunter

February 2, 2018, 10:11 PM GMT+11

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Donald Trump is upping the ante in the high-stakes partisan warfare over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of his administration and the 2016 campaign’s ties to Russia.

The U.S. president has approved publication of a Republican memo arguing the Federal Bureau of Investigation abused its surveillance powers in its Russia probe. Republicans say the memo, which could be unveiled today, describes anti-Trump bias at the FBI — a claim the president himself has repeatedly made.

Democrats have condemned the document as a misleading and inaccurate attempt to undermine Mueller’s investigation at the cost of damaging the nation’s intelligence and law-enforcement agencies. And FBI Director Christopher Wray is said to have urged Trump not to release it.

As Washington waits on tenterhooks, former FBI chief James Comey issued a scathing statement on Twitter that appeared to criticize plans to release the memo. Comey, whose firing by Trump last year spurred Mueller's appointment, urged Americans to “take heart.” U.S. history, he said, “shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up.”

Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 8.Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Global Headlines

Tillerson flying solo | As U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson starts his Latin American trip to seek a unified stance on isolating Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, he’ll again face the problem that’s plagued his efforts to manage crises in places like North Korea, Syria, and Iran — he’s largely alone. Once Tom Shannon’s resignation, announced yesterday, is completed, seven of the State Department’s top nine positions will be empty.

Some Republicans uneasy with Trump releasing the Russia memo- NBC News

FEB 1 2018, 11:35 PM ET

Some Republicans uneasy with Trump releasing the Russia memo

by JONATHAN ALLEN

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Many Republicans are clamoring to give the public a classified memo about intelligence collection in the Russia investigation.

But not all of them.

At least a handful of GOP lawmakers worry that its release could compromise intelligence-gathering and further enflame President Donald Trump's conflict with his own law-enforcement agencies.

"We run the risk of exposing some sensitive sources and methods," Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., said on the sidelines of a Republican retreat at the Greenbrier, a historic resort nestled at the edge of the Allegheny Mountains here. "I read the memos, both of them (Republican and Democratic), and I would rather not release them."

White House divided on possible memo redactions

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White House divided on possible memo redactions 2:24

Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, a proponent of making the memo public, acknowledged "there are some differing opinions" among House Republicans.

Trump is expected to sign off on the release of the controversial memo, drafted by the staff of House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., a senior White House official told reporters on Air Force One Thursday. It is unclear whether there will be any redactions of sensitive material.

On one level, the debate is over whether the American public should have access to information about whether FBI and Justice Department officials are following the rules when they ask for warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

But it's also the latest flashpoint in the Russia probe, and Democrats have accused Nunes of politicizing intelligence work to assist Trump in discrediting the very law-enforcement agencies charged with investigating whether he or his aides illegally colluded with Russia or obstructed justice.

Those who argue it should be made public say it shows U.S. officials improperly used a dossier compiled by British spy Christopher Steele to justify their application for a warrant to eavesdrop on Carter Page, a foreign policy adviser to Trump's 2016 campaign.

Americans will "be troubled by its contents," Brady predicted. "Given the choice between being more open with the American public or less, we are opting for more."

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., appeared to caution all sides about reading too much into the memo's importance in the Russia investigation or Trump's ongoing fight with the leaders of the nation's top law-enforcement agencies.

"If mistakes were made and if individuals did something wrong, then it is our job as the legislative branch of government to conduct oversight over the executive branch if abuses were made," Ryan said at a press conference here. "What this is not, is an indictment on our institutions or our justice system...It does not impugn the Mueller investigation or the deputy attorney general."

But Sens. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. and Chris Coons, D-Del., said in a joint statement that it would have those effects.

"President Trump should heed the warnings of the Justice Department and FBI, and reverse his reported decision to defy longstanding policies regarding the disclosure of classified information," they said. "The president’s apparent willingness to release this memo risks undermining U.S. intelligence-gathering efforts, politicizing Congress’ oversight role, and eroding confidence in our institutions of government."

Former CIA Deputy Director: Russia has us arguing over the truth Play Facebook Twitter Embed

Former CIA Deputy Director: Russia has us arguing over the truth 5:14

Meanwhile, at the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee in Washington, there was little chatter over the president's pending decision on whether to release a controversial memo.

Ginny Haines, the RNC committeewoman from New Jersey, maintained confidence in Trump's judgment in handling his skepticism of the intelligence community.

"I think the president will have it under control and knows exactly what needs to be done," Haines said, referring to employees within the intelligence community whom the president refers to as being a part of the "deep state." "He’ll take care of it. I trust him in this process," Haines said.

But Dent, a frequent critic of the president, said he was concerned about Trump's conflict with law-enforcement officials.

"I don't like the fact that the White House seems to be in a battle with its own Justice Department and FBI," he said.

And one of his colleagues, Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Penn., reflected the unease lawmakers have with the potential for the memo to exacerbate that fight.

Asked whether it concerned him, Shuster quickly answered "yes" and then ducked behind a curtain partitioning reporters from lawmakers.

Meanwhile, AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Speaker Ryan, told NBC News late Thursday that he supports releasing a Democratic counter memo that addresses the Nunes memo.

“The speaker is in favor of greater transparency,” Strong said. “If it is scrubbed to ensure it does not reveal sources and methods of our intelligence gathering, the speaker supports the release of the Democrats' memo.”

Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, adds $20 BILLION to his fortune after Amazon reports its largest ever surge in profits - Daily Mail

Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, adds $20 BILLION to his fortune after Amazon reports its largest ever surge in profits

Amazon sales increased by 38 per cent to more than $60.5 billion (£42.4bn)

The firm reported a 69 per cent increase in operating income over this period

Amazon says its Alexa powered products are responsible for the rise in figures

An increase in share value brings Bezos' net worth to more than $119bn (£83bn)

By Tim Collins For Mailonline and Press Association and Afp

PUBLISHED: 08:58 AEDT, 2 February 2018 | UPDATED: 19:52 AEDT, 2 February 2018

Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, has added another $20 billion (£14 billion) to his wealth after his firm Amazon reported its largest ever surge in profits.

Amazon sales increased by 38 per cent in the last three months of 2017, to more than $60.5 billion (£42.4 billion), according to its latest quarterly financial results.

For comparison, it took Amazon more than 14 years to make, cumulatively, as much profit as it did in the latest quarter alone.

The profits were driven by sales of its voice-activated Echo devices and an increase in the number of Prime members.

They were also helped by an increase in holiday shopping online and by Amazon’s cloud business, Amazon Web Services.

The surge in profits means Besoz is now worth more than $119 billion (£83 billion).

Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, has added another $20 billion (£14 billion) to his wealth after his firm Amazon reported its largest ever surge in profits. The surge in profits means Besoz is now worth more than $119 billion (£83 billion)

Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man, has added another $20 billion (£14 billion) to his wealth after his firm Amazon reported its largest ever surge in profits. The surge in profits means Besoz is now worth more than $119 billion (£83 billion)

Amazon sales increased by 38 per cent in the last three months of 2017, to more than $60.5 billion (£42.4 billion), according to its latest quarterly financial results. For comparison, it took Amazon more than 14 years to make as much profit as it did in the latest quarter alone +5

Amazon sales increased by 38 per cent in the last three months of 2017, to more than $60.5 billion (£42.4 billion), according to its latest quarterly financial results. For comparison, it took Amazon more than 14 years to make as much profit as it did in the latest quarter alone

Having started life as an online shopping platform, the Seattle firm has become increasingly known for its hardware and software technology.

Its Amazon Echo line of smart speakers, which are powered by virtual assistant Alexa, have performed particularly well.

According to Amazon, the Alexa-enabled Echo Dot, along with the company's Fire TV Stick streaming device, were the best selling products across all of Amazon in 2017.

Bezos also attributed the rise of of the company's Alexa products as a key factor in the company's continued growth.

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He said: 'Our 2017 projections for Alexa were very optimistic, and we far exceeded them.

'We don't see positive surprises of this magnitude very often — expect us to double down.'

The company introduced a range of new Echo devices in 2017, including a second generation Echo, as well as the smart home hub Echo Plus and the touchscreen-enabled Echo Show and Echo Spot.

Bezos added: 'We've reached an important point where other companies and developers are accelerating adoption of Alexa.

Bezos said the rise of of the company's Alexa products like the Echo (pictured) was a key factor in the company's continued growth. The Alexa-enabled Echo Dot, along with the company's Fire TV Stick streaming device, were the best selling products across all of Amazon in 2017 +5

Bezos said the rise of of the company's Alexa products like the Echo (pictured) was a key factor in the company's continued growth. The Alexa-enabled Echo Dot, along with the company's Fire TV Stick streaming device, were the best selling products across all of Amazon in 2017

'There are now over 30,000 skills from outside developers, customers can control more than 4,000 smart home devices from 1,200 unique brands with Alexa, and we're seeing strong response to our new far-field voice kit for manufacturers.

'Much more to come and a huge thank you to our customers and partners.'

Since launching the Echo in the US in 2014, Google has also entered the smart speaker space with their Google Home line of devices, powered by the Google Assistant.

Apple's take on the gadget – the HomePod – goes on sale later this month.

Amazon's success in expanding into new sectors and markets has made Bezos the world's richest individual, and the last report suggests growth is accelerating.

Shares in Amazon jumped six percent in after-hours trade to $1,474 (£1,035).

One of the big profit centres for Amazon has been its cloud computing division called Amazon Web Services.

In the fourth quarter, AWS revenues were up 45 percent to $5.1 billion (£3.58bn) and the unit delivered an operating profit of $1.8 billion (£1.2bn).

For Amazon's North American operations, following the acquisition of grocery chain Whole Foods, revenues rose 42 percent and the division posted an operating profit of $1.7 billion (£1.19bn).

The international operations saw an operating loss of $919 million (£645m) on revenues of $18 billion ($12.6bn).

Neil Saunders of the research firm GlobalData, said Amazon's growth was impressive, with revenues up 28 per cent without counting Whole Foods.

'Given this is above the trajectory of recent growth, it is safe to say that Amazon shows no signs of slowing down,' Mr Saunders said in a note to clients.

'Although Amazon has grown sharply, it is still nowhere near its potential.

'There are categories, like home and apparel, where it is underpenetrated and with tweaks to its proposition should be able to make further gains.

'There are markets around the world, like Australia, where Amazon is just getting started and has significant scope to boost sales.'

WHICH SMART SPEAKER SHOULD YOU BUY?

Gadget makers are flocking to create smart speakers.

Already Samsung has revealed plans for a Bixby speaker to take on Apple's HomePod, Amazon's Echo and Google's Home.

Apple's speaker will have a higher price tag than the Amazon Echo range, which begins at $49 (£49) for the Echo Dot.

The speaker will provide a hub for appliances via Apple's HomeKit system and establish a centre inside the home to lock people in to using other Apple services, according to the report.

A speaker might help customers stay loyal to other services such as Apple Music, Apple Watch, Apple TV and AirPods.

Google's $130 (£105) Home speaker is triggered by the phrase 'Hey Google' while Amazon's Echo uses 'Alexa'.

Amazon's $50 (£40) Echo Dot puts the firm's smart speaker in a small package +5

Amazon's $50 (£40) Echo Dot puts the firm's smart speaker in a small package

Amazon's smart speaker is available in two versions - the full sized $180 (£145) Echo shown here, and a smaller, $50 (£40) version called the Echo Dot.

Amazon Echo uses Microsoft's Bing search engine to provide additional information, while Google Home uses the company's own Google Search.

Both Home and Echo are continually listening for commands, though Google and Amazon say nothing gets passed back to them until the speakers hear a keyword — 'OK, Google' for Home and 'Alexa' for Echo.

Google Home Mini: Google's clever tech-filled $49 (£34) doughnut can do almost

everything its bigger voicecontrolled

Google Assistantpowered

sibling can do,

including answer questions

and control third-party devices. +5

Google Home Mini: Google's clever tech-filled $49 (£34) doughnut can do almosteverything its bigger voicecontrolledGoogle Assistantpoweredsibling can do,including answer questionsand control third-party devices.

Google's Assistant software is also able to answer follow-up questions on the same topic, in a near-conversation style, but Echo as yet cannot.

However, Amazon's Alexa software has a wider range of skills on offer that enable it to link up with and control more third-party devices around the home.

A light comes on to remind you that it's listening.

can turn off the microphone temporarily, too.

Forget bitcoin, give me old-fashioned gold as an inflation hedge - Financial Times

2/2/2018

Forget bitcoin, give me old-fashioned gold as an inflation hedge

It’s pretty, it’s useful and you don’t need a password to access it

MERRYN SOMERSET WEBB

© Bloomberg

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Over the past year or so, there has been no overall cut to Japanese domestic productive capacity — except in some thoroughly outdated sectors and a few in which Japan has no hope of ever regaining a competitive advantage, such as coal or textiles.

You will think this one of the most boring sentences ever offered to you by this column. But bear with me.

It is actually one of the best clues you will find as to what might happen next in the global economy. For years now, the world has suffered from an overcapacity and disinflationary problem. Too many factories produce too much stuff, pushing down prices for that stuff too far as a result.

You see the consequences of this all around you in low wage growth and endless quantitative easing. There is a general assumption that this hasn’t changed and is not changing, so there is no risk of inflation rising from its clearly cooling ashes, regardless of how loose monetary policy is and for how long.

This assumption might be completely wrong. Look at how the world ended up with too much capacity in the first place. It was (as is almost everything) all about China. The accession of this huge economy into the World Trade Organization in 2001, the priorities of its leaders over the past couple of decades (growth, growth, growth) and the particularly huge dose of stimulus chucked into the economy in 2009 added massive, cheap capacity into the global system and changed everything for everyone else.

Who wants expensive stuff made in Michigan or Aichi Prefecture when you can have cheap stuff made in China instead? Quite. But China’s changing. For years, party officials have been incentivised to force growth out of their regions, regardless of the effects on prices, global macroeconomics or, for that matter, pollution. But in the party conference in October, Xi Jinping shifted emphasis.

Instead of focusing on growth, China’s leader talked of “three tough battles”: against preventing major risks (mainly financial — the new target is to be “further deleveraging”); poverty (Xi fancies a “moderately prosperous society” in all respects); and pollution (he wants to see the sky blue again).

The result has been pretty instant. Almost as the delegates headed home, say the analysts at Gavekal, prices of natural gas (a “clean fuel”) doubled; steel output stalled; and cement sector output actually fell even as demand for it and hence prices rose. China doesn’t seem to be adding new capacity to the global economy in the way that it was and that should mean it isn’t exporting deflation to the rest of the world any more either.

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That is a dynamic that is arguably beginning to show up everywhere else. The slack is disappearing. There is no spare capacity left in Japan (or you would see new cuts to it). Industrial production in the US hit a record high in December, despite the US being too busy with buybacks and financial engineering over the past decade to build new capacity. Manufacturing output in the UK is at its highest in 10 years.

This could all lead us to several interesting conclusions. The first, highlighted by Gavekal, is that it is an explanation for the way stock markets in countries that have been hampered with too much productive space in the past are suddenly breaking out. See China, Japan and Korea — markets you might want to stick with for a bit.

The second is that, guess what, the boom in the US might not be entirely down to Donald Trump’s policies. The factories could be humming because global capacity constraints are being hit rather than because he’s the best economic manager ever. And the third is that the real inflation our great leaders (the central banks) think is impossible however much they might print, isn’t impossible at all.

It is early days to be too sure about this. There could be more capacity than is immediately obvious and the global economy remains relatively fragile. However, the insanely tight labour market in Japan and the historically low unemployment rates in the US and the UK do rather back up the idea that excess capacity is yesterday’s story. And it’s hard to pretend that a little inflation isn’t creeping back into the numbers almost everywhere: the UK’s Retail Prices Index is now sitting at 4.1 per cent (which presumably is why Mark Carney is very keen indeed that we are aware that it has “known errors” in its calculation).

None of this is a certainty — far from it. But if inflation might be coming back or even if there is just enough data out there to provide markets with a whopping inflation scare, you will need to be ready. The central banks probably won’t be.

So how can you hedge yourself? My usual answer to that is gold. But there’s a group of people who tell me they have a better answer for me. Let’s call them bitbugs.

Bitcoin, they say, can’t lose its purchasing power as a result of inflation (thanks to its apparently limited supply). It doesn’t rely on governments for its value. It’s transferable, liquid and private — the perfect defence against the inflationary bias endlessly created by dim-witted central bankers. It is, as one bitbug told me on Twitter last week, way better than gold as a hedge against governments and inflation: “Gold is old.”

If I can dig out the tweet, I will be referring my sneerer to Mr Carney. While he doesn’t like inflation measures that tell him what he doesn’t want to hear, he really, really doesn’t like the anonymous nature of bitcoin. “One doesn’t have anonymity for bank account transactions,” he says, “why would you for cryptocurrency transactions?”

Gold has a few things going for it that cryptocurrencies don’t. The G20 doesn’t waste much time these days talking about how to regulate people’s gold holdings

Merryn Somerset Webb

Why indeed? I mention this to make the point that cryptocurrencies are only transferable, liquid and private for as long as regulators allow them to be. You could say the same of gold, of course. Owning all but a small amount of gold coin was temporarily made illegal in the US in 1933.

But gold has a few things going for it that cryptocurrencies don’t. The G20 doesn’t waste much time these days talking about how to regulate people’s gold holdings (Mr Carney says regulating cryptos is top of the list). It is universally accepted as a global and long-term store of value and one that doesn’t demand a password when you want to dig it out from under your bed. It’s pretty; it’s useful; it’s really hard to fake; it’s easy to change into a fractional currency; and, crucially, it has history. An ounce of gold has, give or take, hung on to its purchasing power for thousands of years.

I’d be surprised if anyone was saying that about bitcoin in 4018. I hold gold as a hedge against shocks and in particular against inflation, precisely because gold is old.

Merryn Somerset Webb is editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek. The views expressed are personal. merryn@ft.com. Twitter: @MerrynSW