Blackwater founder Erik Prince established a back-channel for President-elect Donald Trump to communicate with a source close to Russian President Vladimir Putin in January, reports The Washington Po
Blackwater founder Erik Prince established a back-channel for President-elect Donald Trump to communicate with a source close to Russian President Vladimir Putin in January, reports The Washington Post.
The secret meeting between various U. S., European and Arab officials took place January in the Seychelles islands — about nine days before Trump’s inauguration, reports The Washington Post. Moreover, officials said the United Arab Emirates brokered the meeting for the purpose of seeing whether Russia would be willing to decrease its support for Iran, especially in Syria, as the UAE is a long-standing enemy of Iran.
Officials also said Prince acted in an unofficial capacity as an envoy for the Trump camp.
This meeting has since been under FBI scrutiny as part of the agency’s investigation into Russian interference in the U. S. presidential election.
“We are not aware of any meetings and Erik Prince had no role in the transition,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told The Washington Post .
A similar denial came from Prince’s side. A spokesman for Prince said that the meeting had nothing to do whatsoever with Trump and called the reporting a “fabrication.”
“Why is the so-called under-resourced intelligence community messing around with surveillance of American citizens when they should be hunting terrorists?” the spokesman said .
Government officials from Seychelles said that they had no knowledge of any meeting resembling a back-channel between Trump and Putin contacts.
But they would not rule out the possibility.
“I wouldn’t be surprised at all,” Seychelles secretary of state for foreign affairs Barry Faure told The Washington Post . “The Seychelles is the kind of place where you can have a good time away from the eyes of the media. That’s even printed in our tourism marketing. But I guess this time you smelled something.”
According to officials, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, set up the meeting once approached by Prince, who said he was authorized to act as an informal surrogate.
Zayed agreed and brought in the Putin contact, as he “wanted to be helpful.”
Both the UAE and Russia thought the meeting on the topic of one of the United States’ long-standing geopolitical goals was useful, but no future meetings were scheduled.
In January, The Intercept reported that Prince was advising the incoming Trump administration on intelligence and defense issues and also commenting on various candidates for government positions. Prince’s sister also serves as secretary of education for the Trump administration.
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in a memo Monday that the Department of Justice will undergo a department-wide review of policies in order to fulfill his agenda of supporting law enforcement
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in a memo Monday that the Department of Justice will undergo a department-wide review of policies in order to fulfill his agenda of supporting law enforcement and reducing violent crime.
This includes a review of consent decrees the Obama administration enacted with local law enforcement agencies, such as Baltimore, where police misconduct has been alleged. Attorney General Sessions has maintained that there is a crime problem in the U. S. that isn’t a “blip.”
He said in his first speech that he wishes “the rise that we are seeing in crime in America today were some sort of aberration or a blip, but my best judgment having been involved in criminal law enforcement for many years is that this is a dangerous permanent trend that places the health and safety of the American people at risk.”
In the two page memo, Sessions said that the main goals of the DOJ include the safety and morale of law enforcement officials, the civil rights of the public, local control of law enforcement, effective collection of crime statistics, and collaboration between local and federal law enforcement.
“The Deputy Attorney General and the Associate Attorney General are hereby directed to immediately review all Department activities – including collaborative investigations and prosecutions, grant making, technical assistance and training, compliance reviews, existing or contemplated consent decrees, and task force participation – in order to ensure that they fully and effectively promote the principles outlined above,” Sessions wrote.

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WASHINGTON — Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, won approval Monday on a party-line vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee, setting the stage for a filibuster showdown …
WASHINGTON — Judge Neil Gorsuch, President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, won approval Monday on a party-line vote from the Senate Judiciary Committee, setting the stage for a filibuster showdown on the Senate floor later this week.
At the same meeting, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware announced he would provide the crucial 41st vote needed to support the threatened Democratic-led filibuster of Gorsuch.
The committee’s 11 Republicans all endorsed Gorsuch as a well-qualified conservative judge whose record “falls well within the mainstream,” as committee chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, put it.
All nine Democrats opposed Gorsuch. They faulted the Republican nominee for refusing to answer their questions about his views of the Constitution and about his record as a Justice Department lawyer under President George W. Bush.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said documents showed Gorsuch had defended “enhanced interrogation” techniques, including waterboarding, but then said he had no specific recollection of this during his hearings.
The sharp partisan divide was on display during the committee’s markup session. For more than four hours, the senators took turns explaining the basis for their votes.
The Republicans said they are amazed and dismayed that the Democrats would not support such a qualified nominee who pledges to follow the law. “If they oppose Neil Gorsuch, they will oppose any nominee of this president,” said Sen John Cornyn, R-Texas.
The Democrats said they saw signs Gorsuch will be a conservative activist on the bench, not a neutral judge. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R. I., predicted Gorsuch will help form “a new right-wing gang of five” that protects corporations and big-money interests at the expense of ordinary citizens.
The nomination now moves to the Senate floor, where the minority Democrats have pledged to vote against cutting off the debate. Under the current rules, it takes 60 votes to invoke “cloture” and end the filibuster.
But Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said he will move to change the rules so as to allow Gorsuch to win confirmation by a majority vote.
“We will not have a successful filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S. C., said Monday prior to the committee vote. “Because if we have to, we will change the rules.”

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Sean Spicer during Monday’s briefing presented Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke with a check for $78,333.32
Last Updated Apr 3, 2017 4:52 PM EDT
President Donald Trump is donating the first three months of his salary to the National Park Service.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer handed an oversized check for $78,333.32 to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke during Monday’s briefing.
The billionaire businessman-turned-president had promised to forgo his presidential salary. By law, however, he must be paid, so he is donating the money.
As the National Parks Service celebrates its centennial we take a look at vintage photos
Zinke says he’s “thrilled” at the president’s decision to give money to an Interior agency, something he says Trump informed him about Sunday night. He says he will use the money to help on long-deferred maintenance projects on the nation’s 25 battlefields.
Environmental groups responded more coolly — the Sierra Club called the big check a “sad consolation prize” in a statement Monday.
“If Donald Trump is actually interested in helping our parks, he should stop trying to slash their budgets to historically low levels. This publicity stunt is a sad consolation prize as Trump tries to stifle America’s best idea,” The Sierra Club said in a statement. “It’s a distraction that falls far short of the $12 billion needed to address the current backlog of park maintenance and does nothing to offset the almost $2 billion Trump asked Congress to cut from the Department of the Interior in his budget. America’s parks, and the people and economies they support, need real funding, not a giant fake check.”
Mr. Trump has proposed cutting $120 million — or 12 percent — from the Interior Department’s budget.

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