FBI asked Justice Department to refute Trump's wiretapping claim

The FBI asked the Justice Department on Saturday to refute President Donald Trump's assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump's phones last year, two sources with knowledge of the situation told CNN.

The FBI made the request because such wiretapping would be illegal, since the President cannot just order the eavesdropping of a U.S. citizen's phones, the sources said. A court would have to approve any request to wiretap. The sources would not say who was involved in the conversations between the FBI and DOJ or what role FBI Director James Comey might have played.

One of the sources said instead of the FBI saying something publicly about the allegations, it was felt it would be more appropriate to ask the Justice Department since the bureau as a policy does not confirm or deny investigations.

The source said it was also felt it would be more appropriate politically to handle this through the Justice Department since Justice officials are freer to talk about such matters with the White House. Before any possible rebuke, it would be expected some conversations with the White House would need to take place.

So far, the Justice Department has not said anything in reaction to Trump's tweets on Saturday, in which he made the wiretapping allegations.

Asked about the FBI request, a Justice Department spokesman said he had no comment. The FBI refused comment as well.

The New York Times first reported that the FBI asked the Justice Department to refute Trump's wiretapping claim.

Trump's aides asked Congress on Sunday to look into whether the Obama administration abused its investigative powers during the 2016 election. The move comes a day after Trump posted a series of tweets alleging, without presenting any evidence, that Obama wiretapped his phones in Trump Tower in the weeks leading up to the November election.

"Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling," White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in the statement Sunday morning, which he also posted on Twitter. "President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.

"Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such oversight is conducted," Spicer added. He did not provide any further details on the President's request to Congress.

While Spicer said "reports" prompted the call for a congressional investigation, the White House still has not provided any evidence to back up the President's accusations. There are no publicly known credible reports to back up Trump's claim that Obama ordered Trump's phones be monitored.

Frustrated that the Russia stories have overshadowed a widely praised performance in his joint address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump angrily raised the wiretapping issue unprompted in conversations with friends and acquaintances at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend, two people who have spoken with him at his Palm Beach resort said on Sunday. The President didn't specify what information he was basing his accusations upon, but told them he expected an investigation to prove him right.

Multiple former senior US officials have dismissed Trump's allegations, however, calling them "nonsense" and "false." Obama, through a spokesman, also rejected the claim that he ordered Trump's phones tapped.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, a career intelligence official who had oversight of the US intelligence community in that role, said Sunday that Trump was not wiretapped by intelligence agencies nor did the FBI obtain a court order through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to monitor Trump's phones.

"For the part of the national security apparatus that I oversaw as DNI, there was no wiretap activity mounted against the President-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign," Clapper said Sunday morning on NBC's "Meet the Press."

CNN, March 06 2017

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Seoul says North Korea carried out missile tests

North Korea has fired four ballistic missiles into the sea off Japan's northwest coast, South Korean and Japanese officials said, days after the reclusive state promised retailiation over US-South Korea military drills it sees as a preparation for war.

Seoul said four missiles were fired from North Pyongan province into the East Sea on Monday and that South Korea and the US were "closely analysing" tracking data for further details.

Seoul and Washington began annual joint military exercises last week - something Seoul has long condemned as a deliberate provocation.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said three of the North Korean missiles came down in Tokyo's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) - waters extending 200 nautical miles (370km) from its coast.

"This clearly shows North Korea has entered a new stage of threat," Abe said in parliament.

"The launches are clearly in violation of [UN] Security Council resolutions. It is an extremely dangerous action."

South Korea's military said the missiles were unlikely to have been intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) which could reach the US, but flew on average 1,000km and reached a height of 260km.

Some of the missiles landed in waters as close as 300km to Japan's northwest coast, Japan's Defence Minister Tomomi Inada said in Tokyo.

South Korea's acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn condemned the launches and said the country would swiftly deploy a US anti-missile defence in the face of angry objections from China.

"These missile tests are creeping closer to Japan and we assume North Korea can hit most of South Korea," Robert Kelly, professor of Political Science and Diplomacy at Pusan National University, told Al Jazeera.

"Bombing North Korea can be hugely dangerous because it can easily hit the South Korean capital. Missile shields are probably the best defence for the future."

Pyongyang carried out two atomic tests last year and a series of missile launches, but Monday was only the second time its devices entered Japan's EEZ.

Seoul has blamed Pyongyang for the killing of Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of the North's leader, by two women using VX nerve agentat Kuala Lumpur's international airport last month. North Korea denies that.
 Al Jazeera, March 06 2017
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Erdogan compares Germany rally ban to 'Nazi practices'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has criticised Germany for blocking several rallies there in advance of a referendum in Turkey on expanding his powers as head of state, comparing the decision to Nazi practices.

The remarks came on Sunday, a day after he accused Germany of "aiding and harbouring terror" for allowing outlawed Kurdish leaders to hold regular public meetings in the country.

"Your practices are not different from the Nazi practices of the past," Erdogan said on Sunday in Istanbul at a campaign for the referendum.

"I thought it's been a long time since Germany left [Nazi practices]. We are mistaken."

Several German towns prevented appearances by Erdogan's ministers last week, citing security and safety concerns.

Turkey summoned the German ambassador to the foreign ministry in Ankara to lodge a protest after local authorities in the southwestern German town of Gaggenau cancelled a talk by Bekir Bozdag, Turkey's justice minister.

The talk was reportedly intended to promote a "yes" vote for constitutional changes in the upcoming referendum.

Authorities in Cologne also withdrew permission for rallies where Nihat Zeybekci, Turkey's economy minister, was due to speak.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected Turkey's accusations that her government had a hand in scrapping the rallies, saying the decisions were "taken by municipalities, and as a matter of principle, we apply freedom of expression in Germany".

The cancellations have angered the Turkish government, which has accused Germany of working against the "Yes" campaign in the referendum.

Journalist detained

In his comments on Sunday, Erdogan said: "You will lecture us about democracy and then you will not let this country's ministers speak there."

The previous day, Erdogan said Deniz Yucel, a correspondent for Germany's Die Welt newspaper who is in detention in Turkey, was a "German agent" and a "representative" of the banned Kurdish rebel group, PKK.

Yucel, who has both Turkish and German citizenship, was detained on February 14 after his reports about a hacker attack on the email account of Turkey's energy minister, according to Die Welt.

Erdogan accused Germany of harbouring Yucel for a month at the German consulate in Istanbul before agreeing to hand him over to authorities.

He was charged with spreading "terrorist propaganda" on Monday.

Merkel on Saturday called Binali Yildirim, Turkey's prime minister, to try to defuse the dispute and the two countries' foreign ministers are set to meet later this week.

Al Jazeera, March 06 2017

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Former U.S. intelligence chief rejects Trump wiretap accusation

The former top U.S. intelligence official rejected President Donald Trump's accusation that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped him even as the White House on Sunday urged Congress to investigate Trump's allegation.

The New York Times reported on Sunday that FBI Director James Comey asked the Justice Department this weekend to reject Trump's wiretapping claim because it was false and must be corrected, but the department had not done so. The report cited senior U.S. officials.

The White House asked Congress, controlled by Trump's fellow Republicans, to examine whether the Obama administration abused its investigative authority during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, as part of an ongoing congressional probe into Russia's influence on the election.

Trump on Saturday alleged, without offering supporting evidence, that Obama ordered a wiretap of the phones at Trump's campaign headquarters in Trump Tower in New York.

"There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate or against his campaign," former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who left his post at the end of Obama's term in office in January, said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Under U.S. law, a federal court would have to have found probable cause that the target of the surveillance is an "agent of a foreign power" in order to approve a warrant authorizing electronic surveillance of Trump Tower.

Asked whether there was such a court order, Clapper said, "I can deny it."

Democrats accused Trump of trying to distract from the rising controversy about possible ties to Russia. His administration has come under pressure from FBI and congressional investigations into contacts between members of his campaign team and Russian officials.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions bowed out last week of any probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election after it emerged he met last year with Russia's ambassador while serving as a Trump campaign advisor. Sessions maintained he did nothing wrong by failing to disclose the meetings.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump and administration officials would have no further comment on the issue until Congress has completed its probe, potentially heading off attempts to get Trump to explain his accusations.
Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling," Spicer said in a statement.

U.S. Representative Devin Nunes, Republican head of the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee examining possible links between Russia and Trump's campaign, said in a statement that any possible surveillance on campaign officials would be part of the probe.

Trump made the wiretapping accusation in a series of early morning tweets on Saturday amid expanding scrutiny of his campaign's ties to Russia. An Obama spokesman denied the charge, saying it was "a cardinal rule" that no White House official interfered with independent Justice Department investigations.

The White House offered no evidence on Sunday to back up Trump's accusation and did not say it was true.

Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, appearing on ABC's "This Week," said Trump has "made very clear what he believes, and he's asking that we get down to the bottom of this. Let's get the truth here."

'EARLY STAGES OF INVESTIGATION'

Trump, who is spending the weekend at his Florida resort, said in his tweets on Saturday that the alleged wiretapping took place in his Trump Tower office and apartment building in New York, but there was "nothing found."

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Trump had either made a false accusation, or a judge had found probable cause to authorize a wiretap.

"Either way, the president's in trouble," Schumer said on NBC's "Meet the Press," adding that if Trump was spreading misinformation, "it shows this president doesn't know how to conduct himself."
Clapper said "there was no evidence" of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia in a January intelligence report concluding Russian interference in the 2016 election, but "this could have unfolded or become available in the time since I left government."

Trump's allegations echo charges made in recent days by several conservative news and commentary outlets, all without offering any evidence.

Trump should immediately turn over any evidence he has to support his allegation, said U.S. Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee.

"What we need to deal with is evidence, not just statements," she said on CBS's "Face the Nation," adding she also had not seen evidence of collaboration "but we are in the very early stages of our investigation."

Trump fired his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, in February after revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office.

Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary under Obama, said the president did not have the authority to unilaterally order a wiretap of a U.S. citizen.

"The president was not giving marching orders to the FBI about how to conduct its investigation," Earnest said on ABC's "This Week."

Reuters, March 06 2017
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Sikhs Respond to Suburban Seattle Shooting With Fear and Disbelief

(KENT, Wash.) — Fear, hurt and disbelief weighed on the minds of those who gathered at a Sikh temple Sunday after the shooting of a Sikh man who said a gunman approached him in his suburban Seattle driveway and told him "go back to your own country."
"Everybody who is part of this community needs to be vigilant," Satwinder Kaur, a Sikh community leader, said as several hundred people poured into a temple in Renton for worship services about one mile from Friday night's shooting.
"It is scary," she added. "The community has been shaken up."
Authorities said a gunman approached the 39-year-old Sikh man as he worked on his car in his driveway in the city of Kent, about 20 miles south of Seattle. The FBI will help investigate the shooting, authorities said.
Kent Police Chief Ken Thomas said the department is investigating the shooting as a hate crime. He said no arrests have been made yet after the victim was shot in the arm but that he did not believe anyone was in imminent danger.
"This is a top priority investigation, and we are doing everything possible to identify and arrest the suspect," Thomas said in an email, adding that residents in the city of about 125,000 should "be vigilant" but also not let the shooting hurt their quality of life.
The FBI's Seattle office said in a statement Sunday that it is "committed to investigating crimes that are potentially hate-motivated," the Seattle Times reported.
The shooting comes after an Indian man was killed and another wounded in a recent shooting at a Kansas bar that federal agencies are investigating as a hate crime after witnesses say the suspect yelled "get out of my country."
Friday night's shooting was on the minds of many who gathered at a Sikh Temple in nearby Renton Sunday morning for worship. Women in colorful saris and headscarves and men wearing turbans sat on the floor on opposite sides inside the worship space.
As they entered and left the services, many expressed fear that one of their own was targeted and said they're scared to go to the store or other public places. Some said they have noticed an uptick in name-calling and other racist incidents in recent months. Still others expressed hurt and disbelief at the lack of understanding and ignorance.
"Sikhism teaches about equality and peace," said Sandeep Singh, 24. "It's sad to see that's what it has come to," he said of the violence. "This is our country. This is everyone's country."
Gurjot Singh, 39, who served in the Marine Corps and is an Iraq war veteran, said he was dismayed that people think others who look different aren't equal or don't contribute equally to the community.
"This is equally my country as it is your country," he said. "It doesn't anger me. It hurts me."
Hira Singh, a Sikh community leader, said there have been increasing complaints recently from Sikhs near Seattle who say they have been the target of foul language or other comments.
"This kind of incident shakes up the whole community," he said, adding that about 50,000 members of the faith live in Washington state.
Kent Councilwoman Brenda Fincher went to the temple Sunday to show support for the community. "When a hate crime happens, we have to stand up and make sure everyone knows it's not acceptable," she said.
Kent police have not identified the man or released other information. But India's foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, identified the victim on Twitter early Sunday, saying, "I am sorry to know about the attack on Deep Rai, a U.S. national of Indian origin."
She said she had spoken to Rai's father, who told her Rai is out of danger and recovering in a hospital.
Rai told police a man he didn't know came up to him Friday night and they got into an argument, with the suspect telling Rai to go back to his homeland. He described the shooter as 6 feet tall and white with a stocky build, police said. He said the man was wearing a mask covering the lower half of his face.
"All of the information that I have available at this time suggests that the information provided by the victim is credible," Thomas, the police chief, wrote.
Sikhs have previously been the target of assaults in the U.S. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the backlash that hit Muslims around the country expanded to include those of the Sikh faith. Men often cover their heads with turbans, which are considered sacred, and refrain from shaving their beards.
In 2012, a man shot and killed six Sikh worshippers and wounded four others at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee before killing himself.
The Sikh Coalition, a national civil rights group, on Sunday said everything must be done "to confront this growing epidemic of hate violence."
"We are all accountable for what happened in Kent, Washington on Friday night," Jasmit Singh, a Seattle-area community leader, said in a statement.
Raj Singh Ajmani, who lives in Bellevue, said he was shocked by the shooting."When it happens in your own community, you realize the danger and the times we're living in," he said before heading to service. "Some people worry that more such violence will occur because of President Trump."

Time, March 06 2017
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