A former advisor to US President Donald Trump whose contacts with Russians set off the investigation into possible collusion with Moscow was jailed Friday for lying to the FBI.
US District Judge Randolph Moss sentenced foreign policy aide George Papadopoulos to 14 days in prison, acknowledging his guilty plea and his remorse, but noting that he “lied in an investigation that was important to national security.”
Papadopoulos was the second person ordered to prison in the sprawling, 16-month Russia collusion investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, and came just over two weeks after two former top aides to Trump were convicted of felony crimes in cases that grew out of the probe.
Trump sought to ridicule the sentence, suggesting that it was trivial accomplishment for an investigation that has cost millions since it began in May 2017 — while ignoring the 35 indictments, five guilty pleas and one trial conviction Mueller has racked up so far.
“14 days for $28 MILLION – $2 MILLION a day, No Collusion. A great day for America!” Trump tweeted.
But Senator Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has its own Russia collusion investigation, applauded Mueller’s work.
“Despite constant attacks by the President and his allies, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team have once again demonstrated that they are conducting a serious, professional investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russians during the 2016 election,” Warner said in a statement.
Iran, Russia and Turkey were unable to overcome their differences at a Tehran summit on Friday as they held talks on an imminent offensive against the last rebel stronghold in Syria, amid warnings from the international community of a looming humanitarian disaster.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly disagreed with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at a press conference in the Iranian capital and warned of a “bloodbath” in Idlib province, where an assault by Syrian government forces is expected any day.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who hosted the meeting, also warned against a “scorched earth” policy, but said “fighting terrorism in Idlib is an unavoidable part of the mission of restoring peace and stability to Syria.”
Russia and Iran are major allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey backs opposition fighters, including some present in Idlib, who are seeking his ouster.
In front of the world’s press, Erdogan criticised their joint statement for not including the word “truce”, saying it would “strengthen and calm this process.”
Putin retorted that armed opposition groups such as the Islamic State group and al-Nusra front were not present at the talks to offer to uphold any ceasefire.
“We cannot say for them… that they will stop shooting or stop using armed drones,” Putin said. He also insisted Damascus “has a right and must eventually take under control all of its national territory”.
Tokyo: A powerful earthquake triggered a landslide that engulfed houses on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido early on Thursday, television footage showed, injuring and trapping dozens of people and cutting power to millions across Hokkaido.
A landslide along a long ridge in the rural town of Atsuma could be seen in aerial footage from public broadcaster NHK. At least 19 people were missing and 120 people were injured in Hokkaido after the magnitude 6.7 quake, it said.
There were no early reports of deaths but a man suffered cardiac arrest after falling down stairs, Japanese media reported.
New Delhi : India is likely to give its approval to a landmark military communications agreement with the United States during high-level talks on Thursday, two Indian government defence sources said, laying the ground for Washington to sell sensitive defence equipment.
A first source said the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) was discussed in a meeting of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet committee on security on Wednesday evening, hours ahead of a meeting between the defence and foreign heads of India and the United States.
“It will be a positive development tomorrow,” the source said, declining to be named given the sensitivity of the matter. “It will definitely be reflected in the joint statement.”
A second government defence source said there was “high expectation” that the agreement would be signed on Thursday by U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and India’s Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The agreement has also been customised to address Indian concerns, said the second source, who had been briefed on the matter. It would only apply to equipment that India buys from the United States and not open up the rest of the Indian military to U.S. communications networks, said the source.