Former FBI chief Comey lashes out at Trump, Republicans

WASHINGTON - Former FBI director James Comey lashed out at Donald Trump on Monday for telling "lies" and undermining the rule of law, and urged Republicans to stand up to the president.

"The FBI's reputation has taken a big hit because the president of the United States, with his acolytes, has lied about it constantly. In the face of those lies, a whole lot of good people... believe that nonsense," Comey told reporters in the halls of the US Senate.

"People who know better, including Republican members of this body, have to have the courage to stand up and speak the truth."

Comey spoke after a spurt of anti-FBI tweets from the president over the past week alleged that the investigative body abused its powers in probing his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen and his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

Cohen and Flynn have both been convicted for various crimes and have both offered evidence potentially damaging to their former boss.

With Cohen, Trump tweeted on Sunday: "The FBI did something which was absolutely unthinkable & unheard of until the Witch Hunt was illegally started. They BROKE INTO AN ATTORNEY'S OFFICE!"

In fact the FBI had a court order to search Cohen's office.

As for Flynn, Trump alleged that he had been tricked into lying in a January 2016 interview with the FBI that led to his arrest.

"So General Michael Flynn's life can be totally destroyed while Shadey James Comey can Leak and Lie," Trump tweeted earlier this month.

Comey said that politicians, and especially Republicans, have to stop remaining quiet when Trump makes false statements.

"Republicans used to understand that the actions of a president matter, the words of a president matter, the rule of law matters, and the truth matters. Where are those Republicans today?"

"At some point, someone has to stand up and in the face of fear of Fox News, fear of their base, fear of mean tweets, stand up for the values of this country, and not slink away into retirement, but stand up and speak the truth."

Comey spoke after his second closed-door testimony in a week during which he was quizzed on his oversight of an investigation into the mishandling of sensitive emails by Trump's 2016 rival Hillary Clinton during the election.

While the Justice Department has closed the issue after an internal review, Trump and Republicans seeking to protect him from the Russia collusion investigation of Special Counsel Robert Mueller want the Clinton probe reopened.

Trump fired Comey in May 2017 after the latter refused to swear his allegiance and roll back the nascent investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. 

Mueller is now believed to be investigating whether that firing and other actions amount to obstruction of justice by the president.

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Trump revokes ex-CIA chief's security clearance, slamming critic

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump moved to penalize a sharp critic on Wednesday, revoking the security clearance of Obama-era CIA Director John Brennan for making what he called "a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations" about his administration.

The Republican president, in a statement read to reporters by White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders, also announced he was evaluating whether other former high-ranking officials, all of whom have criticized him, should have their security clearances withdrawn as well.

The decision came a day after Brennan, who headed the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency under Democratic President Barack Obama, leveled a blistering attack against Trump for the president's tweeted criticism of former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman, who wrote a book critical of Trump.

"It’s astounding how often you fail to live up to minimum standards of decency, civility, & probity. Seems like you will never understand what it means to be president, nor what it takes to be a good, decent, & honest person. So disheartening, so dangerous for our Nation," Brennan wrote.

Trump, without mentioning specific comments made by Brennan, said the former CIA leader had engaged in "frenzied commentary" and had sought to "sow division and chaos" about the Trump administration.

"Mr. Brennan has recently leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations – wild outbursts on the internet and television – about this administration," Trump said.

Brennan, in a tweet, said he would not back down.

"This action is part of a broader effort by Mr. Trump to suppress freedom of speech & punish critics. It should gravely worry all Americans, including intelligence professionals, about the cost of speaking out. My principles are worth far more than clearances. I will not relent," he said. Trump said he may also revoke the clearances of other critics, including former U.S. national intelligence director James Clapper, former FBI Director James Comey, former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice, former National Security Agency director Michael Hayden and former deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, among others.

Also on the list was Bruce Ohr, a current Justice Department official in the criminal division.

"BANANA REPUBLIC"

Republican lawmakers gave mixed reviews to Trump's decision, with some criticizing it and others saying Brennan had acted inappropriately with his comments about the president.

“I don’t like it at all," said Republican Senator Bob Corker, referring to Trump's decision. "It feels very much like a banana republic kind of thing.”

Brennan has frequently appeared on cable television news shows and sent out lashing tweets to attack Trump's foreign policy positions.

He was particularly biting about the president's joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki a month ago. Trump said he tended to believe Putin's denials about Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election despite the U.S. intelligence community view that Moscow was to blame.

Brennan suggested in a tweet that Trump could be impeached, saying his performance in Helsinki "rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes & misdemeanors'” and was "nothing short of treasonous."

High-ranking government officials sometimes retain their security clearances after leaving office, allowing them the ability to provide advice as needed to their successors.

"At this point in my administration, any benefits that senior officials might glean from consultations with Mr. Brennan are now outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior ... That conduct and behavior has tested and far exceeded the limits of any professional courtesy that has been due to him," Trump said.

Brennan faces no formal charges or allegations of violating any regulations or laws. Another former CIA director, John Deutch, had his security clearance revoked in 1999, three years after he resigned as CIA chief, after he violated security rules for keeping classified information on computers at his home.

Ned Price, a former National Security Council spokesman for Obama and former CIA official, said Trump was trying to shift public attention away from the critical book by Manigault Newman.

"The proximate target was John Brennan, but the real intent of today’s announcement was to simultaneously shift and silence," he said.

"The White House knows as well as anyone that Brennan, in his criticism of Trump, has never disclosed classified information. And that’s always been the metric when it comes to a revocation of a clearance," Price said.

Hayden, asked for his response to Trump’s announced review of his security clearance, replied in an email, “Meh.” “With regard to the implied threat today that I could lose my clearance, that will have no impact on what I think, say or write,” Hayden wrote. 

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FBI agent Strzok, who criticized Trump in text messages, is fired

WASHINGTON - Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who came under fire from President Donald Trump and other Republicans for sending text messages that disparaged the candidate during the presidential campaign, was fired late on Friday, his attorney said on Monday.

Strzok is the third high-ranking person to be fired from the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the Trump administration, including former Director James Comey. During his FBI career, Strzok rose to deputy assistant director, focusing on counterintelligence.

After Justice Department internal investigators found the texts, Strzok was reassigned from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the Trump campaign. The firing came after a lengthy internal investigation.

Strzok's attorney, Aitan Goelman, said in a statement that FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich made the decision to terminate his client.

The decision, Goelman added, was at odds with a recommendation by the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility, which had called for Strzok to face a 60-day suspension and demotion from his supervisory responsibilities.

He also said it went against promises that FBI Director Christopher Wray made in the past about adhering to proper processes on personnel matters.

The FBI said in a statement it had followed its standard review and disciplinary process after the inspector general referred the Strzok case to the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility.

"OPR reviewed the investigative materials, as well as the written and oral responses of Mr. Strzok and his counsel, and issued OPR's decision. The deputy director, as the senior career FBI official, has the delegated authority to review and modify any disciplinary findings ... as deemed necessary," the statement said.

Strzok's attorney Goelman, however, said that normally FBI personnel can appeal such decisions to a five-person review board. Goelman said the appeals step was bypassed in Strzok's case and the FBI did not follow the normal course afforded to other FBI agents.

Trump took to Twitter not long after the news broke on Monday.

"Agent Peter Strzok was just fired from the FBI-finally," wrote Trump, who had called for Strzok's ouster before.

"The list of bad players in the FBI & DOJ gets longer & longer."


A post under a newly created Twitter account under Strzok's name said he was "deeply saddened" by the decision to fire him.

The post also linked to a GoFundMe page, which had raised more than $48,700 toward a $150,000 goal as of late Monday.

"All funds raised on this GoFundMe will be put into a trust dedicated to covering Pete’s hefty – and growing – legal costs and his lost income," the fundraising website says.

Goelman said that his client's firing was politically motivated and that his texts represented political speech protected by the First Amendment.

'RUSSIA THING'

In March, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe after a scathing report by the Justice Department's internal watchdog concluded he had leaked information to reporters and misled investigators about his actions.


Comey was fired by Trump in May 2017 after Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein helped write a memo that was critical of how Comey handled the FBI's probe into then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server for official business.

Later, however, Trump claimed he fired Comey over that "Russia thing," apparently referring to the FBI probe into whether his presidential campaign colluded with Russia. Trump has repeatedly denied any collusion and called the investigation a witch hunt.

Both Comey and McCabe said, however, they believe they were fired because they are key witnesses in Special Counsel Mueller's probe into whether Trump may have tried to obstruct the investigation.

Strzok was deeply involved in the FBI's Clinton email investigation and was temporarily assigned to Mueller's office. He was removed from that post after his texts came to light.

The texts were criticized by the Justice Department's inspector general in a recent report that examined the FBI's handling of the Clinton email probe. Republicans in Congress have repeatedly pointed to them as evidence the FBI is biased against Trump.


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Mueller hints at obstruction in Trump questions: report

WASHINGTON - Special Counsel Robert Mueller has submitted questions to the White House that indicate a focus on whether President Donald Trump tried to obstruct a probe into Russian interference, The New York Times reported Monday.

The questions also show Mueller wants to find out what Trump knew about links between members of his presidential campaign and Russia, including a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower with a Russian lawyer offering damaging information on election rival Hillary Clinton, the Times said.

And they indicate that Mueller wants to know if Trump offered a pardon to his former national security advisor, Michael Flynn, who has already been charged by Mueller with lying and is believed to be cooperating with the investigation.

The questions are the clearest signal yet that Mueller has enough circumstantial evidence to suspect the president of obstruction, and also has reason to believe Trump might have known of the Russia links.

But there is no indication whether Trump is now an official suspect of the year-old probe, or that Mueller has found evidence of active collusion with the Russians, which Trump vehemently denies.

The Times obtained a list of questions it said Mueller's team read over the telephone to Trump's legal team, which compiled them into a list.

The Times said it obtained the list from someone outside Trump's legal team.

Mueller's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Since at least early this year, Mueller has discussed the possibility of interviewing Trump for the investigation, according to the president's attorneys.

But they appear to have been divided on how and how much Trump should cooperate.

Two weeks ago, Trump recruited to his legal team former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who said he would try to reach a deal with Mueller on how the president would cooperate with the probe.

Most of the questions reported by the Times ask what Trump knew of certain events, like the June 2016 meeting with the Russian lawyer, or what was he thinking when he did or said something, like firing former FBI director James Comey.

"When did you become aware of the Trump Tower meeting?" one question asks.

"What efforts were made to reach out to Mr Flynn about seeking immunity or possible pardon?" goes another.

Mueller also wants to know if Trump discussed with any campaign staff arranging a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

While none of the questions are accusatory, they could carry the risk of Trump being trapped in a lie if any of several former campaign staff already indicted by Mueller have provided evidence to the contrary.

pmh/oh

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Trump 'morally unfit' for office, fired FBI chief Comey says

Fired former FBI chief James Comey lashed out at Donald Trump in an interview with ABC broadcast Sunday, calling him "morally unfit" to be president and describing him as a serial liar who will "stain everyone around him."

Comey's remarks are the latest salvo in a war of words with Trump, who excoriated the former FBI director on Twitter earlier in the day, again calling him a "slimeball" and suggesting he should be jailed.

The wide-ranging interview with ABC News also came ahead of Tuesday's release of Comey's memoir, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership," in which he details his interactions with the Republican president.

"I think he's morally unfit to be president," Comey said, in his first televised interview since being fired in May last year.

The former federal prosecutor pointed to how Trump "talks about and treats women like they're pieces of meat" and "lies constantly about matters big and small and insists the American people believe it."

"Values matter," Comey said. "This president does not reflect the values of this country."

Comey also said that serving in Trump's administration poses a serious ethical dilemma.

"The challenge of this president is that he will stain everyone around him," he told ABC, which aired an edited version of the interview but published a full transcript.

"And the question is, how much stain is too much stain and how much stain eventually makes you unable to accomplish your goal of protecting the country and serving the country?"

COMPROMISING MATERIAL? 

But while Comey sharply criticized Trump, he said he hopes the president is not impeached.

"I hope not because I think impeaching and removing Donald Trump from office would let the American people off the hook and have something happen indirectly that I believe they're duty bound to do directly."

In his book, Comey likens Trump to a dishonest, ego-driven mob boss and says he demanded the then FBI chief's personal pledge of loyalty -- a damning account that has infuriated the president at a moment of intensifying legal pressure on other fronts.

"I never asked Comey for Personal Loyalty. I hardly even knew this guy. Just another of his many lies. His 'memos' are self serving and FAKE!" Trump said in one of a series of tweets fired off Sunday before the interview.

The president said Comey "stupidly" handled a probe into Trump's 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton and how she used a private email server during her time as secretary of state.

In another tweet, Trump offered a mini-review of Comey's memoir.

"The big questions in Comey's badly reviewed book aren't answered like, how come he gave up Classified Information (jail), why did he lie to Congress (jail), why did the DNC refuse to give Server to the FBI (why didn't they TAKE it), why the phony memos, McCabe's $700,000 & more?"

The jumble of references appeared to allude to unsubstantiated accusations Trump has previously made claiming Comey lied in Senate testimony last May in denying he had served as an anonymous news source.

"Look, it's been very clear that James Comey is a self-admitted leaker. He lied to Congress," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

In the interview, Comey said he was unsure whether or not the Russians have compromising material that could be used to blackmail Trump -- either relating to his pre-election personal conduct, or his campaign's actions.

"I think it's possible. I don't know. These are more words I never thought I'd utter about a president of the United States, but it's possible," he said.

POSSIBLE OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE

And Comey said the president may have obstructed justice when he asked him to drop an investigation into former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

"Possibly. I mean, it's certainly some evidence of obstruction of justice," he said. "It would depend upon other things that reflected on his intent."

Trump and his aides have countered Comey's media blitz by attacking his handling of the probe into Clinton's emails.

Comey acknowledged in the ABC interview that his belief that Clinton would be elected president "was a factor" in his decision to reopen the email probe 11 days before the US election, a development that Clinton blames for her surprise defeat.

"I don't remember spelling it out, but it had to have been, that she's going to be elected president and if I hide this from the American people, she'll be illegitimate the moment she's elected, the moment this comes out," Comey said.

Trump attacked him on Twitter.

"Unbelievably, James Comey states that Polls, where Crooked Hillary was leading, were a factor in the handling (stupidly) of the Clinton Email probe," Trump said.

"In other words, he was making decisions based on the fact that he thought she was going to win, and he wanted a job. Slimeball!" he wrote.

bur-wd/ceb

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Former FBI director: Trump wanted FBI to disprove salacious dossier

WASHINGTON—Former FBI Director James Comey said he cautioned President Donald Trump against ordering an investigation into salacious allegations in an intelligence dossier about a Trump trip to Moscow in 2013, according to an ABC interview broadcast on Friday.

"I said to him, 'Sir that's up to you but you want to be careful about that because it might create a narrative that we're investigating you personally and, second, it's very difficult to prove something didn't happen," Comey said.

In the first excerpt of an interview with the fired Federal Bureau of Investigation director, broadcast on "Good Morning America," Comey talked about his initial encounters with the new president, whom he described as volatile, defensive and concerned more about how his own image than about Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Comey, who was fired by Trump in May, is doing a series of media interviews that coincide with the release next week of his book, "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership."

Trump, who has criticized Comey repeatedly before and after he fired him, denounced him on Twitter on Friday: "James Comey is a proven LEAKER & LIAR," he said.

In the book, Comey wrote that Trump raised the dossier with him at least four times during meetings, according to the Washington Post, which obtained a copy. The dossier was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele about Trump’s ties to Russia and included an allegation that involved prostitutes.

Comey told ABC that Trump denied the allegations and said he may want the FBI to investigate allegations in the dossier to prove they were not true.

Trump was worried there was a chance his wife, Melania Trump, would believe the allegations.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

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The FBI: political punching bag or in need of reform?

The Federal Bureau of Investigation, accused of abusing its power in its probe of links between President Donald Trump's election campaign and Russia, has become a political punching bag, experts in the US law enforcement community say.

But after two years of becoming deeply enmeshed in the swirl of American politics -- at one point in 2016, it was investigating both Trump's team and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton -- the FBI also needs to clean up its image, they say. 

"I think that there are troubling things that myself, many former agents, as well as current on-board employees, would like to see a full accounting of," said retired special agent James Gagliano.

In the past few years, actions by the agency's top management "have had a deleterious effect on the reputation of the FBI," Gagliano, who is now an adjunct assistant professor at St John's University in New York, told AFP.

The FBI was accused of both aiding Clinton's campaign and causing her loss.

Since then, Trump and his Republican Party claim that the agency has tried to discredit his victory -- and possibly help force him from office -- by opening a special investigation into possible collusion with Moscow.

The FBI took another brutal hit Friday when Trump spearheaded a Republican effort to tar the agency as deeply politicized, with the release of a secret, controversial GOP memo.

But the agency's director Christopher Wray -- who was hand-picked by Trump six months ago, but whose future now seems unclear -- has so far stood tall.

"Talk is cheap," he told his 35,000-strong staff after the memo release, in an internal letter obtained by AFP.

- History of clashes - 

Trump's battle with the Justice Department and FBI is not new, and is just one in a long series of fights between presidents and their top law enforcement officials.

Legendary G-Man J. Edgar Hoover, the agency's first director who served for nearly a half-century, turned the FBI into an institution feared by crooks and politicians alike.

Presidents from Harry Truman to Richard Nixon considered dismissing him, but Hoover was seen as too powerful -- and dangerous.

The FBI director is appointed for a term of 10 years -- a method seen as ensuring he or she remains apolitical. But some critics say that goal has not been met.

The root of the current battle is former director James Comey's personal handling of the 2016 investigation into Clinton's use of an unauthorized personal email server while she was secretary of state. 

His attempts to keep that sensitive probe apolitical fell flat, reaping attacks from both parties even as he twice found the evidence lacking to charge her.

"The Clinton investigation put the FBI in the center of the political battle," said Jeffrey Ringel, a veteran agent who is now director of the Soufan Group, a security consultancy. 

"Either way, the FBI was going to come out bruised."

- The Russia probe - 

After becoming president, Trump took umbrage when Comey pursued allegations that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election to help the real estate mogul win. 

Comey refused to back off and declare loyalty to Trump, who fired him, accusing him of being pro-Democrat.

Since then, Trump has built a campaign against the agency, alleging that Comey, his onetime deputy Andrew McCabe, agents who served on both the Clinton and Trump probes, and some Justice Department officials were biased against him. 

Republicans say leaked text messages show that two investigators working both cases were deeply anti-Trump. They note that McCabe's wife was supported by Clinton in a failed run for state office in Virginia. 

Before Friday's release of the memo, Trump said leaders of both the FBI and the Department of Justice had "politicized the sacred investigative process in favor of Democrats and against Republicans - something which would have been unthinkable just a short time ago."

- Impossible situation - 

FBI agents say Comey made the best of an impossible situation -- investigating two top candidates during an election.

But he also plunged the agency too much into the limelight, and blurred the lines of impartiality, they said.

Gagliano says while the agency's current predicament is not unprecedented, "it is unsettling."

He insisted that while agents have their political leanings, they rigorously put them aside on the job, and that only "a few people" had compromised that.

"Their impartiality, their lack of a political agenda has been compromised to some extent via a few people," he noted.

Most analysts have dismissed the criticisms in the so-called "Nunes memo" released by the House Intelligence Committee on Friday as deeply distorted and unfair to the FBI.

But current and former agents say Wray needs to strongly defend the agency -- while clearing the cloud of political bias hanging over the staff.

"Wray needs to stress among the rank and file that the FBI must be seen as apolitical and cannot let their personal opinions affect their investigative actions," Ringel said.

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Ex-US Attorney Bharara tells of 'unusual' calls he received from Trump

WASHINGTON - Former US Attorney Preet Bharara revealed on Sunday that he received a handful of "unusual" phone calls from Donald Trump after the November election that made him feel uncomfortable, and said he was fired after declining to take the third call.

Speaking on ABC News' "This Week" in his first televised interview since Trump fired him in March as the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, Bharara said he believed Trump's calls to him violated the usual boundaries between the executive branch and independent criminal investigators.


"It's a very weird and peculiar thing for a one-on-one conversation without the attorney general, without warning between the president and me or any United States attorney who has been asked to investigate various things and is in a position hypothetically to investigate business interests and associates of the president," Bharara said.

He added that during President Barack Obama's tenure, Obama never called him directly.

Bharara's comments came just a few days after former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey testified at a congressional panel that Trump had asked him to drop an investigation into former Trump aide Michael Flynn and his alleged ties to Russia.

Comey also said he believed he was subsequently fired in an effort to undermine the investigation into possible collusion between Trump's campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Trump has denied allegations of collusion between his campaign and Russia and said he never directed Comey to drop the Flynn probe.

A White House spokeswoman could not immediately be reached for comment.

Bharara said on Sunday that Trump called him twice after the November election "ostensibly just to shoot the breeze."

"It was a little bit uncomfortable, but he was not the president. He was only the president-elect," Bharara said.

The third call, however, came two days after Trump's inauguration. That time, he said, he refused to call back.

"The call came in. I got a message. We deliberated over it, thought it was inappropriate to return the call. And 22 hours later I was asked to resign along with 45 other people," he said.

Bharara stopped short of saying whether he thought Trump had obstructed justice in his conversations and subsequent firing of Comey.

However, he said he thought there was "absolutely evidence to begin a case" into the matter.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Richard Chang)

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Asia stocks dip, dollar buoyant as Fed comes into view

TOKYO - Asian stocks edged lower early on Monday following a slide by US technology shares and the dollar rose ahead of this week's US Federal Reserve policy meeting, with markets hoping for more guidance on the central bank's interest rate path.

The Fed holds a two-day meeting ending on Wednesday at which it is widely expected to hike interest rates. The focus is on whether the Fed thinks the US economy is robust enough to withstand further rate increases through 2017.

A rate hike accompanied by a message suggesting that the Fed may raise rates more than expected in 2017 would support the dollar but be negative for equity markets.

"Political events like the UK election and Comey's testimony are over and the focus this weeks shifts to monetary policy," said Junichi Ishikawa, senior forex strategist at IG Securities in Tokyo.

"The equity markets and the dollar have mostly priced in the Fed signalling three rate hikes in 2017. That explains why US equities have held up. But if the Fed hints at more than three hikes, that could trigger a sell-off in equities that many are bracing for."

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.1 percent following a mixed day Friday on Wall Street where the Nasdaq slid 1.8 percent on tumbling technology shares but the Dow closed at yet another record high.

MSCI's Asia-Pacific index was still in reach of a two-year high scaled late last week.

Japan's Nikkei was down 0.5 percent and South Korea's KOSPI slid 0.5 percent. Australian markets were closed for a public holiday.

Equities navigated through last week's potential landmines events relatively unscathed.

Congressional testimony by former FBI Director James Comey caused few ructions, and the fallout of Britain's surprise parliamentary election result, at which the ruling party lost the majority, was mostly contained to the pound.

Sterling was down 0.05 percent at $1.2734 after sliding 1.7 percent on Friday, when it plumbed a near two-month low of $1.2636.

The dollar was steady at 110.320 yen. The euro was a shade higher at $1.1205 following three straight days of losses against the greenback.

The dollar index against a basket of currencies was little changed at 97.255 following its rise on Friday to a 9-day high of 97.500.

The US currency received support as Treasury yields, which marked seven-month lows early last week at the height of investor jitters towards the UK elections and Comey's testimony, continued their bounce ahead of the Fed's anticipated rate hike.

In commodities, crude oil prices extended gains after rising on Friday when a pipeline leak in major producer Nigeria overshadowed supply worries that have been weighing on the market.

US crude and Brent were both 0.35 percent higher at $45.99 and $48.32 a barrel, respectively.
 
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Comey's testimony 'human' and 'dramatic': analysts

Former FBI director James Comey appeared “quite human” when he testified that President Donald Trump allegedly fired him to try to undermine the bureau's investigation into possible collusion between Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign team.

Steve Herman, White House bureau chief of Voice of America noted Trump’s unusual silence on Comey’s claims, with reactions coming only from his son, who spoke on Twitter, and his lawyer.

Comey on Thursday said he felt the need to go public with his account of his conversations with Trump in the hope that it might prompt the appointment of a special counsel, which later occurred.

Meanwhile, for Scott Wong, senior staff writer of The Hill, reactions to Comey’s statements so far have been very partisan but he notes that the testimony was one of the “most dramatic things” to happen in Capitol Hill. Annalisa Burgos reports. -- ANC Dateline Philippines, June 9, 2017

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Ex-FBI chief sets Twitter abuzz but @realDonaldTrump is silent

NEW YORK - Former FBI Director James Comey's long-anticipated congressional testimony set off a social media storm on Thursday with millions of people jumping into the fray but there was one notable absence - the tweeter in chief himself.

President Donald Trump's ordinarily red-hot Twitter handle, @realDonaldTrump, was dormant during the three-hour hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee, although another Trump helped carry the mantle. Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, live tweeted throughout Comey's testimony, taking the ex-FBI director to task for his version of what the president told him.

Twitter had a field day with other moments of Comey's testimony, including his revelation that he broke a date with his wife in order to have dinner with Trump and his use of the exclamation "Lordy." Comey's disclosure that the person who leaked his memos of meeting with Trump was a Columbia Law School professor led to a stampede on the school's website, causing it to crash.

Here are some highlights of what excited Twitter during the testimony.

SON STANDS IN FOR TRUMP

Trump Jr. took issue with Comey's comments about whether the president was ordering him to drop the investigation of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

"Knowing my father for 39 years when he 'orders or tells' you to do something there is no ambiguity, you will know exactly what he means," he tweeted.


"Hoping and telling are two very different things, you would think that a guy like Comey would know that," he concluded, adding the hashtag "#givemeabreak".

With his father's Twitter handle silent, @DonaldJTrumpJr became the 10th most mentioned Twitter handle in the Comey conversation, according to social media analysis firm Brandwatch.

'LORDY'

One remark in particular from Comey got the Twittersphere buzzing.

"Lordy, I hope there are tapes," he told the committee regarding whether Trump had recorded their conversation.

"Lordy" quickly became the focus of numerous memes, animated graphics and calls for T-shirts.

Even the Merriam-Webster dictionary got into the act, tweeting out the definition of "Lordy" as a word used to "express surprise or strength of feeling."


Twitter said Comey's "Lordy" remark was among the top three most tweeted moments during the testimony.

STOOD UP

Social media also poked fun when Comey revealed a presidential intrusion into his domestic life.

"I had to call my wife and break a date with her," Comey said. "I was supposed to take her out to dinner that night."

"Moral of the #Comey testimony: Don't cancel a date with your wife," said CBS-Chicago reporter Jeremy Ross on Twitter.

COLUMBIA CRASH

Columbia Law School's website became overburdened after Comey said he had asked a good friend who is a professor there to leak memos from his meeting with Trump to the media. Daniel Richman later confirmed to Reuters he was the one to whom Comey referred in his testimony.

Shortly after the mention by Comey, the school tweeted: "Columbia Law's site is down at the moment. We are working on a solution. Stay tuned."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Asian shares down ahead of Comey, ECB and UK election

TOKYO - Asian shares wobbled in early Thursday trade as investors braced for any surprises from former FBI director James Comey's congressional appearance, the European Central Bank's policy meeting and the UK general elections.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.27 percent while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.3 percent thanks to the dollar's rebound against the yen.

Wall Street shares ticked up on Wednesday, despite sharp decline in energy prices, after written testimony from Comey did not add major revelations about an investigation into Russian meddling with last year's US presidential election.

The 10-year US Treasuries yield ticked up to 2.185 percent after having fallen to a seven-month low of 2.129 percent on Tuesday.

Many investors are wary ahead of Comey's Senate appearance later in the day for any hints that President Donald Trump may have been engaged in obstruction of justice - an offence that could lead to impeachment hearings.

"If the hearing does not produce clear-cut evidences of obstruction of justice, uncertainties will remain but for market the issue will likely be put on a back burner," said Hiroko Iwaki, senior fixed income strategist at Mizuho Securities.

"Unless you assume there will be a complete chaos in US politics or a downturn in the US economy, it is hard to see further falls in US bond yields," she said.

In the foreign exchange market, the dollar stayed near its seven-month low against a basket of currencies as doubts over Trump's ability to push through his stimulus plans have eroded the greenback's gains late last year.

The dollar index stood at 96.695 , near Wednesday's seven-month low of 96.511.

The euro traded at $1.1258, near its seven-month high of $1.1285 touched earlier this month, ahead of the European Central Bank's policy meeting later in the day.

ECB policymakers are set to take a more benign view of the economy and will even discuss dropping some of their pledges to ramp up stimulus if needed, sources with direct knowledge of the discussions told Reuters.

Against the yen, the dollar bounced back a tad to 109.74 yen from Wednesday's 1-1/2-month low of 109.115.

Sterling held firm at $1.2957, near its highest levels in two weeks, as all eyes were on the UK general election.

The pound gained as much as 4 percent after Prime Minister Theresa May called a snap election seven weeks ago, as polls had initially suggested a landslide win for her Conservative party that would give the prime minister a stronger hand in Britain's negotiations on leaving the European Union.

But recent polls suggested a narrowing lead for May, with some pointing to the chance that the Tories may not win an outright majority, capping the pound's gains.

Oil prices licked wounds after sharp falls on Wednesday to a one-month low, following an unexpected increase in U.S. inventories of crude and gasoline that fanned fears that output cuts by major world oil producers have not done much to drain a global glut.

Brent crude futures traded at $48.36 per barrel, up 0.6 percent so far on Thursday, though they had fallen 4.1 percent the previous day.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Fired FBI chief Comey to testify publicly in Congress

WASHINGTON, United States - James Comey, the former FBI chief whose firing by President Donald Trump has triggered uproar, has agreed to testify publicly about Russian interference in the 2016 elections, lawmakers announced Friday.

"I hope that former Director Comey's testimony will help answer some of the questions that have arisen since Director Comey was so suddenly dismissed by the president," the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, said in a statement.

"Director Comey served his country with honor for many years, and he deserves an opportunity to tell his story. Moreover, the American people deserve an opportunity to hear it."

Both Warner and the committee's chairman, Richard Burr, indicated they were looking forward to Comey's testimony about Russian interference in the November 8 presidential elections that saw Trump secure the White House by scoring the electoral college, though Democratic rival Hillary Clinton won the popular vote.

No date has yet been set for the open session hearing, though the statement said it would take place after the Memorial Day holiday, May 29.

The White House has been thrown into turmoil by a succession of stunning allegations against the president this week, including that he may have obstructed justice by asking Comey to drop an investigation into one of his top advisors.

On Friday, The Washington Post reported that a senior White House official was now under investigation as part of a probe over Russian efforts to tilt the elections in Trump's favor.

And The New York Times said the US president had told top Russian officials Comey's sacking had relieved "great pressure" on him.

Trump told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov last week that Comey was a "nut job," according to the Times, citing notes taken at the meeting and read to the paper by a US official.

That flies in the face of the White House's public insistence that Comey's dismissal was not linked to his ongoing investigation.

The president's son-in-law Jared Kushner is among those whose contacts with the Russian government have come under scrutiny.

On Thursday, Trump declared himself the victim of the "greatest witch hunt" in American political history and denied allegations of collusion.

"There is no collusion between certainly myself and my campaign, but I can always speak for myself, and the Russians -- zero," Trump told reporters.

The White House on Friday predicted that the investigation would back up Trump's account.

"As the president has stated before -- a thorough investigation will confirm that there was no collusion between the campaign and any foreign entity," said spokesman Sean Spicer.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US stocks, dollar tumble as investors rethink 'Trump trade'

NEW YORK - Stocks on major markets and the US dollar sold off while bond yields fell on Wednesday as investors fled risky assets amid uncertainty about US President Donald Trump's ability to deliver on his tax and banking reforms and infrastructure spending.

Reports that Trump asked then-Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey to end a probe into the former national security adviser have raised questions over whether Trump tried to interfere with a federal investigation.

US stock market declines accelerated in afternoon trading, and major US indexes ended near session lows. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 372 points, and both the Dow and S&P 500 suffered their worst percentage drops since Sept. 9.

The CBOE Volatility index, the most widely followed barometer of expected near-term stock market volatility, ended above the 15 level in its highest close since April 13. The US dollar index has now erased its post-election gains.

A small but growing number of Trump's fellow Republicans called on Wednesday for an independent probe of possible collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russia.

The news came after a tumultuous week at the White House when Trump unexpectedly fired FBI director Comey and reportedly disclosed classified information to Russia's foreign minister about a planned Islamic State operation.

Optimism over pro-growth economic policies under Trump helped drive a sharp rally in US stocks after the Nov. 8 US election. Even with Wednesday's declines, the S&P 500 stock index is up 10.2 percent since last November's US elections though.

"It's certainly a day when the chickens are coming home to roost," said Donald Selkin, chief market strategist at Newbridge Securities in New York.

"The (equity) bull market is not over by any means, but between the political stuff and the fact that the next earnings season is three months away, there's going to be a lack of motivation."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 372.82 points, or 1.78 percent, to end at 20,606.93, the S&P 500 index lost 43.64 points, or 1.82 percent, to 2,357.03 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 158.63 points, or 2.57 percent, to 6,011.24.

The Nasdaq had its worst day since June 24. Both the Dow and S&P 500 fell below their 50-day moving averages for the first time since April 21.

While previous threats to Trump's plans have rattled investors, they had failed to cause any significant pull back in stocks. The VIX last week closed at 9.77, its lowest close since December 1993.

Bank stocks, which outperformed in the post-election rally, were the worst hit on Wednesday. The S&P 500 financial sector tumbled 3 percent.

At nearly 18 times forward earnings, the S&P 500 trades at a significant premium to its long-term average valuations of 15 times, according to Thomson Reuters data.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe fell 1.2 percent, while European shares ended down 1.4 percent.

"It's registering with more investors that it's going to be hard to get back on track with the latest allegations," Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Prices of bonds, seen as safe-haven assets, rallied, while yields were on track for their biggest daily percentage drops since July.

Benchmark 10-year notes gained a full point in price to yield 2.22 percent, the lowest since April 21, and down from 2.33 percent late on Tuesday.

The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against six peers and had scaled a 14-year peak of 103.82 on Jan. 3, fell 0.6 percent to its lowest level since Nov. 9, surrendering all of its "Trump bump" gains. The dollar also fell by nearly 2 percent against the yen.

In commodity markets, safe-haven gold hit a two-week high, while oil prices were higher. Spot gold rose for a fifth day and was up 1.8 percent at $1,258.38 an ounce.

Brent crude gained 1.1 percent to settle at $52.21 per barrel, while US light crude rose 0.8 percent to settle at $49.07.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Betting odds of Trump impeachment jump after Comey firing

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's sudden dismissal of FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday has seen the betting odds of a Trump impeachment skyrocket, bookmaking sites told AFP on Wednesday.

Opposition Democrat lawmakers have ramped up calls for an independent investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow since Trump's surprise firing of the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday.

The shocking news drew immediate comparisons to former President Richard Nixon's dismissal of the independent Watergate investigator Archibald Cox in 1973. Nixon resigned the following year after a congressional panel voted for impeachment.

By Wednesday, the odds for a Trump impeachment during his first term had risen from 2/1 to 4/6, representing a 60 percent chance, according to Lewis Davey, a spokesman for the Irish betting site Paddy Power.

"We can attribute this to the news of Comey's sacking," said Davey, adding that the current four-to-six odds were "the shortest we've been for Trump to be impeached in his first term."

Online gambling is still largely prohibited in much of the United States and so the odds likely do not reflect a significant share of American views.

The betting odds are also not probabilities for any outcome -- but do reflect the weight of money that punters have staked.

Naomi Totten of Betfair, a separate British betting platform owned by the same corporate parent as Paddy Power, said the Comey firing had customers eager to wager on a Trump downfall.

"There's someone who's looking to place a hundred thousand pounds on Trump to leave," she told AFP, a sum currently equal to about $129,000.

The unnamed gambler had already staked 30,000 pounds and was seeking to add another 70,000, but no one had so far taken that bet, Totten said.

In the hours following Comey's ouster, the odds that Trump will leave office before the year is out went from 9/1 to 3/1, according to Totten.

Since Comey's firing, bets have been lighter on whether Trump will leave before the end of his first term in January 2021, she said, "but they have been big enough to move the odds from 15/2 to even money."

The president's poll numbers have reached near record lows since his inauguration and the president's favorable rating is currently at 54.2 percent, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls.

Trump's Republican party controls both chambers of Congress, reducing the likelihood of an impeachment.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trump fires FBI Director Comey: White House

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Tuesday abruptly fired FBI Director James Comey in the fallout over Comey's probe of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's emails last year, saying Comey was no longer able to effectively lead the agency.

"It is essential that we find new leadership for the FBI that restores public trust and confidence in its vital law enforcement mission," Trump said in a letter to Comey released by the White House.

Trump told Comey in the letter he accepted the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions that "you are not able to effectively lead the bureau."

Comey has been embroiled in controversy surrounding his probe into whether Clinton's use of a private email server while U.S. secretary of state during President Barack Obama's first term compromised national security.

He said in July that the case should be closed without prosecution, but then declared - 11 days before the Nov. 8 election - that he had reopened the investigation because of a discovery of a new trove of Clinton-related emails.

It was a decision Democrats believe cost Clinton victory.

The White House released a memo by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein about Comey's actions.

"I cannot defend the Director's handling of the conclusion of the investigation of Secretary Clinton's emails, and I do not understand his refusal to accept the nearly universal judgment that he was mistaken," Rosenstein wrote.

Rosenstein identified several areas in which he said Comey had erred, saying it was wrong of him to "usurp" then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch's authority by announcing the initial conclusion of the email case on July 5.

Comey "announced his own conclusions about the nation's most sensitive criminal investigation, without the authorization of duly appointed Justice Department leaders," Rosenstein wrote. Comey also "ignored another longstanding principle" by holding a news conference to "release derogatory information about the subject of a declined criminal investigation."

Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee last Wednesday it made him "mildly nauseous" to think his announcement of the reopening of an investigation into Clinton's emails affected the 2016 presidential election, but he had no regrets and would make the same decision again.

(Reporting by Steve Holland and Jeff Mason; Editing by Peter Cooney)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

FBI director asks Justice Department to reject Trump wiretap claim

WASHINGTON - FBI Director James Comey has asked the Justice Department to publicly refute President Donald Trump's explosive accusation that Barack Obama tapped his phones, US media reported on Sunday.

The New York Times, citing senior US officials, first reported that Comey believes Trump's unsubstantiated claim about his predecessor to be false. The department has not made any statement.

Comey made the request on Saturday because "there is no evidence to support it, and it insinuates that the FBI broke the law," the paper reported the officials as saying.

Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department immediately responded to an AFP request for comment.

Questioning the president's truthfulness, Comey's extraordinary measure provides an indication of the implications of the uncharted territory Trump has entered with his accusation.

However, although the Justice Department -- which is headed by Trump's staunch supporter Attorney General Jeff Sessions -- oversees the FBI, it is not clear why Comey didn't issue a statement himself.

Trump made his claim in a tweet on Saturday.

"How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process," he wrote. "This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!" He provided no evidence to back up the claim.

Obama denied the allegation via a spokesman as "simply false."

However, the Republican chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Devin Nunes, said his panel would look into Trump's claim after the White House on Sunday urged Congress to investigate his allegation.

The accusation has prompted a firestorm of criticism, with many saying Trump's incendiary claim was aimed at diverting attention from a series of revelations about his aides' meetings with Russian officials.

grf/mdl

source: news.abs-cbn.com

U.S. dollar strengthens as election seen swinging toward Clinton

NEW YORK - The dollar rose on Monday after the FBI decided that U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will not face criminal charges, which was seen as a boost to her chances of winning Tuesday's contest with Republican rival Donald Trump.

The greenback gained 0.77 percent against a basket of currencies after getting hammered last week when FBI Director James Comey said the agency was looking at another large batch of Clinton emails, strengthening chances of a Trump victory, an outcome that was seen as likely to send shock waves through markets.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said late Sunday it stood by its earlier finding that no criminal charges were warranted against Clinton for her email practices. The announcement sent the dollar surging against the yen and the euro, and offered relief to the Mexican peso.

"It's all the election. It's all the Comey letter," said Joseph Trevisani, chief market strategist at Worldwide Markets in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, referring to the currency moves.

"Markets want continuity and essentially they want what they have priced in and both point towards Clinton. That's why markets are reacting to anything that boosts Clinton's chances by taking back some of the selloff from the past week or so."

Some analysts treated the election outcome with caution after the British vote to leave the European Union in June took markets by surprise and sent them into disarray.

"Brexit was a hard lesson for many, and it's still in the recent memory," Oanda senior market analyst Craig Erlam said.

Erlam added the dollar's recovery might be muted by speculation that Clinton is not out of the woods yet.

"It's hard to know what damage the reopening of the investigation did to Clinton's chances," he said.

Owing to Trump's stance on immigration, foreign policy and trade, the Mexican peso has taken a heavy hit, down at one point in September by as much as 17 percent against the dollar since he won the Republican nomination in July.

Boosted by the FBI's most recent decision, the peso gained as much as 2.5 percent to hit a 12-day high of 18.55 per dollar.

The dollar was up 1.3 percent at 104.50 yen. It declined to 102.550 against the safe-haven Japanese currency last week as polls showed a tightening U.S. presidential race.

The euro fell 0.7 percent against the dollar to $1.1056. Sterling also slipped against the dollar, falling 0.9 percent to $1.2408.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

FBI Clinton bombshell tanks US markets, dollar

NEW YORK - The FBI bombshell that it is reopening the investigation into US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's email scandal jolted markets and sent US stocks, the dollar and oil prices lower Friday.

Eleven days before the US election, Wall Street had been comfortably in positive territory prior to the news that Federal Bureau of Investigation head James Comey was restarting the probe into Clinton's use of a private email server while serving as secretary of state.

Clinton, the Democratic nominee, has been the market's preferred choice over Republican Donald Trump, viewed by many investors as unpredictable. Analysts said the development raises the chances of a Trump win, after weeks during which Clinton handily led the polls.

"One of the things we felt more certain about over the course of the last week or two has been the result at the top of the ballot, and this probably throws that into question," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities.

"That's not going to be good for markets."

And Chris Low of FTN Financial, said the news "at the very least it is going to require some new thinking" ahead of the November 8 presidential elections, leaving little time for the FBI to resolve the matter.

"I think that is what is motivating people to sell because it just creates a huge amount of uncertainty."

The dollar plunged against all the major currencies after the FBI announcement, but regained some territory before the close. The Mexican peso sank against the dollar but also later rebounded slightly.

TROUBLED OPEC TALKS HIT OIL

Meanwhile oil prices were hit with a double whammy of the FBI news and uncertainty over OPEC's ability to negotiate production limits and win the cooperation of non-cartel producers.

The Brent price dropped back below $50 as talks in Vienna failed to work out details of the tentative deal reached last month, although they are expected to continue over the weekend.

"We've got some news out of OPEC and things are still very complicating and it sounds like the agreement to come to some sort of freeze or cut is likely not going to happen," said Oliver Sloup of iiTrader.com.

European markets wobbled ahead of a raft of data and policy decisions in the week ahead.

Frankfurt, London and Paris diverged, while in Asia, Hong Kong and Shanghai ended just down and Tokyo up marginally.

The Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of Australia will deliver their latest interest rate calls Tuesday, followed by the US Federal Reserve Wednesday and the Bank of England Thursday.

The eurozone releases third quarter GDP Monday, and the US releases the critical October jobs report Friday.

- Key figures at 2100 GMT -

New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent to 18,161.19 (close)

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent to 2,126.41 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.5 percent to 5,190.10 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 6,996.26 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.2 percent at 10,696.19 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 4,548.58 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.2 percent to 3,079.24 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.6 percent at 17,446.41 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.8 percent at 22,954.81 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,104.27 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP to $1.0987 from $1.0898 Thursday

Dollar/yen: DOWN to 104.73 yen from 105.20 yen

Pound/dollar: UP to $1.2187 from $1.2166

Euro/pound: UP to 90.16 pence from 89.57 pence

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN $1.02 to $48.70 per barrel

Oil - Brent North Sea: DOWN 76 cents at $49.71

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Democrats seek FBI probe of allegations Russia seeking to influence U.S. vote

WASHINGTON - Democrats in Congress, including party Senate leader Harry Reid, asked the FBI to investigate concerns that the Russian government may be attempting to undermine the U.S. presidential election through cyber attacks that could include tampering with voting results.

"The prospect of a hostile government actively seeking to undermine our free and fair elections represents one of the gravest threats to our democracy since the Cold War," Reid said in a letter to FBI Director James Comey.

Reid's letter, dated Saturday, was first obtained by The New York Times and shared on its website on Monday.

It was followed on Tuesday by a letter from four Democrats asking Comey to assess whether campaign officials working for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump may be colluding with Russian interests to carry out recent hacks against the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in order to "interfere with the U.S. presidential election."

That letter was signed by Representatives Elijah Cummings, John Conyers, Elliot Engel and Bennie Thompson, each of whom serves as the top Democrat on a different congressional committee. Republicans control both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Comey, speaking at a cyber security conference on Tuesday, declined to give details about what the Federal Bureau of Investigation was probing in connection with the political hacking but indicated the agency was closely watching what foreign countries are doing.

"We take very seriously any effort by any actor, ... especially nation states, that moves beyond the collection of information ... and offers the prospect of an effort to influence the conduct of affairs in our country, whether that is an election or something else," he said.

The two letters follow a spate of hacking attacks targeting U.S. political databases, including some that officials and cyber security experts have blamed on hackers working for the Russian government. Kremlin officials have denied that.

The FBI examined breaches in voter registration databases in Illinois and Arizona but did not specify who might have been behind it.

Reid said that the threat of Russian government tampering in the election was "more extensive than widely known and may include the intent to falsify official election results."

He also voiced concerns about possible Russian government efforts to manipulate Trump's campaign ahead of the Nov. 8 election, and to use it as a vehicle to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Reporting by Dustin Volz and David Alexander; Editing by Frances Kerry and Jonathan Oatis)

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com