Page 4 - aruba-today-20180217

A4 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 17 February 2018

Under fire, Kelly overhauls White House clearance procedure

By JONATHAN LEMIRE flagged to the White House
NEW YORK (AP) — Un- counsel's office.
der pressure over his han- The issue has been in the
dling of abuse allegations spotlight for more than a
against a top aide, White week after it was revealed
House chief of staff John that former staff secretary
Kelly on Friday ordered Rob Porter had an interim
sweeping changes in how security clearance that al-
the White House clears lowed him access to clas-
staff members to gain ac- sified material despite
cess to classified informa- allegations of domestic vio-
tion, acknowledging that lence by his two ex-wives.
the administration "must do "Now is the time to take a
better" in how it handles se- hard look at the way the
curity clearances. White House processes
Kelly issued a five-page clearance requests," Kelly
memo that acknowledged wrote in the memo. "We
White House mistakes but should — and in the future,
also put the onus on the must — do better."
FBI and the Justice De- In the memo, Kelly defend-
partment to provide more ed his handling of clear-
timely updates on back- ances, including his order in
ground investigations, ask- White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, second from left, with, from left, White House Director of So- September to cease grant-
ing that any significant de- cial Media Dan Scavino, Kelly, White House personnel director Johnny DeStefano, and National ing new interim clearances
Security Council Chief of Staff Keith Kellogg, walk to board Marine One with President Donald
rogatory information about Trump on the South Lawn of White House, Friday, Feb. 16, 2018, in Washington. unless the chief of staff had
staff members be quickly (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) given his blessing. q

Russians charged with meddling in 2016 presidential race

By ERIC TUCKER U.S. presidential election The federal indictment, which before Friday had presidential primaries and
WASHINGTON (AP) — Thir- through social media pro- brought by the office of produced charges against the bitterly contested gen-
teen Russians, including a paganda, aimed in part at special counsel Robert four Trump associates. The eral election, it does not al-
businessman close to Vladi- helping Republican Don- Mueller, represents the U.S. intelligence commu- lege that any American or
mir Putin, were charged ald Trump and harming the most direct allegation to nity has said the Russian Trump campaign associate
Friday in an elaborate plot prospects of his Democrat- date of illegal Russian med- government interfered to knowingly participated.
to interfere in the 2016 ic opponent, Hillary Clinton. dling during the campaign benefit Trump, including Trump campaign associ-
that sent Trump to the by orchestrating the hack ates had only “unwitting”
White House. It also marks of Democratic emails, and contact with Russians who
the first criminal charges Mueller and his prosecu- posed as Americans during
Paradise in the Caribbean against Russians believed tors have been assessing election season, it says.
to have secretly worked to whether the campaign co- It alleges that Russians
influence the outcome. ordinated with Russia in any working in concert with the
Trump claimed vindication, meddling. Internet Research Agency,
noting in a tweet that Rus- The latest indictment does a St. Petersburg-based
sian interference efforts al- not focus on the hacking troll farm, purchased inter-
leged in the indictment be- but instead centers on a net advertisements in the
gan in 2014 — "long before social media effort that be- names of Americans whose
I announced that I would gan in 2014 and continued identities they had stolen,
run for President." past the election, with the staged political rallies while
"The results of the election goal of producing confu- posing as American politi-
were not impacted. The sion and discontent in the cal activists and paid peo-
Trump campaign did noth- American political process. ple in the U.S. to promote or
ing wrong — no collusion!" Trump himself has been re- disparage candidates.
he tweeted. However, the luctant to acknowledge The intent of the meddling,
Mueller investigation con- the interference. the indictment says, was
tinues. Though the indictment to “sow discord in the U.S.
The collusion question, still lays out a vast and wide- political system, includ-
SALES OFFICE +297 2801005 info@leventaruba.com unresolved, has been at ranging effort to sway po- ing the 2016 presidential
MOBILE +297 5927275 www.leventaruba.com the heart of the probe, litical opinion during the election.”q