5: As Calls Grow to Impeach Trump, Former Nixon Counsel John Dean Sees “Echoes of Watergate”
President Trump has been in office for only 36 days, and there is already a growing chorus of voices calling for his impeachment. This comes as CNN and The New York Times report White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus sought unsuccessfully to have the FBI refute news reports that Donald Trump’s campaign advisers were in frequent contact with Russian intelligence agents ahead of November’s election. The allegations have drawn comparisons to former President Richard Nixon’s 1972 discussion with aides who used the CIA to push the FBI away from investigating the Watergate burglary that later led to his resignation. We speak to someone who has been at the center of the unraveling of a presidency and a vote for impeachment: President Richard Nixon’s White House counsel, John Dean. He is the author of several books, including “The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It,” “Conservatives Without Conscience” and “Broken Government: How Republican Rule Destroyed the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial Branches.”
Democracy Now
4: The White House Just Promised a New Crackdown on Weed
Apparently Trump’s cool with medicinal marijuana, but not the recreational kind.
At his daily White House press conference, Sean Spicer painted a clearer picture of how the Trump administration views recreational marijuana by likening it to the opioid crisis, Politico reports.
Vice News
3: Someone Please Ask Donald Trump This Simple Question About Russia
IN THE MAELSTROM of anonymous accusations that Donald Trump’s associates were in touch with Russian officials during the 2016 election, one simple point has gotten lost:
As president, Trump has the power to declassify anything — which means he could order all the government’s intelligence agencies to make public whatever intercepts and other records exist involving Russia and people in his orbit.
Moreover, if any contacts between Trump’s people and Russia were innocuous — if the whole thing is “a ruse” or “complete garbage” as Trump himself and his chief of staff have called it — Trump has every incentive to prove that as quickly as possible.
So will Trump use his declassification power?
The administration should be asked this question until they answer it fully.
The Intercept
2: Palestinians decry West Bank industrial zone expansion
Salfit, occupied West Bank – Standing by the side of a highway near the main gates to Ariel West, an Israeli industrial zone in the heart of the West Bank district of Salfit, Jamal Omar Fazaa makes a sweeping gesture with his hand.
“This is my family’s land, exactly 186 dunums [18 hectares],” he tells Al Jazeera.
An old olive tree stands just a few metres from the Israeli bulldozers levelling the ground here. The crooked necks of yellow cranes dot the landscape along this stretch of Highway 5, an Israeli road that cuts through two adjacent industrial zones: Barkan, which houses more than 130 factories and companies, and the smaller Ariel West, which houses about 26.
Israeli media outlets recently reported that 60 new companies have registered to relocate to the area, despite the threat of retaliation from the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
Aljazeera
1: White House confirms conversation with FBI about Trump and Russia
The White House has confirmed that its chief of staff spoke with top FBI officials about the bureau’s inquiry into links between Donald Trump’s associates and Russia – a conversation which appears to violate justice department rules to ensure the integrity of investigations.
The administration had sought to push back against reports from CNN and the Associated Press that the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, had asked the FBI’s top two officials to r rebut news reports about Trump allies’ ties to Russia.
But in doing so, the White House on Friday acknowledged that Priebus, the FBI director, James Comey, and deputy director, Andrew McCabe, had discussed what the FBI knew about Russian ties to the Trump presidential campaign.
“The White House appears to have violated accepted protocols and procedures,” said former FBI special agent Ali Soufan.
The Guardian
