FUNNYJUNK HERALD
Assembled by Maternation
FIRST EDITION
May 19th, 2017
Michael Flynn and other advisers to
Donald Trump' s campaign were in
contact with Russian officials and
others with Kremlin ties in at least 18
calls and emails during the last seven
months of the 2016 presidential race,
current and former U. S. officials
familiar with the exchanges told
Reuters.
The previously undisclosed interactions
form part of the record now being
reviewed by FBI and congressional
investigators probing Russian
interference in the U. S. presidential
election and contacts between Trump' s
campaign and Russia.
Six of the previously undisclosed
contacts described to Reuters were
phone calls between Sergei ,
Russia' s ambassador to the United
states, and Trump advisers, including
Flynn, Trump' s first national security
adviser, three current and former
officials said.
MISCELLANY-
Conversations between Flynn and
accelerated after the Nov. 8
vote as the two discussed establishing
a back channel for communication
between Trump and Russian President
Vladimir Putin that could bypass the
u. s. national security bureaucracy,
which both sides considered hostile to
improved relations, four current US.
officials said.
In January, the Trump White House
initially denied any contacts with
Russian officials during the 2016
campaign. The White House and
advisers to the campaign have since
confirmed four meetings between
and Trump advisers during that
time.
The people who described the contacts
to Reuters said they had seen no
evidence of wrongdoing or collusion
between the campaign and Russia in
the communications reviewed so far.
But the disclosure could increase the
pressure on Trump and his aides to
provide the FBI and Congress with a
full account of interactions with
Russian officials and other links to the
Kremlin during and after the election.
The White House did not respond to
requests for comment. Flynn' s lawyer
declined to comment. In Moscow, a
Russian foreign ministry official
declined to comment on the contacts
and referred Reuters to the Trump
administration.
Separately, a spokesman for the
Russian embassy in Washington said:
We do not comment on our daily
contacts with the local interlocutors,"
The 18 calls and electronic messages
took place between April and
November 2016 as hackers engaged
in what U. S. intelligence concluded in
January was part of a Kremlin
campaign to discredit the vote and
influence the outcome of the election
in favor of Trump over his Democratic
challenger, Farmer secretary of state
Hillary Clinton.
Those discussions focused on mending
U. S. Prussian economic relations
strained by sanctions imposed on
Moscow, cooperating in fighting
Islamic State in Syria and containing a
more assertive China, the sources said.
LEBANON LAUNCHES FIRST
ARABIAN GAY PRIDE WEEK
Lebanon this week becomes the first Arab "Before we used to be individual ,
l) RUSSIAN CONTACTS?
Members of the Senate and House
intelligence committees have gone to the
CIA and the National Security Agency to
review transcripts and other documents
related to contacts between Trump
campaign advisers and associates and
Russian officials and others with links to
Putin, people with knowledge of those
investigations told Reuters.
The US. Justice Department said on
Wednesday it had appointed former FBI
Director Robert Mueller as special
counsel to investigate alleged Russian
meddling in the U. S. presidential
campaign and possible collusion
between Trump' s campaign and Russia.
Mueller will now take charge of the Fly
investigation that began . Trump
and his aides have repeatedly denied
any collusion with Russia.
In addition to the six phone calls
involving , the communications
described to Reuters involved another
I 2 calls, emails or text messages
between Russian officials or people
considered to be close to Putin and
Trump campaign advisers.
ADVERTISEMENTS-
country to celebrate gay pride but the
opening event in a landmark run of
festivities was cancelled after Islamists
threatened violence.
Proud Lebanon, a group
promoting equal rights, was due to host a
cultural event last Sunday as a kickoff to
the entire week, but said it was dropped
by the venue after threats front the
Association of Muslim Scholars in
Lebanon, a Satanist group.
While the guy rights movement has
steadily grown in Beirut, homosexual acts
are still punishable by up to a year in
prison.
Bertha Makse, director of Proud Lebanon,
said the week marked a watershed in gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgender life,
despite the threatened violence and some
local opposition.
really amazing. a big
achievement. It' s a bigger exposure,"
Make told the Thomson Reuters
Foundation.
here and there, doing activities, but now
it' s a whole week of activities taking place
around the city. It will reach more people
and spread more tolerance," Makse said
by phone.
Most countries in the region do not tolerate
an open celebration of HGT life, with few
Middle Eastern countries according rights
to gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender
citizens. Many risk fines, jail and even
death, with reports of social exclusion and
abuse commonplace.
Turkey hosts a gay pride parade in
Istanbul each year and Israel holds a
week of events in Tel Aviv every June.
Pride events are typically held during June
LGBT Pride Month - or at a time that
commemorates a turning point in a
country' s own LGBT history.
Wednesday marked Lebanon' s
International Day Against Homophobia,
Transphobic and ( and
the man who initiated the milestone pride
week said it was no coincidence.
...
