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Now Kremlin weighs into Michael Flynn furore saying Trump's National Security Adviser DIDN'T discuss lifting Russian sanctions in call with ambassador Flynn is currently being investigated by the FBI for his December phone call He allegedly promised an easing of sanctions imposed by Obama that same day If proved, he was illegally speaking to a foreign nation as a private citizen Flynn denied claims, but later said he 'couldn't be certain' the topic wasn't raised If Flynn did make the promise, he could face a fine or jail under the Logan Act The Kremlin has weighed in on the Michael...

Top White House aide and policy adviser, Stephen Miller, sidestepped repeated chances during Sunday news shows to publicly defend embattled National Security Adviser Michael Flynn following reports that he engaged in conversations with Russian diplomat(s) about U.S. sanctions before Trump’s inauguration. The uncertainty came as Trump was dealing with North Korea’s apparent first missile launch of the year and his presidency, along with visits this week from the leaders of Israel and Canada. Pressed repeatedly, Stephen Miller said it wasn’t up to him to say whether the president retains confidence in Flynn. “It’s not for me to tell you what’s...

In a 10-K filed on Friday afternoon, Amazon disclosed that certain transactions and business ties with Iran may have violated U.S. sanctions, warning that it may be penalized after a regulatory review of the activities. In the "Other Contingencies" section of its 10-K, Jeff Bezos' company had determined that, between January 2012 and December 2016 it had "processed and delivered orders of consumer products for certain individuals and entities located outside Iran covered by the Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act or other United States sanctions and export control laws. The consumer products included books, music, other media,...

Iranian officials continue to threaten the United States, following the Trump administration’s announcement of new sanctions against the Islamic Republic. On Monday, Iran’s Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said that the “ultimate losers” are those who result to the language of force in dealing with Iran. Speaking upon his arrival at the country’s Abadan airport and quoted by the IRNA news agency, Jahangiri said Iran is never intimidated by threats, adding that governments or individuals who address Iran with the language of force will be the final losers. “The Islamic Republic of Iran always welcomes interaction but those rude who employ...

The Associated Students of University of California – Riverside voted on Wednesday night to remove Sabra Hummus from all campus dining services, The Highlander reports. Student leaders voted 13-0-1 in favor of the resolution to kick Sabra Hummus off campus. Sabra’s joint owner, the Strauss Group, is the largest food products company in Israel and has financially supported the Israeli military, according to the New York Times. Students who supported the measure were “troubled” by funds that could potentially go to Israeli settlements by purchasing Sabra Hummus in their campus cafeteria. UC Riverside said in a statement released on Thursday:...

It makes more sense to rigorously enforce the Iran nuclear deal than to dismantle it, said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, signaling diminishing support for pulling the United States out of the deal. Ryan, speaking on “Meet the Press” in an interview to be broadcast in full on Sunday, said the removal of sanctions under the nuclear rollback for sanctions relief deal reached in 2015 between Iran and six major world powers, meant it would be too hard to reconstitute the sanctions. “A lot of that toothpaste is already out of the tube,”...

Iran on Friday banned U.S. wrestlers from an important international tournament this month in response to President Donald Trump's executive order forbidding visas for Iranians, the official IRNA news agency reported. A senior Iranian cleric vowed, meanwhile, that his country would continue its missile program despite threats from the Trump administration that it was preparing to levy new sanctions.

The United States on Friday sanctioned 13 individuals and 12 entities under U.S. Iran sanctions authority, days after the White House had put Iran "on notice" over a ballistic missile test and other activities.

The Treasury Department is expected to announce sanctions against Iran Friday morning, according to a source familiar with the matter. An exact time has not yet been provided to CNN. *snip In a letter to Trump Thursday, a bipartisan group of senators said, "Iranian leaders must feel sufficient pressure to cease deeply destabilizing activities, from sponsoring terrorist groups to continued testing of ballistic missiles."

<p>SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina — Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik has dismissed U.S. sanctions imposed on him for obstructing the peace accords that ended Bosnia’s war two decades ago, calling it a reversible act of revenge by the departing Obama administration.</p>

Outgoing U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called on Monday for sanctions on Russia to stay, urging the world to stand up to its "coercion and aggression" after President-elect Donald Trump mooted ending the measures under a possible deal with Moscow. Speaking on a swan song visit to Kiev, Biden said the G7 nations and European Union should lift the sanctions only after Russia had fully implemented a peace deal on ending a separatist rebellion in eastern Ukraine and returned control of Crimea. Trump, who will be inaugurated on Friday, raised the prospect that he would propose offering to end the...

Well, perhaps the better question is should he? The media rumor mill is buzzing after suggestions that the President Elect is considering cutting a deal with Vladimir Putin which could involve the easing or lifting of sanctions in exchange for a dramatic reduction in nuclear weapons stockpiles. We should include the usual caveat that even though he mentioned it to a reporter as a possibility, nothing is official until we see it on Trump’s Twitter feed, but it’s clearly worth an early look. (Reuters) President-elect Donald Trump will propose offering to end sanctions imposed on Russia for its annexation...

Outgoing CIA Director John Brennan ripped into Donald Trump on Sunday for "talking and tweeting" about possibly easing sanctions against Russia, saying the president-elect lacks a full understanding of the threat Moscow poses to the United States. "I think he has to be mindful that he does not have a full appreciation and understanding of what the implications are of going down that road," Brennan said on "Fox News Sunday," a show Trump routinely watches. "Now that he's going to have an opportunity to do something for our national security as opposed to talking and tweeting, he's going to have...

Washington (AFP) - President-elect Donald Trump has hinted that he may lift sanctions on Russia and won't stand by the "One China" policy unless Beijing improves its currency and trade practices. Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Friday that he would keep intact "at least for a period of time" sanctions President Barack Obama's administration imposed on Russia last month over Moscow's alleged cyberattacks to influence the US election. But, if Russia helps the US on key goals such as fighting violent extremists, Trump suggested he may scrap the punitive measures altogether. He also said he...

WOW! TRUMP DESTROYS CNN HACK AT PRESSER! THIS WAS WILD!Trump attacked CNN and BuzzFeed for pushing a #FakeNews story on Russian "golden showers."The CNN reporter in the front row DEMANDED that Trump take his question and started shouting at the President elect. And the reporter then started SCREAMING at Donald Trump!!(Could you imagine a liberal reporter doing this to Obama?)Trump refused to take his question and then called CNN "FAKE NEWS!" WOW! Your organization is terrible... No... I'm not going to give you a question. You are FAKE NEWS!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgwWuoxljMY

WASHINGTON — Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham pushed Sunday for greater sanctions against Russia for trying to influence the U.S. election and said President-elect Donald Trump is in danger of being in conflict with congressional Republicans if he doesn't get tougher on Russian President Vladimir Putin. The two senators, in a joint interview on Meet the Press, also said the U.S. intelligence community's evidence of Russian interference during the American presidential campaign is overwhelming, and that Trump should accept those findings. "You can't go on with your life as a democracy when a foreign entity is trying to...

A top White House national security adviser and key proponent of the Obama administration’s diplomacy with Iran is the focus of a congressional inquiry following disclosures the FBI may have denied him top-level security clearances, according to communications exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. Ben Rhodes, a White House deputy national security adviser who led the administration’s efforts to mislead Congress about the terms of the Iran nuclear agreement, is under scrutiny in the wake of disclosures he was declined interim clearance status by the FBI in 2008, when the administration was moving into the White House. Since that...

The president’s move to punish Russia has scrambled partisan lines. What is a bewildered citizen to make of the sanctions that President Obama levied on Russian officials and the Russian government on Thursday? The confusion starts with the news coverage. The Associated Press, for example, blares that “President Barack Obama has slapped harsh sanctions on the Russian intelligence services.” Meanwhile the former head of the CIA’s Russia operations tells The New York Times, “I think these sanctions are pretty weak. It’s more perhaps symbolic.” Some sloppy reports even suggested, wrongly, that Russian agents had interfered with vote counts or voting...

On the heels of new sanctions enforced by the Obama administration, Russian President Vladimir Putin has released his annual New Year's statement to the international community. CNN repeatedly noted that Putin "sidestepped" President Obama in the statement, instead offering his congratulations to President-elect Donald Trump. In his annual greetings statement, Putin expressed hope that after Trump is sworn in as US President on January 20, the two countries, "acting in a constructive and pragmatic manner, will be able to take real steps to restore the mechanisms of bilateral cooperation in various areas and take their interaction in the international arena to...

“Russia views these not as U.S. sanctions, but Obama sanctions, so he will go and we can both decide that we don’t bear any responsibility for the actions of a jackass,” Fyodor Lukyanov told Bloomberg News. Fyodor Lukyanov is chairman of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, a Kremlin foreign-policy advisory group. Russia is displaying grace, restraint, reason and humor in this matter as Obama launches accusations against the Kremlin and inflicted retaliatory sanctions. "Russia hopes that it can ride out the storm and put relations with the U.S. on a better track once [President-elect] Trump takes office," said...