After meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday said the U.S. would issue its response by Sept. 1 to Moscow’s July 30 announcement that it is expelling 755 U.S. embassy and consulate staff from Russia. Tillerson said he told Lavrov the U.S. hasn’t yet decided how…
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is reacting sarcastically to questions about President Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey. Lavrov and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were asked during a photo-op whether Comey’s firing cast a shadow over the meeting between the two diplomats. Lavrov said: “Was he fired? You’re kidding. You’re kidding.”…
Chinese and Russian spy vessels have been sent to shadow the group of U.S. aircraft carriers that are heading toward North Korean waters, Japanese media outlets reported Monday. The move comes amid escalating tensions surrounding Pyongyang’s nuclear efforts. President Trump has described the vessels as an “armada” and said additional and more powerful submarines are…
Just a few weeks after sending 500 troops into Syria Trump claimed in his latest interview with Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo that he would not send ground troops into Syria. “We’re not going into Syria, but when I see people using horrible, horrible chemical weapons which they agreed not to use under the Obama administration…
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday said Russia must soon choose between its relationship with the U.S. or its relationship with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Tillerson, speaking at the Group of 7 conference, said it still is not clear if Russia failed to take its obligations to Syria seriously or just did a poor…
President Trump’s secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, has been so cut off from his own diplomats during his tenure that employees have been told not to speak directly to him or even make eye contact, according to a new report in The Washington Post. The former ExxonMobil chief executive reportedly takes a private elevator to…
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said he was acting in his capacity as a U.S. senator when he met with the Russian ambassador at the Republican National Convention, but The Wall Street Journal reports that he paid for related expenses with his political funds and that he spoke about President Trump’s campaign at the event.…
Michael T. Flynn, then Donald J. Trump’s incoming national security adviser, had a previously undisclosed meeting with the Russian ambassador in December to “establish a line of communication” between the new administration and the Russian government, the White House said on Thursday. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and now a senior adviser, also participated in…
President Trump admitted in a statement Thursday night that Attorney General Jeff Sessions could have responded to a question posed during his confirmation hearing “more accurately,” but blamed Democrats for bringing attention to the fact that Sessions said he never interacted with Russian officials during the campaign when he actually met the Russian ambassador to…
Members of the Trump administration — including Vice President Mike Pence — have said Michael Flynn, President Trump’s national security adviser, never discussed U.S. sanctions with the Russian ambassador to Washington before the inauguration. Several current and former U.S. officials have told The Washington Post and The New York Times that this isn’t true, and…
Russia and Syria on Tuesday claimed they would halt their airstrikes on the besieged city of Aleppo to prepare for a “humanitarian pause” on Thursday. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the strikes were suspended at 10 a.m. Tuesday to prepare for the temporary truce from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday—a cease-fire that is…
