1UA TV

These are strange and confusing times in Washington. Political operatives meeting with Russian lawyers, a White House at odds with its own intelligence community. But the Washington intrigue appears to be driving renewed interest in the secretive world of spies. And that’s just fine with the new director of Washington’s International Spy Museum. Reporter Ardita Dunellari paid a quick visit to the Spy Museum to speak to a former spy who is now the museum’s director.
…

These are strange and confusing times in Washington. Political operatives meeting with Russian lawyers, a White House at odds with its own intelligence community. But the Washington intrigue appears to be driving renewed interest in the secretive world of spies. And that’s just fine with the new director of Washington’s International Spy Museum. Reporter Ardita Dunellari paid a quick visit to the Spy Museum to speak to a former spy who is now the museum’s director.
…

John McCain lived most of his life in the public eye, surviving war, torture, scandal, political stardom and failure, the enmity of some colleagues and the election of President Donald Trump.

Even brain cancer didn’t seem to scare McCain so much as it sobered and saddened him.

“The world is a fine place and worth fighting for and I hate very much to leave it,” McCain wrote in his memoir, referencing a line from his favorite book, the Ernest Hemingway war novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. ″I hate to leave.”

A look at public moments that made McCain:

Prisoner of war, celebrity

McCain, became a public figure at age 31 when his bed-bound image was broadcast from North Vietnam in 1967. The North Vietnamese had figured out that he was the son and grandson of famous American military men — a “crown prince,” they called him. He was offered an early release, but refused. McCain’s captors beat him until he confessed, an episode that first led to shame — and then discovery. McCain has written that that’s when he learned to trust not just his legacy but his own judgment — and his resilience.

Less than a decade after his March 1973 release, McCain was elected to the House as a Republican from Arizona. In 1986, voters there sent him to the Senate.

The Keating Five

He called it “my asterisk” and the worst mistake of his life.

At issue was a pair of 1987 meetings between McCain, four other senators and regulators to get the government to back off a key campaign donor. Charles Keating Jr. wanted McCain and Democratic Sens. Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, Alan Cranston of California, John Glenn of Ohio and Don Riegle of Michigan to get government auditors to stop pressing Keating’s Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. All five denied improper conduct. McCain was cleared of all charges but found to have exercised “poor judgment.”

“His honor was being questioned and that’s nothing that he takes lightly,” said Mark Salter, McCain’s biographer and co-author of his new memoir, The Restless Wave.

The Senate

McCain became his party’s leading voice on matters of war, national security and veterans, and eventually became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He worked with a Democrat to rewrite the nation’s campaign finance laws. He voted for the Iraq War and supported the 2007 surge of forces there even as his own sons served or prepared to serve. But there was one thing that wasn’t as widely known about him: McCain, owner of a ranch in Arizona that is in the flight path of 500 species of migratory birds, became concerned about the environment.

“People associate John with defense and national security, as well they should. But he also had a great concern for and love of the environment,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who traveled to the ends of the earth with McCain — to the Arctic Circle in 2004 and Antarctica two years later — on fact-finding missions related to climate change. Back on McCain’s Arizona ranch, the senator gave Collins an extensive nature tour of the property. “I particularly remember his love for the birds,” Collins said. “He loved the birds.”

Town halls, Straight Talk

McCain in the 2000 election did something new: He toured New Hampshire on a bus laden with doughnuts and reporters that stopped at “town hall” meetings where voters were invited to exchange views with the candidate. The bus was called the “Straight Talk Express,” and that’s what he promised to deliver at the town halls. The whole thing was messy, unscripted and often hilarious. And ultimately the events re-introduced McCain to voters as a candid and authentic, just a year after President Bill Clinton was acquitted of lying to Congress and obstruction.

In New Hampshire that year, McCain defeated George W. Bush in an 18-point blowout, only to be pushed out of the race in South Carolina. But the town halls remained a fond McCain memory.

“The town halls were festivals of politics,” Salter said. “They were so authentic and open and honest.”

‘No ma’am’

McCain, in 2008 making his second run for president, quickly intervened when a woman in Lakeville, Minnesota, stood at a town hall event and began to make disparaging remarks about Democratic presidential nominee and then-Sen. Barack Obama. “He’s an Arab,” she said, implying he was not an American.

“No ma’am,” McCain said, taking the microphone from her. “He’s a decent, family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about. He’s not.”

It was a defining moment for McCain as a leader, a reflection of his thinking that partisans should disagree without demonizing each other. But it reflected McCain’s reckoning with the fear pervading his party of Obama, who would go on to become the nation’s first black president.

Cancer

McCain last year was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same aggressive cancer that had felled his friend, Sen. Edward Kennedy, on Aug. 25, 2009.

Friends and family say he understood the gravity of the diagnosis, but quickly turned to the speech he wanted to give on the Senate floor urging his colleagues to shed the partisanship that had produced gridlock. Face scarred and bruised from surgery, he pounded the lectern. Some of the sternest members of the Senate hugged him, tears in their eyes.

“Of all of the things that have happened in this man’s life, of all of the times that his life could have ended in the ways it could have ended, this (cancer) is by far one of the least threats to him and that’s kind of how he views it,” his son, Jack McCain, told the Arizona Republic in January.

Health care vote

Republicans, driven by Trump, were one vote away from advancing a repeal of Obama’s health care law. Then McCain, scarred from brain surgery, swooped into the Senate chamber and, facing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, dramatically held up his hand.

The thumb flicked down. Gasps could be heard throughout the staid chamber. McConnell stood motionless, arms crossed.

Trump’s campaign promise — and the premiere item on his agenda — was dead.

Trump

McCain tangled with Trump, who never served in the military, for years.

As a candidate, Trump in 2016 claimed the decorated McCain is only considered a war hero because he had been captured. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at an event in Iowa. “I like people who weren’t captured.” Shortly before Election Day in 2016, McCain said he’s rather cast his vote for another Republican, someone who’s “qualified to be president.” Trump fumed, without using McCain’s name, that the senator is the only reason the Affordable Care Act stands.

McCain responded: “I have faced tougher adversaries.”
…

John McCain lived most of his life in the public eye, surviving war, torture, scandal, political stardom and failure, the enmity of some colleagues and the election of President Donald Trump.

Even brain cancer didn’t seem to scare McCain so much as it sobered and saddened him.

“The world is a fine place and worth fighting for and I hate very much to leave it,” McCain wrote in his memoir, referencing a line from his favorite book, the Ernest Hemingway war novel For Whom the Bell Tolls. ″I hate to leave.”

A look at public moments that made McCain:

Prisoner of war, celebrity

McCain, became a public figure at age 31 when his bed-bound image was broadcast from North Vietnam in 1967. The North Vietnamese had figured out that he was the son and grandson of famous American military men — a “crown prince,” they called him. He was offered an early release, but refused. McCain’s captors beat him until he confessed, an episode that first led to shame — and then discovery. McCain has written that that’s when he learned to trust not just his legacy but his own judgment — and his resilience.

Less than a decade after his March 1973 release, McCain was elected to the House as a Republican from Arizona. In 1986, voters there sent him to the Senate.

The Keating Five

He called it “my asterisk” and the worst mistake of his life.

At issue was a pair of 1987 meetings between McCain, four other senators and regulators to get the government to back off a key campaign donor. Charles Keating Jr. wanted McCain and Democratic Sens. Dennis DeConcini of Arizona, Alan Cranston of California, John Glenn of Ohio and Don Riegle of Michigan to get government auditors to stop pressing Keating’s Lincoln Savings and Loan Association. All five denied improper conduct. McCain was cleared of all charges but found to have exercised “poor judgment.”

“His honor was being questioned and that’s nothing that he takes lightly,” said Mark Salter, McCain’s biographer and co-author of his new memoir, The Restless Wave.

The Senate

McCain became his party’s leading voice on matters of war, national security and veterans, and eventually became chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He worked with a Democrat to rewrite the nation’s campaign finance laws. He voted for the Iraq War and supported the 2007 surge of forces there even as his own sons served or prepared to serve. But there was one thing that wasn’t as widely known about him: McCain, owner of a ranch in Arizona that is in the flight path of 500 species of migratory birds, became concerned about the environment.

“People associate John with defense and national security, as well they should. But he also had a great concern for and love of the environment,” said Sen. Susan Collins, the Maine Republican who traveled to the ends of the earth with McCain — to the Arctic Circle in 2004 and Antarctica two years later — on fact-finding missions related to climate change. Back on McCain’s Arizona ranch, the senator gave Collins an extensive nature tour of the property. “I particularly remember his love for the birds,” Collins said. “He loved the birds.”

Town halls, Straight Talk

McCain in the 2000 election did something new: He toured New Hampshire on a bus laden with doughnuts and reporters that stopped at “town hall” meetings where voters were invited to exchange views with the candidate. The bus was called the “Straight Talk Express,” and that’s what he promised to deliver at the town halls. The whole thing was messy, unscripted and often hilarious. And ultimately the events re-introduced McCain to voters as a candid and authentic, just a year after President Bill Clinton was acquitted of lying to Congress and obstruction.

In New Hampshire that year, McCain defeated George W. Bush in an 18-point blowout, only to be pushed out of the race in South Carolina. But the town halls remained a fond McCain memory.

“The town halls were festivals of politics,” Salter said. “They were so authentic and open and honest.”

‘No ma’am’

McCain, in 2008 making his second run for president, quickly intervened when a woman in Lakeville, Minnesota, stood at a town hall event and began to make disparaging remarks about Democratic presidential nominee and then-Sen. Barack Obama. “He’s an Arab,” she said, implying he was not an American.

“No ma’am,” McCain said, taking the microphone from her. “He’s a decent, family man, citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that’s what this campaign is all about. He’s not.”

It was a defining moment for McCain as a leader, a reflection of his thinking that partisans should disagree without demonizing each other. But it reflected McCain’s reckoning with the fear pervading his party of Obama, who would go on to become the nation’s first black president.

Cancer

McCain last year was diagnosed with glioblastoma, the same aggressive cancer that had felled his friend, Sen. Edward Kennedy, on Aug. 25, 2009.

Friends and family say he understood the gravity of the diagnosis, but quickly turned to the speech he wanted to give on the Senate floor urging his colleagues to shed the partisanship that had produced gridlock. Face scarred and bruised from surgery, he pounded the lectern. Some of the sternest members of the Senate hugged him, tears in their eyes.

“Of all of the things that have happened in this man’s life, of all of the times that his life could have ended in the ways it could have ended, this (cancer) is by far one of the least threats to him and that’s kind of how he views it,” his son, Jack McCain, told the Arizona Republic in January.

Health care vote

Republicans, driven by Trump, were one vote away from advancing a repeal of Obama’s health care law. Then McCain, scarred from brain surgery, swooped into the Senate chamber and, facing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, dramatically held up his hand.

The thumb flicked down. Gasps could be heard throughout the staid chamber. McConnell stood motionless, arms crossed.

Trump’s campaign promise — and the premiere item on his agenda — was dead.

Trump

McCain tangled with Trump, who never served in the military, for years.

As a candidate, Trump in 2016 claimed the decorated McCain is only considered a war hero because he had been captured. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said at an event in Iowa. “I like people who weren’t captured.” Shortly before Election Day in 2016, McCain said he’s rather cast his vote for another Republican, someone who’s “qualified to be president.” Trump fumed, without using McCain’s name, that the senator is the only reason the Affordable Care Act stands.

McCain responded: “I have faced tougher adversaries.”
…

In historic Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington, musician Jamey Turner is playing a most unusual instrument, the glass harp. This harp actually consists of ordinary stemmed glasses filled with water that Turner plays with his fingertips by rubbing the rims to create a range of musical tones. He performs music such as “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony or the famous theme from the Star Wars movies.

The people who stop by are awestruck by the glass harp music Turner has been showcasing on a street corner in Alexandria for more than 25 years. It doesn’t take long before they drop dollar bills or larger amounts into a donation basket to show their appreciation for Turner.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Nicole Schwarss, a visitor from Germany. “I’ve never heard something like this before.”

Almudena Casdaneda from Mexico was spellbound.

“It’s a very different way to play music,” she said, “and it seems difficult to do, and to remember which cup sounds which way.”

Second nature

But to 78-year-old Turner it’s second nature because he started playing the glass harp some 50 years ago. Although he also plays other instruments, the glass harp is his passion. He got the idea as a young age from his father. When he was 6 years old, he said, he heard his dad playing around with a glass of water at the dining room table and he liked the sound a lot.

Turner sets up his instrument, consisting of 60 glasses, on a wooden soundboard anchored with rubber bands, which keeps the stemware from breaking. He uses inexpensive glass instead of crystal, which he says rings too long and doesn’t give him control of the notes.

Turner tunes each glass to a different pitch by partially filling them with distilled water, which he said gives better sound than water with chemicals and minerals. Then he uses a turkey baster to squirt additional water into the glasses to fine-tune them.

As Turner rubs his dampened fingertips around the rims, the smaller bowls produce higher pitches, while the larger ones resonate deeper tones. The more water in any of the glasses, large or small, will also lower the pitch.

Turner actually “auditions” his glasses at stores before he buys them. 

“I explain that I’m looking for a few that I can make music on. Then I usually find only one or two that will have a good sound,” he said.

Audience participation

Turner loves having an audience and teaching people about his instrument. He explains how he plays the chords. He gave some visitors the opportunity to play music with him, by having them rub the rims of the biggest glasses.

Joeli Pepe, a girl from New York, was all smiles as her glass vibrated a bass tone.

“I didn’t know it made that much sound,” she said.

She also learned from Turner that the glass harp was popular in the 1700s when classical composers like Mozart wrote music specifically for the instrument. There have been 400 pieces written for the glass harp. But Turner plays all kinds of music, from contemporary jazz, to country, to the U.S. national anthem. He amazed a Chinese visitor by playing a tune that is popular in China.

Turner said he has been able to make a living as a glass harpist and has even played with top U.S. orchestras. He has performed at numerous places around the country, including the Easter Egg Roll at the White House, for various embassies in Washington, and at Walt Disney World in Florida. A few years ago, he got to perform in Japan.

With so few people playing the glass harp, Turner is hoping the next generation will keep the instrument alive.

“I think it is gaining in popularity,” he said. “A lot of people have seen me on YouTube, and so I’ve seen a lot of people experimenting with it on YouTube.”

“People can’t help but smile when they hear the glass harp,” said Turner, as he played Happy Birthday to a little girl who gave him a big grin.
…

In historic Alexandria, Virginia, near Washington, musician Jamey Turner is playing a most unusual instrument, the glass harp. This harp actually consists of ordinary stemmed glasses filled with water that Turner plays with his fingertips by rubbing the rims to create a range of musical tones. He performs music such as “Ode to Joy” from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony or the famous theme from the Star Wars movies.

The people who stop by are awestruck by the glass harp music Turner has been showcasing on a street corner in Alexandria for more than 25 years. It doesn’t take long before they drop dollar bills or larger amounts into a donation basket to show their appreciation for Turner.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Nicole Schwarss, a visitor from Germany. “I’ve never heard something like this before.”

Almudena Casdaneda from Mexico was spellbound.

“It’s a very different way to play music,” she said, “and it seems difficult to do, and to remember which cup sounds which way.”

Second nature

But to 78-year-old Turner it’s second nature because he started playing the glass harp some 50 years ago. Although he also plays other instruments, the glass harp is his passion. He got the idea as a young age from his father. When he was 6 years old, he said, he heard his dad playing around with a glass of water at the dining room table and he liked the sound a lot.

Turner sets up his instrument, consisting of 60 glasses, on a wooden soundboard anchored with rubber bands, which keeps the stemware from breaking. He uses inexpensive glass instead of crystal, which he says rings too long and doesn’t give him control of the notes.

Turner tunes each glass to a different pitch by partially filling them with distilled water, which he said gives better sound than water with chemicals and minerals. Then he uses a turkey baster to squirt additional water into the glasses to fine-tune them.

As Turner rubs his dampened fingertips around the rims, the smaller bowls produce higher pitches, while the larger ones resonate deeper tones. The more water in any of the glasses, large or small, will also lower the pitch.

Turner actually “auditions” his glasses at stores before he buys them. 

“I explain that I’m looking for a few that I can make music on. Then I usually find only one or two that will have a good sound,” he said.

Audience participation

Turner loves having an audience and teaching people about his instrument. He explains how he plays the chords. He gave some visitors the opportunity to play music with him, by having them rub the rims of the biggest glasses.

Joeli Pepe, a girl from New York, was all smiles as her glass vibrated a bass tone.

“I didn’t know it made that much sound,” she said.

She also learned from Turner that the glass harp was popular in the 1700s when classical composers like Mozart wrote music specifically for the instrument. There have been 400 pieces written for the glass harp. But Turner plays all kinds of music, from contemporary jazz, to country, to the U.S. national anthem. He amazed a Chinese visitor by playing a tune that is popular in China.

Turner said he has been able to make a living as a glass harpist and has even played with top U.S. orchestras. He has performed at numerous places around the country, including the Easter Egg Roll at the White House, for various embassies in Washington, and at Walt Disney World in Florida. A few years ago, he got to perform in Japan.

With so few people playing the glass harp, Turner is hoping the next generation will keep the instrument alive.

“I think it is gaining in popularity,” he said. “A lot of people have seen me on YouTube, and so I’ve seen a lot of people experimenting with it on YouTube.”

“People can’t help but smile when they hear the glass harp,” said Turner, as he played Happy Birthday to a little girl who gave him a big grin.
…

Musician Jamey Turner chose an unconventional career path by becoming a glass harpist. He plays music with glasses filled with water. He uses his fingertips to rub the rim of the glasses to create a range of musical tones. VOA’s Deborah Block watched Turner play the glass harp in Alexandria, Virginia, where people seemed to be awestruck by the sounds he created.
…

Musician Jamey Turner chose an unconventional career path by becoming a glass harpist. He plays music with glasses filled with water. He uses his fingertips to rub the rim of the glasses to create a range of musical tones. VOA’s Deborah Block watched Turner play the glass harp in Alexandria, Virginia, where people seemed to be awestruck by the sounds he created.
…

In the United States, it is often said that no one is above the law, even the president. But what happens when the president is implicated in criminal wrongdoing?

The question took on new relevance this week after President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws, which he says was done at the direction of then-candidate Trump.

​Defiant Trump

At a campaign style rally in West Virginia Wednesday, Trump ignored his legal difficulties and rallied his base.

“Under our administration, America is winning again and America is being respected again all over the world. It is America first,” Trump said to cheers.

But the Cohen guilty plea combined with the fraud conviction of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort have handed Democrats a new political weapon just in time for the midterm congressional election campaign.

“Consideration of country and Constitution aside, if my Republican colleagues remain silent, the party is becoming a co-conspirator in the culture of corruption that surrounds this president,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.

WATCH: When It Comes to Presidential Wrongdoing, Remedy Often Political

Legal jeopardy

Legal analysts said this week that Trump’s possible involvement in the campaign violations admitted to by Cohen could put the president in legal jeopardy.

“He is potentially now an unindicted co-conspirator and could be indicted,” George Washington University Law Professor Paul Schiff Berman via Skype. “Now there is an open question as to whether a sitting president can be indicted for criminal wrongdoing. Obviously he could be impeached, but that is not going to happen as long as Republicans hold the House and the Senate.”

If the president eventually faces charges of specific criminal wrongdoing, impeachment may be a more likely remedy than going through the courts.

Justice Department guidance

The Justice Department has longstanding internal guidance that likely bar a sitting president from being indicted while in office. Although never tested in court, the guidance held sway during the impeachment inquiries involving former Presidents Bill Clinton in 1998-99 and Richard Nixon in 1974.

But there is no constitutional bar to seeking an indictment of a president once out of office.

Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for lying about his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, but was acquitted in a trial in the Senate.

Nixon did not fare as well. He became the first president to resign after the House began impeachment proceedings in 1974.

​Impeachment politics

The Senate remains in Republican hands and could protect Trump even if Democrats win back a House majority in the November midterms. The House can impeach the president with a simple majority vote. But removing a president from office requires a trial in the Senate.

“In the Senate, you need two-thirds of the Senate to convict a president and that has never happened before,” said University of Virginia legal analyst Saikrishna Prakash via Skype. “Two presidents have been impeached, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. No president has actually been removed (from office).”

Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was quick to dismiss any thoughts that the president was worried about impeachment.

“I think impeachment would be totally horrible. I mean there is no reason,” Giuliani told reporters during a visit to Britain. “He did not collude with the Russians. He did not obstruct justice. Everything Cohen says has been disproved. You would only impeach him for political reasons and the American people would revolt against that.”

Politics and the law

Prakash also said that history has shown that when it comes to presidential wrongdoing, there is often a balance between legal and political remedies.

“The fact that he might not be able to be prosecuted while president might cause some people to think that the president is above the law. But of course when you are designing a system, you have to decide, do you want to subject the president to possible prosecution while he is president?”

The founders of the American republic sought to find a middle ground where Congress could hold a president accountable without undermining the basic concept of the separation of powers among the three branches of government: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. There was also a concern that a president could face numerous frivolous lawsuits and legal challenges while in office that would distract his or her attention from the pressing issues of the day.

Ultimately, if President Trump is accused of any criminal wrongdoing, his fate will likely be decided by Congress and the public, not a judge and jury.
…

In the United States, it is often said that no one is above the law, even the president. But what happens when the president is implicated in criminal wrongdoing?

The question took on new relevance this week after President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws, which he says was done at the direction of then-candidate Trump.

​Defiant Trump

At a campaign style rally in West Virginia Wednesday, Trump ignored his legal difficulties and rallied his base.

“Under our administration, America is winning again and America is being respected again all over the world. It is America first,” Trump said to cheers.

But the Cohen guilty plea combined with the fraud conviction of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort have handed Democrats a new political weapon just in time for the midterm congressional election campaign.

“Consideration of country and Constitution aside, if my Republican colleagues remain silent, the party is becoming a co-conspirator in the culture of corruption that surrounds this president,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech on the Senate floor.

WATCH: When It Comes to Presidential Wrongdoing, Remedy Often Political

Legal jeopardy

Legal analysts said this week that Trump’s possible involvement in the campaign violations admitted to by Cohen could put the president in legal jeopardy.

“He is potentially now an unindicted co-conspirator and could be indicted,” George Washington University Law Professor Paul Schiff Berman via Skype. “Now there is an open question as to whether a sitting president can be indicted for criminal wrongdoing. Obviously he could be impeached, but that is not going to happen as long as Republicans hold the House and the Senate.”

If the president eventually faces charges of specific criminal wrongdoing, impeachment may be a more likely remedy than going through the courts.

Justice Department guidance

The Justice Department has longstanding internal guidance that likely bar a sitting president from being indicted while in office. Although never tested in court, the guidance held sway during the impeachment inquiries involving former Presidents Bill Clinton in 1998-99 and Richard Nixon in 1974.

But there is no constitutional bar to seeking an indictment of a president once out of office.

Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives for lying about his affair with intern Monica Lewinsky, but was acquitted in a trial in the Senate.

Nixon did not fare as well. He became the first president to resign after the House began impeachment proceedings in 1974.

​Impeachment politics

The Senate remains in Republican hands and could protect Trump even if Democrats win back a House majority in the November midterms. The House can impeach the president with a simple majority vote. But removing a president from office requires a trial in the Senate.

“In the Senate, you need two-thirds of the Senate to convict a president and that has never happened before,” said University of Virginia legal analyst Saikrishna Prakash via Skype. “Two presidents have been impeached, Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton. No president has actually been removed (from office).”

Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani was quick to dismiss any thoughts that the president was worried about impeachment.

“I think impeachment would be totally horrible. I mean there is no reason,” Giuliani told reporters during a visit to Britain. “He did not collude with the Russians. He did not obstruct justice. Everything Cohen says has been disproved. You would only impeach him for political reasons and the American people would revolt against that.”

Politics and the law

Prakash also said that history has shown that when it comes to presidential wrongdoing, there is often a balance between legal and political remedies.

“The fact that he might not be able to be prosecuted while president might cause some people to think that the president is above the law. But of course when you are designing a system, you have to decide, do you want to subject the president to possible prosecution while he is president?”

The founders of the American republic sought to find a middle ground where Congress could hold a president accountable without undermining the basic concept of the separation of powers among the three branches of government: the executive, the legislative and the judicial. There was also a concern that a president could face numerous frivolous lawsuits and legal challenges while in office that would distract his or her attention from the pressing issues of the day.

Ultimately, if President Trump is accused of any criminal wrongdoing, his fate will likely be decided by Congress and the public, not a judge and jury.
…

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he had canceled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned trip to North Korea because “we are not making sufficient progress” toward the goal of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

Trump said in a message on Twitter that Pompeo’s visit, which was set for next week, now would likely not take place until after Washington has resolved its trade dispute with China. Trump said China was no longer helping on the North Korea issue.

It was a dramatic shift of tone for Trump, who had previously hailed his June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a success and said the North Korean nuclear threat was over.

Negotiations have stalled since the June summit in Singapore. Pompeo is pressing for tangible steps toward North Korea’s abandonment of its nuclear arsenal while Pyongyang is demanding that Washington first make concessions of its own.

Trump’s statement came just a day after Pompeo announced he would again visit North Korea and would take his new U.S. special representative, Stephen Biegun, with him in an attempt to break the deadlock.

But Trump asked Pompeo not to go to North Korea during a meeting at the White House on Friday afternoon, a senior White House official said.

“Because of our much tougher Trading stance with China, I do not believe they are helping with the process of denuclearization as they once were (despite the UN Sanctions which are in place),” Trump tweeted.

“Secretary Pompeo looks forward to going to North Korea in the near future, most likely after our Trading relationship with China is resolved,” Trump wrote. “In the meantime I would like to send my warmest regards and respect to Chairman Kim. I look forward to seeing him soon!”
…

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he had canceled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned trip to North Korea because “we are not making sufficient progress” toward the goal of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula.

Trump said in a message on Twitter that Pompeo’s visit, which was set for next week, now would likely not take place until after Washington has resolved its trade dispute with China. Trump said China was no longer helping on the North Korea issue.

It was a dramatic shift of tone for Trump, who had previously hailed his June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a success and said the North Korean nuclear threat was over.

Negotiations have stalled since the June summit in Singapore. Pompeo is pressing for tangible steps toward North Korea’s abandonment of its nuclear arsenal while Pyongyang is demanding that Washington first make concessions of its own.

Trump’s statement came just a day after Pompeo announced he would again visit North Korea and would take his new U.S. special representative, Stephen Biegun, with him in an attempt to break the deadlock.

But Trump asked Pompeo not to go to North Korea during a meeting at the White House on Friday afternoon, a senior White House official said.

“Because of our much tougher Trading stance with China, I do not believe they are helping with the process of denuclearization as they once were (despite the UN Sanctions which are in place),” Trump tweeted.

“Secretary Pompeo looks forward to going to North Korea in the near future, most likely after our Trading relationship with China is resolved,” Trump wrote. “In the meantime I would like to send my warmest regards and respect to Chairman Kim. I look forward to seeing him soon!”
…

The Taliban insurgency claimed Friday that U.S. airstrikes killed 16 of its fighters in eastern Afghanistan who were battling militants loyal to the rival Islamic State.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, asserted Friday that Taliban fighters were carrying out attacks against Islamic State bases in eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar, when they came under fire by U.S. drones.  He said the U.S. repeatedly bombed “our positions, vehicles and defense lines” and inflicted casualties on the Taliban fighters.

The Pentagon has not commented on the claim.  

The accusations came a day after Russia alleged “unidentified” helicopters were ferrying ammunition and arms to Islamic State fighters in a northern province of Afghanistan and demanded explanations from local as well as their NATO-led foreign military partners.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that “unidentified” helicopters are conducting military missions in support of terrorists linked to the Islamic State faction in the northern Afghan province of Sar-e-Pul.

“We note that this is happening in the direct vicinity of Central Asian states’ borders and many ISIS (Islamic State) militants in Afghanistan hail from these countries,” said Maria Zakharova.

She said that Moscow was awaiting a reaction from Afghan security agencies and the U.S.-led international forces deployed in the country.

The Taliban and Russia have accused the U.S. military of helping Islamic State fighters in the past, charges that Washington has rejected as “completely untrue.” Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai first suggested in 2009 that the United States was secretly helping the Taliban in an effort to prolong the war. The allegation came at a time of fraying relations between Karzai’s government and Washington, and U.S. officials have long said there is no basis for the claim.

U.S. officials have also criticized Moscow for maintaining ties with the Taliban on the pretext of fighting terrorist groups in Afghanistan, saying Moscow’s policy undermines international gains in the war-shattered country.

Moscow conference on Afghanistan

Meanwhile, Russian officials have urged Kabul to attend next month’s multi-nation consultative conference in Moscow on the future of Afghanistan, where Taliban envoys will also be in attendance.

The Afghan government has refused to participate in the meeting unless Taliban negotiators agree to direct bilateral talks with its delegates on the sidelines of the September 4 gathering in the Russian capital.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry defended the event as an important step toward a comprehensive Afghan settlement.

“The purpose of inviting Taliban representatives to the Moscow meeting is to deliver a collective appeal to restore peace in Afghanistan directly to the armed Afghan opposition.… We expect representatives of Kabul to take part in the Moscow format meeting,” it said.  

Washington has also declined an invitation to attend the Moscow conference because U.S. officials maintain any peace and reconciliation effort will have to be led by the Afghan government.

VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.

 
…

The Taliban insurgency claimed Friday that U.S. airstrikes killed 16 of its fighters in eastern Afghanistan who were battling militants loyal to the rival Islamic State.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, asserted Friday that Taliban fighters were carrying out attacks against Islamic State bases in eastern provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar, when they came under fire by U.S. drones.  He said the U.S. repeatedly bombed “our positions, vehicles and defense lines” and inflicted casualties on the Taliban fighters.

The Pentagon has not commented on the claim.  

The accusations came a day after Russia alleged “unidentified” helicopters were ferrying ammunition and arms to Islamic State fighters in a northern province of Afghanistan and demanded explanations from local as well as their NATO-led foreign military partners.

On Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that “unidentified” helicopters are conducting military missions in support of terrorists linked to the Islamic State faction in the northern Afghan province of Sar-e-Pul.

“We note that this is happening in the direct vicinity of Central Asian states’ borders and many ISIS (Islamic State) militants in Afghanistan hail from these countries,” said Maria Zakharova.

She said that Moscow was awaiting a reaction from Afghan security agencies and the U.S.-led international forces deployed in the country.

The Taliban and Russia have accused the U.S. military of helping Islamic State fighters in the past, charges that Washington has rejected as “completely untrue.” Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai first suggested in 2009 that the United States was secretly helping the Taliban in an effort to prolong the war. The allegation came at a time of fraying relations between Karzai’s government and Washington, and U.S. officials have long said there is no basis for the claim.

U.S. officials have also criticized Moscow for maintaining ties with the Taliban on the pretext of fighting terrorist groups in Afghanistan, saying Moscow’s policy undermines international gains in the war-shattered country.

Moscow conference on Afghanistan

Meanwhile, Russian officials have urged Kabul to attend next month’s multi-nation consultative conference in Moscow on the future of Afghanistan, where Taliban envoys will also be in attendance.

The Afghan government has refused to participate in the meeting unless Taliban negotiators agree to direct bilateral talks with its delegates on the sidelines of the September 4 gathering in the Russian capital.

In a statement issued Thursday, the Russian Foreign Ministry defended the event as an important step toward a comprehensive Afghan settlement.

“The purpose of inviting Taliban representatives to the Moscow meeting is to deliver a collective appeal to restore peace in Afghanistan directly to the armed Afghan opposition.… We expect representatives of Kabul to take part in the Moscow format meeting,” it said.  

Washington has also declined an invitation to attend the Moscow conference because U.S. officials maintain any peace and reconciliation effort will have to be led by the Afghan government.

VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.

 
…