Lebanese protesters request support for investigations into stolen public funds

19:34, February 20, 2020

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  Pentagon's policy chief resigns at Trump's request

  Under Secretary of Defense for Policy John C. Rood, left, and Lt. Gen. David W. Allvin, Joint Staff director for strategy, plans and policy, listen to opening statements during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the situation on the Korean peninsula, Jan. 28, 2020 on Capitol Hill. (Photo: AP)WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy John Rood will be leaving office by the end of this month due to President Donald Trumps request, according to his resignation letter acquired by media on Wednesday."Its my understanding from Secretary (Mark) Esper that you requested my resignation ... as you have requested, I am providing resignation effective February 28, 2020," Rood wrote in the letter to Trump."I would like to thank John Rood for his service to our Country, and wish him well in his future endeavors," Trump tweeted on Wednesday.Rood warned against blocking US military aid to Ukraine last year, and CNN reported that Rood broke with the administration on several issues in addition to the handling of aid to Ukraine, leading to a loss of support from the top.One official told CNN that Rood was skeptical about peace talks with the Taliban as well as the administrations decision to scale down military exercises with South Korea during talks with Pyongyang.Foreign Policy quoted sources as saying that President Donald Trump lost confidence in Rood after a steady wave of departures of senior policymakers from the Pentagon over the last year.The decision to oust Pentagons top policy official was based on a recommendation by National Security Adviser Robert OBrien, according to Foreign Policy.Rood, a former senior vice president of Lockheed Martin, has been serving as undersecretary of defense for policy since January 2018.

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  Trump doesn’t heed Barr’s request to cool tweeting on DOJ

  President Donald Trump shakes hands with Attorney General William Barr before Trump signed an executive order creating a commission to study law enforcement and justice at the International Association of Chiefs of Police Convention in Chicago. (File photo: AP)Unbowed by a public rebuke from his attorney general, President Donald Trump says he has the “legal right” to intervene in criminal cases and sidestep the Justice Department’s historic independence. At the same time, it was revealed federal prosecutors have been ordered to review the criminal case of his former national security adviser.A day after Attorney General William Barr said the president’s tweets were making it “impossible for me to do my job,” Trump declared he had the right to ask the agency to intervene in cases but so far has “chosen not to.” It was a rare public flare-up of tensions, simmering for weeks at the upper echelon of the Trump administration, as Barr marked one year on the job Friday.While Barr complained that Trump’s tweets undermine the department’s perception as independent from political interference, he has proven to be eager to deliver on many of the president’s investigative priorities — often laid out by Trump for all to see on Twitter.The attorney general stepped in this week to alter the sentencing recommendation that Trump had denounced as too harsh for his ally Roger Stone. Also, Justice Department prosecutors are reviewing the handling of the federal investigation into Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday. And Barr has appointed a US attorney who is conducting a criminal investigation into the origins of the FBI’s probe of the 2016 election that morphed into special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible Trump-Russia cooperation.Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during its probe of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, but his sentencing has been postponed s...

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  Trump ignores AG Barr’s request to stop tweeting about DOJ

  In this July 11, 2019, file photo, Attorney General William Barr, left, and President Donald Trump turn to leave after speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House, in Washington. (Photo: AP)US President Donald Trump on Friday ignored his attorney general’s public request to stop tweeting about the Justice Department, saying he had the legal right to ask the agency to intervene in a criminal case but so far has “chosen not to.”Trump’s Friday morning tweet came just hours after Attorney General William Barr said ina striking interviewwith ABC News that the president’s tweets were making it “impossible for me to do my job,” especially following the department’s bungled handling of the sentencing recommendation for Trump ally and confidant Roger Stone.Trump, in his tweet, left open the possibility that he would ask Barr for something in a criminal matter in the future.Barr has already appointed a US attorney who isconducting a criminal investigationinto the origins of the FBI’s probe of the 2016 election that morphed into special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible Trump-Russia cooperation.The Justice Department is also reviewing the handling of the federal investigation into Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Friday. Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI during its probe of ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. The US attorney in St. Louis, Jeff Jensen, is working with Brandon Van Grack, a member of Mueller’s team, to review the Flynn case, a Justice Department official said.As president, Trump technically has the right to compel the Justice Department to investigate as an executive branch agency. But historically, when it comes to decisions on criminal investigations and prosecutions, Justice has functioned as an independent agency, unmoved and unbound by political sway. And that reputation is important to Barr, as he made clear in...