Trump blasts Comey as acting FBI chief vows to press probe on campaign ties to Russia

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday called ousted FBI chief James Comey a “showboat” and “grandstander,” but its acting leader contradicted the president and promised the agency’s probe into possible Trump campaign ties to Russia would proceed with vigor.

Trump, facing Democratic accusations that he fired Comey on Tuesday to hinder the FBI investigation into alleged meddling by Russia in the 2016 US presidential election, said he would have taken the action even without a recommendation to do so by the two top Justice Department officials. That ran counter to previous administration explanations of Comey’s dismissal.

The Republican president also gave further details of his account that Comey informed him three times that he was not under investigation.

Trump’s personal attack on Comey seemed designed to underline that Comey’s dismissal was about his performance at the Federal Bureau of Investigation and not a probe that has hung over Trump’s presidency since he took office in January and threatens to overwhelm his policy priorities.

In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, testifying in place of Comey, promised to tell the panel of any White House meddling into the agency’s probe. Democrats have called for a special prosecutor to look into the Russia matter.

“He’s a showboat. He’s a grandstander,” Trump told NBC News in his first interview since firing Comey. “The FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that, everybody knows that.”

The White House and Vice President Mike Pence have said Trump fired Comey on the recommendation of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and No. 2 Justice Department official Rod Rosenstein.

On Thursday, Trump said: “I was going to fire Comey. My decision.”

“I was going to fire regardless of recommendation.”

Trump told NBC News he never pressured Comey into dropping the FBI probe, adding: “If Russia did anything, I want to know that.” Trump said there was no “collusion between me and my campaign and the Russians,” but added that “the Russians did not affect the vote.”

McCabe’s testimony contradicted Trump’s appraisal of turmoil at the FBI under Comey.

“I can tell you also that Director Comey enjoyed broad support within the FBI and still does to this day,” McCabe said.

“I can tell you that I hold Director Comey in the absolute highest regard. I have the highest respect for his considerable abilities and his integrity,” McCabe added. “And it has been the greatest privilege and honor of my professional life to work with him.”

Trump will not visit FBI headquarters in Washington as expected after agency officials told the White House he would not be greeted warmly following his firing of Comey, MSNBC reported on Thursday.

‘Vigorously and completely’

McCabe vowed no letup in the investigation.

“It is my opinion and belief that the FBI will continue to pursue this investigation vigorously and completely,” McCabe told the senators. He said there was no “crisis of confidence within the leadership of the FBI.”

Trump told NBC he had asked Comey once over dinner and twice by telephone whether he was under investigation in the Russia matter.

“I said: ‘If it’s possible, would you let me know, am I under investigation?'” Trump told NBC. “He said: ‘You are not under investigation.'”

Trump said the dinner with Comey was at the White House and Comey wanted to discuss staying on as FBI chief. “We had a very nice dinner. And at that time, he told me: ‘You are not under investigation.'”

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she believed it was not a conflict of interest for a president to ask the FBI chief such a question.

Comey has not publicly discussed any conversations he had with Trump.

McCabe testified it was not typical practice to tell people they were not a targets of an investigation.

The Republican chairman of the Senate panel, Richard Burr, asked McCabe whether he ever heard Comey tell Trump the president was not the subject of investigation. McCabe sidestepped the question, saying he could not comment on an ongoing probe.

In his letter firing Comey on Tuesday, Trump wrote: “While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau.”

US intelligence agencies concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an effort to disrupt the election that included hacking into Democratic Party emails and leaking them, with the aim of helping Trump.

Leaders of the US intelligence agencies, including Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA chief Mike Pompeo, testified to the senators on Thursday that they agreed with that finding. Moscow has denied any such interference and the Trump administration denies allegations of collusion with Russia.

“For many people, including myself, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the president’s decision to remove Director Comey was related to this investigation, and that is truly unacceptable,” said the Senate Intelligence Committee’s top Democrat, Mark Warner.

The Trump administration has said Comey’s firing was unrelated to the Russia investigation. It said on Tuesday that Comey’s firing arose from his handling of an election-year FBI probe into Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as secretary of state.

“And while it’s clear to me now more than ever that an independent special counsel must be appointed, make no mistake our committee will get to the bottom of what happened during the 2016 presidential election,” Warner said.

Responding to Trump’s latest comments about Comey, Burr and Warner praised the ousted FBI chief’s integrity. Warner said he was offended at Trump’s remarks.

Former Republican Representative Mike Rogers is being considered as a candidate to replace Comey, a senior White House official said. The nominee must be confirmed by the US Senate.

source: beta.interaksyon.com

Clinton camp dares FBI to tell about Trump's Russia ties

WASHINGTON/FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A top aide to Hillary Clinton urged the FBI on Tuesday to disclose what it knows about any ties between Donald Trump and Russia, accusing the agency of unfairly publicizing its inquiry into Clinton's email practices while staying quiet about the Republican presidential candidate.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation opened a preliminary inquiry in recent months into allegations that Trump or his associates might have had questionable dealings with Russian people or businesses, but found no evidence to warrant opening a full investigation, according to sources familiar with the matter. The agency has not publicly discussed the probe.

A week before Election Day, the Clinton campaign was trying to contain damage from the announcement by FBI Director James Comey on Friday that his agency was looking into newly discovered emails that might relate to Clinton's use of a private server while she was secretary of state.

Clinton has voiced confidence the FBI will not find anything problematic.

She campaigned on Tuesday in the battleground state of Florida, where she was joined in Dade City by former Miss Universe Alicia Machado, whom Trump had mocked for gaining weight. Chants of “Lock her up!” from dozens of Trump supporters gathered nearby could be faintly heard while Clinton spoke.

In Ft. Lauderdale, a young man who yelled, "She's a liar" was escorted out of the rally. Several other protesters removed during the course of her speech.

"I am sick and tired of the negative, dark, divisive, dangerous vision and behavior from people who support Donald Trump," Clinton said as another protester was removed from the rally.

Trump and other Republicans have seized on Comey's announcement, which did not indicate any wrongdoing by Clinton, to ratchet up criticism of the Democratic candidate. She leads in most opinion polls ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Trump urged people on Tuesday who voted early for his Democratic rival to cancel their ballots and switch to him.

"This is a message for any Democratic voters who have already cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton and who are having a bad case of buyer's remorse, in other words you want to change your vote," Trump told a Wisconsin rally.

“So if you live here or in Michigan or Pennsylvania or Minnesota, you can change your vote to Donald Trump."

Several states, including those cited by Trump, have a process to allow voters who cast early ballots to change their votes, either by submitting new ballots or showing up at their polling place on Election Day.

'Connections to the Russians'

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook questioned why the FBI director had not released any information about the agency's Russia inquiries.

"If you're in the business of releasing information about investigations on presidential candidates, release everything you have on Donald Trump. Release the information on his connections to the Russians," Mook said on CNN.

The FBI inquiry reviewed allegations that Trump or his associates might have violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or engaged in contacts or commerce with people in Russia who are subject to US or international financial sanctions.

The US government has blamed Russia for cyberattacks on Democratic Party organizations. Democrats criticize Trump for taking what they say is a pro-Russia foreign policy stance.

Russia's possible role in the campaign again came into focus when online magazine Slate said a group of computer scientists had been alarmed by records showing thousands of apparent connection attempts between an email server operated on behalf of the Trump Organization and computers inside a Russian company, Alfa Bank in Moscow.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the server, which had been used to send out hotel marketing material, had been dormant for years.

Prominent US cyber security company FireEye said it had been hired by Alfa Bank to investigate the records and had been granted access to the bank’s systems in Moscow to look for evidence of any relationship with Trump’s company or any signs of hacking or infection. FireEye said so far it had found no emails being sent back and forth or any other link.

Opinion polls showed Clinton's lead has narrowed slightly since early last week but it was too early to say whether the email controversy was hurting her.

Clinton led businessman Trump in the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll of likely voters released on Monday, by 44 percent to 39 percent. Clinton, hoping to be the first woman elected president, strengthened her lead over Trump in polls after the release last month of a 2005 video in which the Republican bragged in vulgar terms about groping women.

But in a dramatic twist, Comey told Congress in a letter on Friday that the FBI was reviewing the newly discovered emails.

Comey had announced in July that the FBI had completed a probe into the email practices, concluding there were no grounds to bring any charges.

Clinton's team has been pressing the FBI to provide details on the new trove of emails, which Comey said may or may not be significant in the case.

Little is publicly known yet about the emails, other than that they were found during an unrelated probe into former US Representative Anthony Weiner, the estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Comey's letter has provided Republicans with fresh fodder for attack in the waning days of the campaign. US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said on Tuesday that a Clinton presidency would bog down in "scandal baggage."

Congressional Republicans, who had been concerned Trump risked damaging their majorities in the House and Senate, were also encouraged by his recent statements on efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. A campaign aide said if Trump wins, he would ask Congress to begin working on legislation to repeal the law before the Jan. 20 inauguration.

source: interaksyon.com

Citing new lead, US govt draws back in battle with Apple

LOS ANGELES - The US Justice Department on Monday filed a request to postpone a crucial hearing with Apple on accessing the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino attackers, citing new leads in the case.

"On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking (Syed) Farook's iPhone," prosecutors said in a filing.

"Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook's iPhone.

"If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case."

Prosecutors requested that Tuesday's hearing before a federal judge in California be cancelled in order to allow time for testing the new method, and proposed filing a status report with the court by April 5.

The high-stakes case has pitted Apple against the FBI, which sought the tech giant's help in unlocking the iPhone of Farook, who, along with his wife, was behind the December 2 terror attack in San Bernardino that left 14 people dead.

source: interaksyon.com

EBay initially believed user data safe after cyberattack

BOSTON/SAN FRANCISCO — EBay Inc initially believed that its customers’ data was safe as forensic investigators reviewed a network security breach discovered in early May and made public this week, a senior executive told Reuters on Friday.

EBay has come under fire over its handling of the cyberattack, in which hackers accessed personal data of all 145 million users, ranking it among the biggest such attacks launched on a corporation to date.

“For a very long period of time we did not believe that there was any eBay customer data compromised,” global marketplaces chief Devin Wenig said, in the first comments by a top eBay executive since the e-commerce company disclosed the breach on Wednesday.

EBay moved “swiftly to disclose” the breach after it realized customer data was involved, he said.

Wenig would not say when the company first realized that the cyberattackers accessed customer data, nor how long it took to prepare Wednesday’s announcement.

He said hackers got in using the credentials of three corporate employees, eventually making their way to the user database.

Hackers accessed email addresses and encrypted passwords belonging to all eBay users. “Millions” of users have since reset their passwords and the company had begun notifying users, though it would take some time to complete that task, Wenig said.

“You would imagine that anyone who has ever touched eBay is a large number,” he said. “So we’re going to send all of them an email, but sending that number all at once is not operationally possible.”

At least three U.S. states are investigating the company’s security practices. Customers have complained on social media about delayed notification emails. And New York’s attorney general called on eBay to provide free credit monitoring services to users.

But the Internet retail giant has no plans to compensate customers or offer free credit monitoring for now because it had detected no financial fraud, Wenig said.

Wenig declined comment when asked if he thought eBay had good security prior to the breach. He said the company would now bolster its security systems, and has mobilized senior executives in a subsequent investigation of the attack.

“We want to make sure it doesn’t happen again so we’re going to continue to look our procedures, harden our operational environment and add levels of security where it’s appropriate.”

The breach marked the latest headache for eBay this year. In January, it crossed swords publicly with activist investor Carl Icahn, who mounted a campaign to get it to spin out PayPal. Then in April, the e-commerce company disappointed investors with a weak second-quarter outlook, pressuring its shares.

Avoiding back door

Buying and selling activity on eBay remained “fairly normal” though eBay is still working out the cost of the breach, which included hiring a number of security firms. Wenig, who was previously a senior executive at Thomson Reuters Corp, declined to comment on whether the cost could be material to eBay’s results.

Wenig’s revelation that the company initially believed that no customer data had been compromised might take some of the heat off eBay’s executive team.

Cyber forensics experts said it’s not uncommon for large companies to take weeks to grasp the full impact of an attack, because hackers are often able to steal data without leaving obvious clues.

“In some cases you go in and find the smoking gun immediately. Other times, it takes a few days or even a few weeks,” said Kevin Johnson, a cyber-forensics expert who was not involved in the eBay investigation but has worked for other Fortune 500 companies.

Daniel Clemens, a forensics expert and CEO of Packet Ninjas, said investigators often ask companies to hold off on disclosure until they believe they understand the full extent of an attack. Otherwise, they risk tipping off attackers who might cover their tracks or leave “back doors” so they can return after the investigators complete their probe.

On Wednesday, the e-commerce company announced that hackers raided its network between late February and early March. The company said financial information was not compromised and its payments unit PayPal was not affected.

When eBay first discovered the network breach in early May, the senior team was immediately involved and held multiple daily calls on the issue. EBay staff have been working around the clock since Wednesday.

Wenig said he could not provide much more detail about what happened in the attack beyond the scant information given out so far.

He declined to provide further specifics, citing ongoing investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and several forensics firms including FireEye Inc’s Mandiant division.

source: interaksyon.com

FBI warns of US government breaches by Anonymous hackers

Activist hackers linked to the collective known as Anonymous have secretly accessed U.S. government computers in multiple agencies and stolen sensitive information in a campaign that began almost a year ago, the FBI warned this week.

The hackers exploited a flaw in Adobe Systems Inc’s software to launch a rash of electronic break-ins that began last December, then left “back doors” to return to many of the machines as recently as last month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a memo seen by Reuters.

The memo, distributed on Thursday, described the attacks as “a widespread problem that should be addressed.” It said the breach affected the U.S. Army, Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and perhaps many more agencies.

Investigators are still gathering information on the scope of the cyber campaign, which the authorities believe is continuing. The FBI document tells system administrators what to look for to determine if their systems are compromised.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to elaborate.

According to an internal email from Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz’ chief of staff, Kevin Knobloch, the stolen data included personal information on at least 104,000 employees, contractors, family members and others associated with the Department of Energy, along with information on almost 2,0000 bank accounts.

The email, dated October 11, said officials were “very concerned” that loss of the banking information could lead to thieving attempts.

Officials said the hacking was linked to the case of Lauri Love, a British resident indicted on October 28 for allegedly hacking into computers at the Department of Energy, Army, Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Sentencing Commission and elsewhere.

Investigators believe the attacks began when Love and others took advantage of a security flaw in Adobe’s ColdFusion software, which is used to build websites.

Adobe spokeswoman Heather Edell said she was not familiar with the FBI report. She added that the company has found that the majority of attacks involving its software have exploited programs that were not updated with the latest security patches.

The Anonymous group is an amorphous collective that conducts multiple hacking campaigns at any time, some with a few participants and some with hundreds. In the past, its members have disrupted eBay’s Inc PayPal after it stopped processing donations to the anti-secrecy site Wikileaks. Anonymous has also launched technically more sophisticated attacks against Sony Corp and security firm HBGary Federal.

Some of the breaches and pilfered data in the latest campaign had previously been publicized by people who identify with Anonymous, as part of what the group dubbed “Operation Last Resort.”

Among other things, the campaigners said the operation was in retaliation for overzealous prosecution of hackers, including the lengthy penalties sought for Aaron Swartz, a well-known computer programmer and Internet activist who killed himself before a trial over charges that he illegally downloaded academic journal articles from a digital library known as JSTOR.

Despite the earlier disclosures, “the majority of the intrusions have not yet been made publicly known,” the FBI wrote. “It is unknown exactly how many systems have been compromised, but it is a widespread problem that should be addressed.”

source: interaksyon.com

One dead as gunman opens fire at Los Angeles international airport

A gunman opened fire with an assault rifle at Los Angeles' international (LAX) airport Friday, killing a security agent and wounding seven people, officials said.

Panicked travelers scrambled to escape after the lone suspect, named as 23-year-old Paul Anthony Ciancia, pulled out the gun and shot his way through a security checkpoint before being stopped in an exchange of fire with police.

The motive for the shooting was unclear, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it could not rule out terrorism. The gunman was reported to be in critical condition in hospital.



The shooter "came into Terminal Three, pulled an assault rifle out of a bag and began to open fire ... he proceeded up into the screening area ... and continued shooting," said LAX police chief Patrick Gannon.

He then doubled back into the main terminal area, as travelers rushed to get out, and reached a Burger King restaurant before officers "engaged him in gunfire ... and were able to successfully take him into custody."

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which employs screeners and guards at airports, confirmed one of its employees had died.

"Multiple Transportation Security Officers (TSOs) were shot, one fatally," said a TSA statement emailed to AFP.

The Los Angeles Times newspaper cited sources saying the shooter, who opened fire shortly after 9:00 a.m. in the crowded terminal was also believed to be a TSA employee at the airport, which is the country's third-biggest hub.

Gannon would not comment on that report, but said: "We believe at this point that there was a lone shooter," and that he "was the only person who was armed in this incident."

Of the seven people injured, six were taken to hospital, said the head of the LA Fire Department James Featherstone, briefing reporters for the first time a couple of hours after the incident.

One eyewitness recounted the shooter dressed in grayish-green clothing with an assault rifle opening fire as he went up an escalator and through the security area.

Live television footage showed armed police on the top of parking structures, apparently still looking for a possible gunman, while multiple ambulances were parked outside a terminal building.

Flights were disrupted and a "ground stop" was put in place, but about an hour after the incident erupted aircraft could be seen resuming landings at the airport, which is west of downtown Los Angeles.

Eyewitness Brian Adamick, 43, said he was preparing to board a flight when he saw people running through the terminal, away from a security area. He and others responded by going through an emergency exit onto the tarmac.

"While I was on the tarmac, I heard two gunshots from the same area where the people had been running and screaming," he told the LA Times.

A short time later shuttle buses began helping passengers to leave and he saw a wounded airport worker, from the TSA, board one bus, with a bloodied ankle.

"It looked like it was straight out of the movies," said Adamick.

Another non-US passenger, named only as Alex, said he was waiting in line on an upper terminal level when the shooter opened fire on the floor below.

"He shot one guy downstairs," he told KTLA 5, adding that the gunman then went up some escalators toward a security area.

"He fired several shots when he went through the security check," he said, adding: "He just went straight through the security check."

Eyewitness Eric Williams described the gunman to ABC7 television.

"We were standing in the TSA line to get checked through and all of a sudden we heard a shotgun. I saw the shooter and he was a Caucasian probably 18 to 25 years old," he said.

TV footage showed one person on a gurney, being loaded into an ambulance. Another victim was seen being rushed away on a wheelchair.

Hundreds of passengers could be seen streaming away from at least one terminal building, while multiple ambulances and emergency vehicles rushed to the scene.

The White House said President Barack Obama was kept up to date on the shooting.

source: interaksyon.com