Mediaboss Marketing

Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly denied he had any compromising material about U.S. President Donald Trump in a sometimes combative televised interview broadcast on Sunday.

"Well, this is just another load of nonsense," Putin said on NBC News' Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly,when asked whether he had any damaging information on the Republican president.

The remarks were the latest in a series of denials from Moscow that have had little impact so far on a political crisis in the United States over potential links between Russia and Trump's inner circle.

Subscribe to Newsweek from $1 per week

The issue will be front and center this week in Washington, where former FBI Director James Comey is due to testify on whether Trump tried to get him to back off an investigation into alleged ties between Trump's election campaign and Moscow.

Putin was interviewed by NBC News's Megyn Kelly Sunday, and denied having compromising information on President Trump. screenshot

Comey, who was leading the Federal Bureau of Investigation's probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year's U.S. presidential election, was fired by Trump last month, four years into his 10-year term.

Putin also told NBC that regardless of Trump's previous travel to Russia as a businessman, he had had no relationship with him and had never met him. Putin noted that executives from perhaps 100 American companies were currently in Russia.

"Do you think we're gathering compromising information on all of them right now or something?" Putin asked, before saying: "Have you all lost your senses?"

Trump has offered contradictory accounts of his relationship with Putin over time but has also said the two never met. They have spoken several times by phone since Trump's election.

Trump has called an FBI investigation into alleged ties between his campaign and Russia a "witch hunt" designed to undermine the legitimacy of his 2016 election win.

Trump has also disparaged a dossier of unsubstantiated allegations that purported to show Russian intelligence operatives had compromising information about him, but which he has described as a "hoax."

U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in January that Moscow tried to tilt the election campaign in Trump's favor, including by hacking into the emails of senior Democrats, a charge the Kremlin denies.

"They have been misled," Putin told NBC, in an interview NBC said was recorded on Friday. "And they aren't analyzing the information in its entirety. I haven't seen, even once, any direct proof of Russian interference in the (U.S.) presidential election."

Trump has denied any collusion but the FBI and congressional probes into the Russia matter have dogged the early months of his presidency.

Former CIA director John Brennan said last month he had noticed contacts between Trump's campaign associates and Russia during the 2016 election and grew concerned Moscow had sought to lure Americans down "a treasonous path."

After Comey's dismissal, news reports emerged that Trump asked Comey to end the probe into former national security adviser Michael Flynn during a February meeting in the Oval Office, the day after Flynn was fired for misrepresenting his contacts with the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kislyak.

Flynn has declined to testify to the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee about his Russian ties, invoking his constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination.

Putin downplayed Flynn's appearance with him at a December 2015 gala dinner in honor of the Russian television network Russia Today (RT), which U.S. officials consider a state-run propaganda outlet.

"I made my speech. Then we talked about some other stuff. And I got up and left. And then afterwards I was told, 'You know there was an American gentleman, he was involved in some things. He used to be in the security services'," Putin said.

"That's it. I didn't even really talk to him. That's the extent of my acquaintance with Mr Flynn," he added.

Reuters has reported that Flynn and Trump's son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, discussed with Kislyak the idea of creating a back channel between Trump and Putin that could have bypassed diplomats and intelligence agencies.

Putin said he was unaware of any such discussion and criticized NBC for asking about contacts between the ambassador and the Trump administration.

"You created a sensation out of nothing. And out of this sensation, you turned it into a weapon of war against the current (U.S.) president," Putin said.

Read the original post:
Vladimir Putin Denies Having Compromising Information on Donald Trump - Newsweek

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Getty Images

Al Drago, a photographer for the New York Times, shared a photo of former NFL quarterback Peyton Manning at the White House on Sunday.

According to Drago, Manning was with Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). President Donald Trump was returning from Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia:

CNN's Allie Malloy posted photos of Manning and Corker at the White House, as well as Trump National:

The Daily Beast'sKelly Weillreported in January that Manning had been active with regard to political donations. In addition to giving money to George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign, he supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential elections. Manning also donated to Corker's campaigns in 2006 and 2009.

While Manning supported the presidential bid of Jeb Bush, he has since shifted his support to Trump. Politico'sJake Sherman, Anna Palmer and Daniel Lippmanreported the 14-time Pro Bowler was slated to speak at a January GOP retreat, with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence among the other speakers.

During media day for Super Bowl 50 in February 2016, Manning told reporters he had golfed with Trump before.

"I played a round of golf with him in Tahoe," Manning said, per theHouston Chronicle'sAl Saracevic. "I didn't play real well, so I was kind of focused on trying to find my ball. ... The times I've been around him, he's been extremely nice to me."

Amid rumors he had aspirations of his own political career, Manning said in March hedoesn't plan on runningfor elected office.

Here is the original post:
Peyton Manning Reportedly Joins Donald Trump at Golf Course - Bleacher Report

Donald Trump has been taken to task for claiming, in his speech announcing the United States would exit from the Paris climate "treaty," that "I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris." Numerous people have pointed out that Trump did not carry the city of Pittsburgh; it voted for Hillary Clinton by a margin of 75 to 21 percent. They might have added that surrounding Allegheny County, taken as a whole, voted 56 to 39 percent for Clinton over Trump.

But it's also true that Trump did carry the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, which by government definition includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Washington and Westmoreland Counties. After all, when people mention a city's name, they are often referring not just to the area within the municipal limits of the central city, but to the larger metropolitan area.

Boston is often understood to include Cambridge, Los Angeles to include Beverly Hills, etc., etc.

Trump carried metro Pittsburgh over Hillary Clinton by 50 to 46 percent, rounding off each result to integers. This was only the fourth time in the last 75 years that a Republican presidential candidate has carried metro Pittsburgh: Mitt Romney won it 50 to 49 percent in 2012, Richard Nixon by 56 to 42 percent in 1972 and Dwight Eisenhower by 53 to 46 percent in 1956. The latter two were in years of national Republican landslides, and the only two times in 65 years when a Republican nominee won a significantly higher percentage there than did Trump (49.6 percent) or Romney (49.7 percent). And Trump received more popular votes in metro Pittsburgh (573,467) than any other Republican except Nixon in 1972 (580,268) and Eisenhower in 1956 (575,540).

In contrast, Clinton's 46 percent was the second-lowest percentage in metro Pittsburgh of any nominee in the last 65 years, ahead of George McGovern's 42 percent in 1972 and fractionally lower than Adlai Stevenson's 46 percent in 1956. The number of popular votes she won in the metro area (531,901) was 497 votes ahead of Barack Obama in 2012 (531,404), but behind Obama in 2008 (575,893), John Kerry in 2004 (597,172), Michael Dukakis in 1988 (559,611), Walter Mondale in 1984 (597,418), Jimmy Carter in 1976 (535,784), Hubert Humphrey in 1968 (573,276), Lyndon Johnson in 1964 (754,677), John F. Kennedy in 1960 (647,611) and Adlai Stevenson in 1952 (573,390).

These numbers reflect significant changes in political alignment and attitudes in metro Pittsburgh that are typical of some other parts, but not most parts, of the nation. This is an area with very low population growth: Turnout in 1960 (1,162,995) was higher than in 2016 (1,157,318), though that latter number was higher than in any election year in between. Historically, Pittsburgh was dominated economically by the steel industry and politically, from the 1930s to the 1980s, by management/union differences. The shutdown of many steel mills in the 1979-82 period produced a swing toward the Democratic party, contrary to the national trend: Walter Mondale carried metro Pittsburgh 56 percent to 44 percent and Michael Dukakis carried it 59 percent to 40 percent.

Since then, metro Pittsburgh has developed a post-industrial economy, heavily weighted toward meds and eds: healthcare (it's the only million-plus metro area with more deaths than births) and tech, driven by institutions like Carnegie-Mellon University. The central city of Pittsburgh has only about half the population it did in 1950 and casts only 13 percent of the metro area's votes; it is also increasingly gentrified, with many old buildings rehabilitated and neat entertainment and restaurant districts.

Pittsburgh is something of an outlier among our 50 or so million-plus metro areas. Once more Democratic than most, especially in the 1980s, it is now more Republican than most proof that the Trump constituency is not simply a revival of the Reagan constituency. Its voting over the years shows the waning of affection for the Democratic party among blue collar and Catholic voters. Its voting in 2016 were not widely out of line with a movement this century away from the Democratic party, but was a significant extension of it enough to give the Republican nominee, for the first time since 1988, Pennsylvania's electoral votes.

This trend provides justification for Donald Trump's statement that he was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, but only if you understand him to be referring to the metropolitan area, not the central city that cast 13 percent of its votes.

Read more here:
Donald Trump actually did carry (metro) Pittsburgh - Washington Examiner

President Donald Trumps response to the terroristattack in London Bridge has prompted an MSNBC commentator to question whether the Republican is intending to provoke a similar attack in the U.S.

Trump took to Twitter in the wake of Saturday nights attack on London in which seven people were killed and a further 48 injured, making comments about gun crime that prompted a backlash on social media.

The president wrote: Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That's because they used knives and a truck!

Subscribe to Newsweek from $1 per week

Speaking on MSNBCSunday, anchor Thomas Roberts questioned whether the president was attempting to provoke a terror attack with his Twitter rant.

"Let's not be [politically correct] about this," Roberts said, turning to Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and then asking: "Is the president trying to provoke a domestic terrorist attack with this Twitter rant becauseonly to prove himself right?"

Reed opted not to answer the question, although he did later speak about the use of Twitter as inappropriate in the aftermath of such an attack, The Hill reported.

Roberts repeated his suggestion Trump was politicizing the incident, asking former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean: "I asked this of Mayor Reed, but it seems like the president is trying to provoke something that he can politicize more for his own gain in America. Do you feel that way?

Former President Barack Obamas speechwriter, Jon Favreau, also questioned Trumps stream of tweets in the wake of the attack.

"It's hard to read Trump's tweets this morning and not think that we're one domestic attack away from the most dangerous version of this guy," Favreau tweeted.

Rather than issuing a simple response to the attack, Trump followed up his initial pledge to stand with the U.K. with a number of tweets some viewed as provocative, including lashing out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan over his instructions for Londoners to remain calm in the presence of increased security and armed police on the streets.

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn defended the London mayor, stating in comments carried by The Guardian: "At this time it is more important than ever that we stay united in our communities. It is the strength of our communities that gets us through these awful times as London mayor Sadiq Khan recognised but which the current occupant in the White House has neither the grace nor the sense to grasp."

Read more here:
Is Donald Trump 'Trying to Provoke a Domestic Terror Attack' With London Tweets? - Newsweek

In the wake of another terrorist attack in London, President Trump said Sunday night he will do whatever it takes to prevent such carnage in the U.S., saying this bloodshed must end.

At a fundraising gala at Fords Theatre in Washington, Mr. Trump said he had spoken with British Prime Minister Theresa May to express the unwavering support of the U.S. after terrorists killed seven people and wounded at least 48 others in London Saturday night. He called the episode an evil slaughter.

We renew our resolve, stronger than ever before, to protect the United States and its allies from a vile enemy that has waged war on innocent life, Mr. Trump said. And it has gone on too long. This bloodshed must end. This bloodshed will end. As president, I will do what is necessary to prevent this threat from spreading to our shores.

Referring to the London attacks, the president said the U.S. will do everything in its power to bring those that are guilty to justice.

America sends our thoughts and prayers to the United Kingdom, he said.

The attackers in London drove a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, then stabbed people in a nearby neighborhood of restaurants and pubs. Police shot all three terrorists dead, and authorities have arrested about a dozen people in the ongoing investigation.

See the rest here:
Donald Trump says 'bloodshed must end' from terrorist attacks - Washington Times