Page 8A
NATION/WORLD
East Oregonian
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Top Trump aide in frequent contact with Russia’s ambassador
WASHINGTON
(AP)
— President-elect Donald
Trump’s national security
adviser and Russia’s ambas-
sador to the U.S. have been
in frequent contact in recent
weeks, including on the day
the Obama administration
hit Moscow with sanctions
in retaliation for election-re-
lated hacking, a senior
official said Friday.
Trump
spokesman
Sean Spicer acknowledged
contacts between Michael
Flynn and Ambassador
Sergey Kislyak, but said a
phone conversation occurred
on Dec. 28, one day before
the sanctions were levied.
Spicer said the men did not
discuss sanctions. He did not
specifically deny additional
contacts the following day.
It’s not unusual for
incoming
administrations
to have discussions with
foreign governments before
taking office.
But the repeated contacts
just as President Barack
Obama imposed sanctions
would raise questions about
whether Trump’s team
discussed — or even helped
shape — Russia’s response
to the penalties.
Russian President Vlad-
imir Putin unexpectedly did
not retaliate against the U.S.
for the move, a decision
Trump quickly praised.
More broadly, Flynn’s
contact with the Russian
ambassador suggests the
incoming
administration
has already begun to lay the
groundwork for its promised,
new closer relationship with
Moscow.
That effort appears to be
moving ahead, even as many
in Washington, including
Republicans, have expressed
outrage over intelligence
officials’ assessment that
Putin launched a hacking
operation aimed at meddling
in the U.S. election to benefit
Trump.
During a news conference
Wednesday, Trump pointedly
would not say whether he
planned to repeal the sanc-
tions ordered by Obama. He
again highlighted his warmer
Intel panel to examine possible
campaign links with Russia
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File
National Security Adviser-designate Michael Flynn arrives at Trump Tower on Jan. 3
in New York.
rapport with the Russian
leader.
“If Putin likes Donald
Trump, I consider that an
asset, not a liability, because
we have a horrible relation-
ship with Russia,” he said.
The sanctions targeted
the GRU and FSB, leading
Russian intelligence agen-
cies that the U.S. said were
involved in the hacking of
the Democratic National
Committee and other groups.
The U.S. also kicked out 35
Russian diplomats who it
said were actually intelli-
gence operatives.
Trump has been willing
to insert himself into major
foreign policy issues during
the transition, at times
contradicting the current
administration and diplo-
matic protocol. He accepted
a call from Taiwan’s
president, ignoring the long-
standing “One China” policy
that does not recognize the
island’s sovereignty. He
also publicly urged the U.S.
to veto a United Nations
Security Council resolution
condemning Israeli settle-
ments, then slammed the
Obama administration for
abstaining and allowing the
measure to pass.
Questions about Trump’s
friendly posture toward
Russia
have
deepened
since the election, as he has
dismissed U.S. intelligence
agencies’ assertions about
Russia’s role in the hacking
of Democratic groups. In
briefing Trump on their
findings,
intelligence
officials also presented the
president-elect with unsub-
stantiated claims that Russia
had amassed compromising
personal and financial allega-
tions about him, according to
a separate U.S. official.
Trump acknowledged for
the first time this week that he
accepts that Russia was behind
the hacking. But he questioned
whether officials were leaking
information about their meet-
ings with him, warning that
would be a “tremendous blot”
on their record.
Flynn’s own ties with
Russia have worried some
Republicans who are more
skeptical of the Kremlin
than Trump appears to be.
After leaving his position
as director of the Defense
Intelligence Agency in 2014,
Flynn made appearances
on RT, a state-run Russian
television network. In 2015,
he was paid to attend an RT
gala in Moscow, where he sat
next to Putin.
As national security
adviser, Flynn will work
in the West Wing close to
the Oval Office and have
frequent access to Trump.
Unlike Trump’s nominees
to lead the Pentagon, State
Department
and
other
national security agencies,
Flynn’s post does not require
Senate confirmation.
Flynn’s contacts with the
Russian ambassador were
first reported by Washington
Post columnist David Igna-
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate Intelligence
Committee will investigate possible contacts between
Russia and the people associated with U.S. political
campaigns as part of a broader investigation into
Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
In a statement late Friday, Sens. Richard Burr. R-N.C.,
the committee’s chairman, and Mark Warner, D-Va., the
panel’s top Democrat, said the panel “will follow the
intelligence where it leads.”
Burr and Warner said that as part of the investigation
they will interview senior officials from the Obama
administration and the incoming Trump administration.
They said subpoenas would be issued “if necessary to
compel testimony.”
“We will conduct this inquiry expeditiously, and we
will get it right,” the senators said.
A declassified intelligence report released last week
said Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a hidden
campaign to influence the election to favor President-elect
Donald Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton, revela-
tions that have roiled Washington.
Trump and his supporters have staunchly resisted the
findings and Trump has leveled a series of broadsides at
U.S. intelligence agencies, even though he will have to rely
on their expertise to help him make major national security
decisions once he takes over at the White House next week.
Trump will be sworn in Jan. 20 in Washington, D.C.
At a news conference this week, Trump speculated that
U.S. intelligence agencies might have leaked details about
a classified briefing with him that included unsubstantiated
allegations that Russia had collected compromising sexual
and financial information about him.
He said any such information was not true: “It’s all
fake news. It’s phony stuff. It didn’t happen.”
The bulk of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s work
will be done in secret, although the senators said they will
hold open hearings when possible.
tius. The U.S. official who
spoke to The Associated
Press was not authorized to
confirm the contacts publicly
and insisted on anonymity.
Spicer,
the
Trump
spokesman, initially said
there was one phone call
between Flynn and Kislyak
on Dec. 28, as well as a
Christmas greeting via text
messages over the holidays.
He said sanctions were not
part of the discussions.
“The call centered around
the logistics of setting up a call
with the president of Russia
and the president-elect after
he was sworn in, and they
exchanged logistical infor-
mation on how to initiate and
schedule that call,” Spicer
told reporters Friday. “That
was it, plain and simple.”
A transition official later
cited a second phone call that
occurred earlier in December.
That official said Kislyak
reached out to Flynn for the
second phone call on Dec.
28, and by the time Flynn
called him back, it may have
been Dec. 29 in Moscow.
Trump spoke with Putin
about a week after his
victory. The transition team
has not disclosed any other
contact between the leaders.
The transition official said
the Russian ambassador also
invited U.S. officials to a
conference on Syria later this
month that is being held in
Kazakhstan.
BRIEFLY
In early GOP win
on health care repeal,
Congress OKs budget
WASHINGTON (AP) —
Ascendant Republicans drove a
budget through Congress on Friday
that gives them an early but critical
victory in their crusade to scrap
President Barack Obama’s health
care overhaul.
The vote trains the spotlight on
whether they and Donald Trump
can deliver on repeated pledges
to not just erase that statute but
replace it.
Demonstrating the GOP’s
willingness to plunge into a
defining but risky battle, the House
used a near party-line 227-198
roll call to approve a measure that
prevents Senate Democrats from
derailing a future bill, thus far
unwritten, annulling and reshaping
Obama’s landmark 2010 law.
The budget, which won Senate
approval early Thursday, does not
need the president’s signature.
“The ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act
will soon be history!” Trump
tweeted Friday. Trump takes the
presidential oath next Friday.
The real work looms in coming
months as the new administration
and congressional Republicans
write legislation to erase much of
the health care law and replace it
with a GOP version. Republicans
have internal divisions over what
that would look like, though past
GOP proposals have cut much of
the existing law’s federal spending
and eased coverage requirements
while relying more on tax benefits
and letting states make decisions.
Friday’s vote was preceded by
debate that saw hyperbole on both
sides and underscored how the
two parties have alternate-universe
views of Obama’s overhaul.
Democrats praised it for extending
coverage to tens of millions of
Americans, helping families
afford policies and seniors buy
prescriptions, while Republicans
focused on the rising premiums
and deductibles and limited access
to doctors and insurers that have
plagued many.
House Speaker Paul Ryan,
R-Wis., said the health care law
was “so arrogant and so contrary to
our founding principles” and had
not delivered on Obama’s promises
to lower costs and provide more
choice.
“We have to step in before
things get worse. This is nothing
short of a rescue mission,” Ryan
said.
Personalized IRS
letters nudge uninsured
to get coverage
WASHINGTON (AP) — If
you haven’t signed up for health
insurance, you may soon be getting
a not-too-subtle nudge from the
taxman.
The IRS is sending personalized
letters to millions of taxpayers who
might be uninsured, reminding
them that they could be on the
hook for hundreds of dollars in
fines under the federal health
care law if they don’t sign up
soon through HealthCare.gov.
It’s an unusual role for a revenue-
collection agency.
Fines are one of the most
unpopular parts of the 2010 health
overhaul, and there’s a high
likelihood they’ll get repealed by
Republicans, even if other parts
of “Obamacare” survive. The
administration is counting on
IRS reminders to help sign up as
many people as possible before
open enrollment ends Jan. 31.
That’s soon after officials hand
off President Barack Obama’s
signature program to a Trump
administration committed to
“repeal and replace.”
Letters bearing the IRS logo
Diabetes Education Series
Diabetes Self
Management Series
Jan. 18 th , 25 th & Feb. 1 st , 8 th
1:30PM to 3:30PM
Advance Registration Required
Most Major Insurances,
Medicare, Medicaid
For more information or to register
541-278-3249
Melissa Naff, RD, LD, CDE
Diabetes Educator • 541-278-3249
2801 St. Anthony Way
Pendleton, OR 97801
www.sahpendleton.org
will be sent to an estimated 7.5
million people who either claimed
an exemption from the law’s
requirement that most Americans
carry health insurance, or who
paid a penalty for being uninsured
during the 2015 tax year.
The coverage requirement was
included in the law as a way to get
healthy people into the insurance
pool, helping to keep premiums in
check.
The penalty for this year could
be $2,085 or more, depending on
family size and income, says one
draft version of the IRS letter.
Another draft takes a somewhat
different approach, leaving a blank
space for the IRS to provide an
individualized estimate of what
the particular uninsured taxpayer
might owe.
Republicans say the whole thing
is a waste of money. The campaign
will cost about $4 million, say
congressional aides.
“People receiving these letters
have already made up their minds
about Obamacare when they
applied for an exemption or paid
a penalty,” said House Ways and
Means Chairman Kevin Brady,
R-Texas. “They don’t want stock
letters. They want better health care
choices and lower costs.”
Eastern
Oregon
Oil pipeline safety rule
scaled back after cost
objections
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)
— President Barack Obama’s
administration scaled back new
safety measures for the sprawling
network of fuel pipelines that
crisscross the United States on
Friday, following oil industry
complaints that proposed changes
would cost companies billions of
dollars.
The long-delayed regulations
cover almost 200,000 miles of
pipelines that transport oil, gasoline
and other hazardous liquids.
They will be subject to review
by Congress and the incoming
administration of President-elect
Donald Trump, who was highly
critical on the campaign trail of
regulations that hinder energy
development.
If the changes stand, pipeline
companies will be required to
conduct more rigorous inspections
of lines in rural areas and install
leak detection systems that are
meant to speed up emergency
response times when accidents
occur. An earlier proposal for
companies to immediately repair
problems was dropped.
Forum
GUN FACTS, REGULATIONS, AND THE
SECOND AMENDMENT
F eaturing : S tuart R oberts , J erod B roadfoot & Lou J affe
January 17, 2017 at 7:00 p.m.
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