Time: The Comey Hearing

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation publicly confirmed an investigation into links between the Trump campaign and Russian interference in the November election. “Comey then contradicted several statements by the White House, including the president's incendiary claim that former President Obama had ‘tapped’ Trump's phone,” reports Sam Frizell for Time magazine. Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee focused on the interference and campaign links with Russia, many outlining specific details gained from public sources for consideration by investigators; most Republicans focused on leaks about the investigation with suggestions that Obama administration officials or career intelligence officers may have leaked information to the press and are the key wrongdoers. During the hearing, FBI Director James Comey promised a serious investigation: “One of the things we radiate to the world is the importance of our wonderful, often messy, but free and fair democratic system and the elections that undergird it. When there’s an effort by a foreign nation state to mess with that, to destroy that, to corrupt that, it is very, very serious.” Comey’s testimony ensures the matter won’t be ignored. Key US allies undoubtedly are conducting their own assessments to determine reliability of the US and how much information to share with Trump officials. The committee’s chairman concluded the White House now works under a “big gray cloud.” – YaleGlobal