Latest news with #specialcounsel
The Independent
3 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Steve Bannon says Trump should launch an investigation into Musk for alleged drug use
Former White House advisor Steve Bannon is urging President Donald Trump's administration to launch a special counsel investigation into Elon Musk – including looking at his alleged drug use. 'I think the best way to do it is as a special counsel that can kind of oversee everything. Pull the security clearance for the drugs, temporarily, investigate the whole drug situation,' Bannon told former Meet The Press host Chuck Todd on his new streaming show, 'Sunday Night With Chuck Todd.' Bannon, referencing a New York Times report that detailed the billionaire CEO's alleged drug use leading up to the 2024 election. Musk allegedly was using ecstasy, psychedelic mushrooms, Adderall and so much ketamine that it caused him bladder issues. He denied the report when asked about it during his final day as a 'special government employee' under Trump. Todd noted that Musk, 'never would have passed a security clearance as just a mid-level staffer,' to which Bannon agreed, saying, 'Zero.' 'Given what the drug use that was on the record,' Todd added. Bannon and Todd went on to discuss Musk's alleged altercation with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the White House, which Bannon told the Washington Post before the story made international headlines. During the conversation, Bannon claimed that Musk was rumored to be 'micro-dosing' before the fight, a ccording to Mediaite. The apparent fight included Bessent repeatedly shouting 'F*** you!' at Musk within earshot of Trump in the Oval Office. Bannon, a longtime critic of Musk, argued before the fiery fallout between Trump and Musk last week that the billionaire tech mogul does not have the president's best interests in mind. The friendship between two of the world's most powerful men came to a crashing halt last week as Musk disagreed with Trump about his spending bill and the two shared a very public Internet feud. Meanwhile, Trump claimed Elon was 'wearing thin' and he asked him to leave. Musk, for his part, brought bombshell claims to X that Trump is in the 'Epstein files.'
Fox News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Controversial office vacant for first time in nearly a decade, but emerging secrets haunt those involved
Print Close By Brooke Singman Published May 21, 2025 It's the first time in nearly a decade that a special counsel is not investigating something related to a sitting or former president, but the remnants and revelations of past special counsel probes continue to break through the news cycle. Every attorney general-appointed special counsel since 2017 has now released their reports, issued their indictments, received their verdicts, shuttered their offices, disassembled their teams and returned to their government or private sector roles. Essentially, they've all moved on. BIDEN INTERVIEW AUDIO REVEALS WHO BROUGHT UP BEAU'S DEATH – AND IT WASN'T HUR First, in 2017, there was Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who was investigating whether members of the first Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Then, in 2019, there was Special Counsel John Durham, who was investigating the origins of the Mueller investigation and the original FBI probe into then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign. Soon, it was 2022, and Special Counsel Jack Smith began investigating then-former President Trump for his alleged improper retention of classified records held at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after his presidency. Smith also began investigating events surrounding the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Next up, in 2023, Special Counsel Robert Hur was appointed and began investigating now-former President Joe Biden's alleged improper retention of classified records, which occurred during his vice presidency as part of the Obama administration. DURHAM FINDS DOJ, FBI 'FAILED TO UPHOLD' MISSION OF 'STRICT FIDELITY TO THE LAW' IN TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE Later in 2023, David Weiss, who had served as U.S. attorney in Delaware and had been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018, was appointed special counsel to continue his yearslong investigation into the now-former first son. At this point, those investigations have all come to their resolutions: Mueller, in 2019, found there was no collusion; Durham, in 2022, found that the FBI ignored "clear warning signs" of a Hillary Clinton-led plan to inaccurately tie her opponent to Russia using politically funded and uncorroborated opposition research; Smith, in 2022, charged Trump but had those charges tossed; Hur, in 2023, opted against charging Biden; Weiss, in 2023, charged Hunter Biden, who was convicted and later pardoned by his father. But the curiosity surrounding those investigations that dominated headlines for the better part of a decade remains, largely because of so many loose ends and the prevalence of unanswered questions. A trickle, sometimes more like a flood, of information and news related to those probes continues to seep into the news cycle. On Friday night, audio of Biden's interview with Hur was made public. Hur closed his investigation in 2024 without charging the then-president and infamously described him as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory." Some congressional lawmakers had demanded the release of the audio of Biden's interview amid questions about the former president's memory lapses and mental acuity. BIDEN STRUGGLES WITH WORDS, KEY MEMORIES IN LEAKED AUDIO FROM SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR INTERVIEW The audio – as expected, based on the transcript of the interview released in 2024 – showed Biden struggling with key memories, including when his son, Beau, died; when he left the vice presidency; and why he had classified documents he shouldn't have had. In a throwback to another special counsel investigation, the United States Secret Service last week paid a visit to former FBI Director James Comey after he posted a now-deleted image on social media that many interpreted as a veiled call for an assassination of Trump. Comey on Thursday posted to Instagram an image of seashells on the beach arranged to show "86 47" with the caption, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." Some interpreted it as a coded message, with "86" being slang for "get rid of" and "47" referring to Trump, who is the 47th president. TRUMP SAYS COMEY KNEW 'ASSASSINATION' MEANING BEHIND DELETED SOCIAL MEDIA POST Comey later deleted the post and wrote a message that said, "I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down." Comey was the FBI director who, in 2016, allowed the opening of the bureau's original Trump-Russia investigation, known inside the FBI as "Crossfire Hurricane." Trump fired Comey in May 2017. Days later, Mueller was appointed as special counsel to take over that investigation, thus beginning the string of special counsels. Durham investigated the origins of the FBI probe and found that the FBI did not have any actual evidence to support the start of that investigation. Durham also found that the CIA, in 2016, received intelligence to show that Hillary Clinton had approved a plan to tie then-candidate Trump to Russia; intelligence that the FBI, led by Comey, ignored. DECLASSIFIED TRUMP-RUSSIA PROBE DOCS TO DATE: WHAT TO KNOW On July 28, 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed then-President Barack Obama on a plan from one of Clinton's campaign foreign policy advisers "to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service." Biden, Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were in the Brennan-Obama briefing, according to the Durham report. After that briefing, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a counterintelligence operational lead (CIOL) to Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok with the subject line "Crossfire Hurricane." Fox News first obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated, "The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate." DURHAM: FBI IGNORED 'CLEAR WARNING SIGN' OF CLINTON-LED EFFORT TO 'MANIPULATE' BUREAU FOR 'POLITICAL PURPOSES' "Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date," the memo continued. "An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server." By January 2017, Comey had notified Trump of a dossier, known as the Steele dossier, that contained salacious and unverified allegations about Trump's purported coordination with the Russian government, a key document prompting the opening of the probe. The dossier was authored by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer, and commissioned by Fusion GPS. Clinton's presidential campaign hired Fusion GPS during the 2016 election cycle. DOJ RECOMMENDED AGAINST TRUMP PROSECUTION ON OBSTRUCTION IN MUELLER PROBE: NEWLY RELEASED 2019 MEMO REVEALS It was eventually determined that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded the dossier through the law firm Perkins Coie. Durham, in his report, said the FBI, led by Comey, "failed to act on what should have been – when combined with other incontrovertible facts – a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election." But that intelligence referral document is just one of many that tells the real story behind the investigation that clouded the first Trump administration. And Trump has taken steps to ensure the American public has full access to all the documents. Trump, in late March, signed an executive order directing the FBI to immediately declassify files concerning the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The FBI is expected to release those documents in the coming weeks. As for the other special counsels, Smith recently had his own moment in the news cycle. FLASHBACK: DURHAM TESTIFIES THAT THE FBI IGNORED HILLARY CLINTON PLAN TO LINK TRUMP TO RUSSIA FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday disbanded a public corruption squad in the bureau's Washington field office. That was the same office that aided Smith's investigation into Trump. As for Weiss, after the release of the Biden audio tapes calling further into question the former president's mental acuity, some, including Trump, are now calling for a review of the pardon of Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony firearm offenses stemming from Weiss' investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16, 2024, but his father, then-President Biden, pardoned him on all charges in December 2024. HUNTER BIDEN: A LOOK AT HOW THE SAGA SPANNING OVER 6 YEARS UNFOLDED Trump alleged in a Truth Social post in March that former President Biden's pardons were "void" due to the "fact that they were done by Autopen." "The 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen," Trump wrote. "In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime," Trump added. Weiss, in his final report, blasted then-President Biden's characterizations of the probe into Hunter Biden, which Weiss said were "wrong" and "unfairly" maligned Justice Department officials. He also said the presidential pardon made it "inappropriate" for him to discuss whether any additional charges against the first son were warranted. Print Close URL
Fox News
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Controversial office sits vacant for first time in nearly a decade, but emerging secrets haunt those involved
It's the first time in nearly a decade that a special counsel is not investigating something related to a sitting or former president, but the remnants and revelations of past special counsel probes continue to break through the news cycle. Every attorney general-appointed special counsel since 2017 has now released their reports, issued their indictments, received their verdicts, shuttered their offices, disassembled their teams and returned to their government or private sector roles. Essentially, they've all moved on. First, in 2017, there was Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who was investigating whether members of the first Trump campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Then, in 2019, there was Special Counsel John Durham, who was investigating the origins of the Mueller investigation and the original FBI probe into then-candidate Donald Trump and his campaign. Soon, it was 2022, and Special Counsel Jack Smith began investigating then-former President Trump for his alleged improper retention of classified records held at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after his presidency. Smith also began investigating events surrounding the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Next up, in 2023, Special Counsel Robert Hur was appointed and began investigating now-former President Joe Biden's alleged improper retention of classified records, which occurred during his vice presidency as part of the Obama administration. Later in 2023, David Weiss, who had served as U.S. attorney in Delaware and had been investigating Hunter Biden since 2018, was appointed special counsel to continue his yearslong investigation into the now-former first son. At this point, those investigations have all come to their resolutions: Mueller, in 2019, found there was no collusion; Durham, in 2022, found that the FBI ignored "clear warning signs" of a Hillary Clinton-led plan to inaccurately tie her opponent to Russia using politically funded and uncorroborated opposition research; Smith, in 2022, charged Trump but had those charges tossed; Hur, in 2023, opted against charging Biden; Weiss, in 2023, charged Hunter Biden, who was convicted and later pardoned by his father. But the curiosity surrounding those investigations that dominated headlines for the better part of a decade remains, largely because of so many loose ends and the prevalence of unanswered questions. A trickle, sometimes more like a flood, of information and news related to those probes continues to seep into the news cycle. On Friday night, audio of Biden's interview with Hur was made public. Hur closed his investigation in 2024 without charging the then-president and infamously described him as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory." Some congressional lawmakers had demanded the release of the audio of Biden's interview amid questions about the former president's memory lapses and mental acuity. The audio – as expected, based on the transcript of the interview released in 2024 – showed Biden struggling with key memories, including when his son, Beau, died; when he left the vice presidency; and why he had classified documents he shouldn't have had. In a throwback to another special counsel investigation, the United States Secret Service last week paid a visit to former FBI Director James Comey after he posted a now-deleted image on social media that many interpreted as a veiled call for an assassination of Trump. Comey on Thursday posted to Instagram an image of seashells on the beach arranged to show "86 47" with the caption, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." Some interpreted it as a coded message, with "86" being slang for "get rid of" and "47" referring to Trump, who is the 47th president. Comey later deleted the post and wrote a message that said, "I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down." Comey was the FBI director who, in 2016, allowed the opening of the bureau's original Trump-Russia investigation, known inside the FBI as "Crossfire Hurricane." Trump fired Comey in May 2017. Days later, Mueller was appointed as special counsel to take over that investigation, thus beginning the string of special counsels. Durham investigated the origins of the FBI probe and found that the FBI did not have any actual evidence to support the start of that investigation. Durham also found that the CIA, in 2016, received intelligence to show that Hillary Clinton had approved a plan to tie then-candidate Trump to Russia; intelligence that the FBI, led by Comey, ignored. On July 28, 2016, then-CIA Director John Brennan briefed then-President Barack Obama on a plan from one of Clinton's campaign foreign policy advisers "to vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by the Russian security service." Biden, Comey, former Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper were in the Brennan-Obama briefing, according to the Durham report. After that briefing, the CIA properly forwarded that information through a counterintelligence operational lead (CIOL) to Comey and then-Deputy Assistant Director of Counterintelligence Peter Strzok with the subject line "Crossfire Hurricane." Fox News first obtained and reported on the CIOL in October 2020, which stated, "The following information is provided for the exclusive use of your bureau for background investigative action or lead purposes as appropriate." "Per FBI verbal request, CIA provides the below examples of information the CROSSFIRE HURRICANE fusion cell has gleaned to date," the memo continued. "An exchange (REDACTED) discussing US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's approval of a plan concerning US presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian hackers hampering US elections as a means of distracting the public from her use of a private email server." By January 2017, Comey had notified Trump of a dossier, known as the Steele dossier, that contained salacious and unverified allegations about Trump's purported coordination with the Russian government, a key document prompting the opening of the probe. The dossier was authored by Christopher Steele, an ex-British intelligence officer, and commissioned by Fusion GPS. Clinton's presidential campaign hired Fusion GPS during the 2016 election cycle. It was eventually determined that the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded the dossier through the law firm Perkins Coie. Durham, in his report, said the FBI, led by Comey, "failed to act on what should have been – when combined with other incontrovertible facts – a clear warning sign that the FBI might then be the target of an effort to manipulate or influence the law enforcement process for political purposes during the 2016 presidential election." But that intelligence referral document is just one of many that tells the real story behind the investigation that clouded the first Trump administration. And Trump has taken steps to ensure the American public has full access to all the documents. Trump, in late March, signed an executive order directing the FBI to immediately declassify files concerning the Crossfire Hurricane investigation. The FBI is expected to release those documents in the coming weeks. As for the other special counsels, Smith recently had his own moment in the news cycle. FBI Director Kash Patel on Thursday disbanded a public corruption squad in the bureau's Washington field office. That was the same office that aided Smith's investigation into Trump. As for Weiss, after the release of the Biden audio tapes calling further into question the former president's mental acuity, some, including Trump, are now calling for a review of the pardon of Hunter Biden. Hunter Biden was found guilty of three felony firearm offenses stemming from Weiss' investigation. The first son was also charged with federal tax crimes regarding the failure to pay at least $1.4 million in taxes. Before his trial, Hunter Biden entered a surprise guilty plea. The charges carried up to 17 years behind bars. His sentencing was scheduled for Dec. 16, 2024, but his father, then-President Biden, pardoned him on all charges in December 2024. Trump alleged in a Truth Social post in March that former President Biden's pardons were "void" due to the "fact that they were done by Autopen." "The 'Pardons' that Sleepy Joe Biden gave to the Unselect Committee of Political Thugs, and many others, are hereby declared VOID, VACANT, AND OF NO FURTHER FORCE OR EFFECT, because of the fact that they were done by Autopen," Trump wrote. "In other words, Joe Biden did not sign them but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them! The necessary Pardoning Documents were not explained to, or approved by, Biden. He knew nothing about them, and the people that did may have committed a crime," Trump added. Weiss, in his final report, blasted then-President Biden's characterizations of the probe into Hunter Biden, which Weiss said were "wrong" and "unfairly" maligned Justice Department officials. He also said the presidential pardon made it "inappropriate" for him to discuss whether any additional charges against the first son were warranted.
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Leaked audio of Hur interview shines light on Biden mental fitness: What to know
Former President Biden has found his way back into the spotlight more than 100 days after President Trump reclaimed the White House. Audio, obtained by Axios, from Biden's October 2023 interview with special counsel Robert Hur about classified documents found in his private home from his time as vice president was published by the outlet on Saturday. A shorter clip was released late Friday. The five-hour interview comes from Hur's first day of questioning and appears to show Biden struggling. While the Department of Justice released a transcript of the conversation last year, the Biden administration had pushed back on releasing the tapes, citing concerns over potential tampering or 'deepfakes.' Hur ultimately ruled that Biden 'willfully' kept the documents but suggested a jury would find he is 'a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.' No charges were filed. Here's what to know about the leaked audio. Special Counsel Robert Hur on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., March 12, 2024. (Photo by Mandel NGAN /AFP) Biden in several points during the interview had to pause mid-sentence while struggling to find the words to say, the audio shows. The tone of the conversation highlighted the former president's difficulty remembering timelines or staying on track. In one instance he struggles to recall the year his son, Beau, died from brain cancer. Biden was asked by the special counsel to describe his private residence and where he kept the classified documents. 'Well, um … I, I, I, I, I don't know. This is, what, 2017, 2018, that area?' he replied but quickly diverted into why he didn't run against Trump in 2016, citing former President Obama's enthusiasm for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Later, he added, 'I hadn't walked away from the idea that I may run for office again. But if I ran again, I'd be running for president. And, and so what was happening, though — what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30th.' Two of White House aides interjected to remind him it was 2015 when his son died. He then struggles to relay the year Trump defeated Clinton in the election. 'And what's happened in the meantime is that as … Trump gets elected in November of 2017,' Biden continues, which two staffers quickly correct to 2016. He added, '16. 2016. Alright, so — why do I have 2017 here?' The numbers appeared to confuse Biden once again, as he returned to the topic of Beau and his younger son Hunter Biden. 'OK, yeah. And in 2017, Beau had passed and — this is personal — the genesis of the book and the title 'Promise Me, Dad,' was a — I know you're all … close with your sons and daughters, but Beau was like my right arm and Hunt was my left.' After he finished glowing, Hur asked Biden if he wanted to take a break, per the audio. When the transcript was first released in March, the former president pushed back on the notion that he forgot details around Beau's death. President Joe Biden speaks from the Oval Office of the White House as he gives his farewell address Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, in Washington. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP) Biden also struggled to explain why he kept certain classified documents after leaving the White House in 2017, the audio shows. The documents were discovered at an office he previously used when serving as vice president, igniting a later search of his home. In addition to handwritten notes on national security, authorities collected 90 documents from his property, of which a little more than 50 contained classified markings. During the interview, the former president acknowledged that he may have wanted to keep a document related to foreign policy in Afghanistan 'for posterity's sake.' Biden had initially said he wasn't sure why he kept the document when asked for the purpose. 'I, I, I, I don't know that I knew, but it wouldn't have … it wasn't something I would have stopped to think about,' he responded. 'I don't know if it was going to be the subject of reporting, but I wanted to hang — I guess I wanted to hang onto it just for posterity's sake,' the former president said. 'I mean, this was my position on Afghanistan.' The reversal likely frustrated his attorneys, who then pressed the special counsel to avoid speculatory questioning that could lead to charges, after which Biden quickly added, 'I don't recall intending to keep this memo.' His lawyers then asked for a break. President Joe Biden walking out to speak at a news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) Despite the memory lapses and needing assistance on certain words and dates, the audio shows that Biden was fully engaged with the special counsel. As Axios pointed out, the then-president made numerous jokes and came off like a 'nostalgic, grandfatherly storyteller.' He dived into several memories about the wood and molding he has in refurbished rooms at his house to the Corvette he drove with comedian Jay Leno. He also explained the influence of Gutenberg's printing press and spoke about former President Nixon's excessive sweating during a famous 1960 debate with former President Kennedy. The interview only became testy when his attorney asserted that prosecutors may be trying to implicate Biden with their questioning. President-elect Donald Trump greets President Joe Biden during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool Photo via AP) Trump told reporters early Friday that Attorney General Pam Bondi would be in charge of deciding whether to officially release the tapes. Following Axios's release, the president and his allies have doubled down on their earlier critiques of Biden — from his age to mental fitness to the use of an autopen at the end of his tenure. House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) announced late Friday that his committee will investigate what he called a 'cover up' of Biden's cognitive function. The lawmaker said he intends to speak to several former White House aides as well as the former president's doctor Kevin O'Connor. Trump also blasted Biden on Saturday, calling the interview a 'scandal' and reupping his 2020 election fraud claims. 'Whoever had control of the 'AUTOPEN' is looking to be a bigger and bigger scandal by the moment,' the president wrote on his Truth Social platform, later calling his predecessor 'a hapless and cognitively impaired Sleepy Joe Biden.' He added, 'THE FIGHT HAS JUST BEGUN!!!' The messaging comes as many Democrats have cast blame on Biden for 2024 election losses, saying he should have withdrawn from presidential race earlier. Two recent books have also highlighted Biden's decline: 'Original Sin' by Axios's Alex Thompson and CNN's Jake Tapper and 'Fight' by The Hill's Amie Parnes and NBC's Jonathan Allen. The audio release also comes after the former president broke his silence for the first time since Trump returned to the Oval Office. He recently sat for interviews with BBC and ABC's 'The View,' to the chagrin of many Democrats who have aired frustration with the move. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
