One of the former officials who testified in the impeachment hearings against Donald Trump has warned that Vladimir Putin has the US "exactly where he wants us".Speaking to CBS's 60 Minutes in her first major interview since her testimony last year, Fiona Hill said that while the Russians did not invent the divisions in US politics and society they knew how to exploit them.

Former Vice President Joe Biden’s Super Tuesday victories in 10 out of 14 state primaries caused shock waves not only in the United States, but in Russia. State media there have been confidently predicting the Democratic Party's nomination of Bernie Sanders, which would lead, they are sure, to the re-election of their favorite, President Donald J. Trump.Kremlin Media Still Like Bernie, ’Cause They Love TrumpJoe Biden’s win in South Carolina gave those Russian media pause, but his buoyant resurgence on Super Tuesday left the Kremlin’s mouthpieces nearly speechless. Reporting on the U.S. elections for Russian state TV channel Rossiya 24, Alyona Pivkina made a gesture of surprise and said: “Suddenly, Biden surged ahead.” The revelation was followed by an awkward moment of silence between Pivkina and the seemingly stunned host of the news broadcast.The pro-Kremlin newspaper Vzglyad complained that Biden “rose from the ashes like a phoenix,” prevailing “in spite of the corruption scandals” that have long been alleged and cultivated by the Russians—and the Republicans—concerning his son, Hunter, and his own activities in Ukraine. With notable irritation, Vzglyad griped about Joe Biden’s state primary victories in North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Alabama, claiming that the pro-Biden votes in rural states were secured by “rednecks, who shoot skunks for fun, bowl, beat their wives and associate the word ‘socialist’ with the communist threat.” The newspaper bitterly surmised that through Biden’s anticipated nomination, the U.S. elites won yet another Cold War against socialism.Much like the Russians, Senate Republicans were caught off guard and visibly disappointed by Biden’s resurgence as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham told CNN’s Manu Raju that Biden is “going to be tough” to beat, as opposed to the self-proclaimed socialist Sanders. According to The Hill, an unnamed Republican senator expressed his hope that the primary fight between Sanders and Biden would scar the Democratic Party, dragging into the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this July: “It doesn’t mean the Sanders folks all fall into line. They didn’t last time. He’s pretty out there.”Russian propagandists echoed that anticipation. Appearing on Rossiya 24, analyst Dmitry Drobnitsky predicted that in the event Sanders does not receive a nomination, street protests and violence will follow: “There will be unrest in Milwaukee… There will be a repeat of the 1968 Democratic Convention [riots] in Chicago.” Last year, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report identified "dozens" of U.S. political rallies organized on social media by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian troll farm whose operatives were indicted for interfering with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Kremlin’s minions will most certainly amplify any efforts to cause public unrest and disrupt the Democratic convention, while also elevating the standard propaganda theme of “rigged elections.”  Describing Biden’s re-established lead as “unexpected,” Russian state TV network Rossiya 24’s headline predicted that “the kompromat will determine the outcome of the elections.” Vladimir Vasiliev, a senior research fellow at the Institute for U.S. and Canadian Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, said: “Don’t forget that Ukraine is hanging around Biden’s neck, along with Burisma Holdings”—the energy company where Hunter Biden had a lucrative seat on the board.Moscow's repeated pitch on Russian-language state media for domestic consumption and for the sizable community of Russian speakers in the United States is that Joe Biden is damaged goods and Donald Trump is inevitably going to be re-elected. But the messaging doesn't stop there. The Kremlin's English-language media aim to influence Americans on their home turf. RT actively promotes conspiracy theories targeting Biden while lauding Trump’s efforts to “investigate” his leading political opponent. RT predicted that Trump will win a second term, claimed that Biden is “cognitively unraveling” and surmised that “allegations of corruption… are doing real damage to his presidential bid.” Vladimir Soloviev, who hosts an evening news show on the state TV network Rossiya 1, anticipated that Trump would promptly dredge up kompromat—compromising material—against Biden in order to undermine his candidacy. Soloviev suggested that the dismissal last week of Ukraine Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka was directly tied to his decision not to pursue charges in cases related to Burisma Holdings.Discussing the reasons for Ryaboshapka's removal, the chairman of Ukraine’s ruling Servant of the People parliamentary faction, David Arakhamia, made no mention of any causes related to the Bidens. But Soloviev insinuated that Ryaboshapka's incoming replacement would pursue an investigation into Hunter Biden in order to please President Trump.Russian propagandists and U.S. Senate Republicans seem to be guided by a common belief—or perhaps a goal—that the outcome of the upcoming presidential elections in the United States will be artificially altered by continued pursuit of the proverbial “dirt” against Biden in Ukraine.   Soloviev couldn’t hide his glee discussing the fact that one of the Republican senators who voted not to remove President Trump from office for withholding aid to Ukraine on condition it investigate Biden is now leading an investigation of the former vice president. Russian politician Sergey Stankevich asked Soloviev: “Have you heard the latest news? Senator Ron Johnson demanded and stepped out with an initiative to go to court in order to obtain a dossier on Hunter Biden.” Stankevich opined that the outcome of this investigation might determine the outcome of the election. Soloviev readily agreed and added: “Like I said from the very beginning, that’s also why Ryaboshapka is being removed.”Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman Ron Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican, needed no special introduction on Russian state television. He was one of the Republican lawmakers who elected to celebrate the Fourth of July in Russia in 2018, where all of the GOP visitors agreed to meet with their Russian counterparts in a secret room. Photos, videos and news coverage of the unusual GOP pilgrimage were featured extensively by Russian state media. Upon Johnson's return to the United States, he called the U.S. sanctions against Russia “useless,” which garnered even more attention in the Russian media. In October of 2019, Johnson’s statements about his mistrust for the FBI and the CIA provided priceless propaganda for the Kremlin and were prominently aired on Russian state television.The record shows Johnson underwent a remarkable transformation with respect to the former vice president's activities in Ukraine, with Johnson’s views morphing only when Biden became a leading rival to the sitting president. In 2016, Johnson signed a letter urging Ukraine to make "reforms" in the office of Ukraine’s former prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. The United States and other Western nations publicly urged Ukraine to remove Shokin, who was widely criticized for turning a blind eye to corrupt practices. But come 2019, casting the facts aside during the impeachment proceedings, Johnson called for a review of whether former VP “improperly used his office” to have Shokin removed, and claimed to have no recollection of the 2016 letter he'd signed.On Wednesday, Johnson said he will likely release an interim report of his committee’s Biden probe within the next one to two months, openly hoping that voters will take the findings into account. Likewise, Russian political scientist Sergey Mikheyev predicted that Biden’s candidacy would be “drowned” by the Ukraine investigations. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

More change is afoot in the White House.President Trump announced Friday that retiring Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) will replace acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney in the role. Meadows is considered one of Trump's staunchest congressional allies.Mulvaney, who filled the acting role in January 2019, is being appointed as the U.S. special envoy to Northern Ireland. He will also shed his title as the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, which he retained while serving as chief of staff. The acting director, Russ Vought, is expected to be nominated for the permanent position. Mulvaney's exit was anticipated as he fell out of Trump's favor a while ago, but advisers urged the president to keep him on until after his Senate impeachment trial in February, The New York Times reports.It's no surprise to see Meadows step into the void — he and Trump reportedly often speak over the phone early in the morning and late at night, and the president considers the congressman a loyal voice in what he sees as an ever more untrustworthy Republican House, The Washington Post reports. But not everyone thinks that's the case — multiple current and former Trump aides told the Post they believe Meadows often tells the president one thing while relaying a completely different message to Capitol Hill.Another longtime Trump adviser didn't have many reservations about Meadows' allegiance to the president, but the person is apparently worried Meadows doesn't have what it takes to keep the White House running smoothly as Trump begins to spend more time on the campaign trail this year.The choice does have its supporters, though. One senior administration official called Meadows a "savvy strategist" who is always thinking of "angles and approaches that others won't." Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com Is coronavirus really a black swan event? 5 funny cartoons about Bernie Sanders' sudden campaign troubles China's coronavirus recovery is 'all fake,' whistleblowers and residents claim

With financial markets slowing and the virus spreading, Trump tried once more to quell the growing alarm that has prompted travel to be curtailed and events to be cancelled from coast to coast. Trump called Washington state's governor, who is dealing with the most serious outbreak in the nation, a “snake.” With that, Trump was making a comparison to the July phone call with Ukraine's president that led to his impeachment.

(Bloomberg) -- Deputy White House communications director Adam Kennedy, who was part of the administration’s rapid response efforts during the impeachment trial, is leaving his post for a job in the private sector, an official said.Kennedy’s last day will be Friday, but he’ll remain on staff until the end of the month, the official added.Kennedy wasn’t a familiar face on cable news networks but played a behind-the-scenes role for the administration, most notably during the Senate impeachment trial that resulted in the acquittal of President Donald Trump.“Adam has been a key component of the president’s communication efforts since the beginning of the Administration, particularly running rapid response during impeachment, and will be greatly missed,” acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said in a statement.Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, said in a statement to Bloomberg News that Kennedy was “a fantastic colleague” who was “instrumental in providing strategic communications to advance the president’s priorities.”Kennedy is one of the few remaining original Trump White House staffers. He joined in 2017 for a role in the White House’s communications research arm. Before that, he was the deputy director of research for policy at the Republican National Committee.His departure comes as Trump’s re-election campaign gets into full swing, and as the administration has faced criticism over its response to the coronavirus.To contact the reporters on this story: Jordan Fabian in Washington at jfabian6@bloomberg.net;Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

After former Vice President Joe Biden revived his Democratic presidential candidacy with a win in South Carolina, Senate Republicans suddenly started making noise about an investigation into Biden's son Hunter and his work for Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Before Biden won 10 of 14 states on Super Tuesday, Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he might try to subpoena documents on Hunter Biden's Burisma work, and he's now set a committee vote on the motion for next Wednesday.Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) could derail the subpoena. And he suggested Thursday that he's seriously considering it. "I would prefer that investigations are done by an independent, nonpolitical body," he told The Washington Post. "There's no question the appearance is not good." Romney added that "looking into Burisma and Hunter Biden appears political," and "I think people are tired of these kind of political investigations."> Romney indicated to me today that he is still weighing whether to vote for a subpoena in Burisma probe. (He could kill the effort if he votes 'no' on Wednesday.) "There's no question the appearance of looking into Burisma and Hunter Biden appears political," he said pic.twitter.com/YfeKYGM9v6> > — Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 5, 2020The Homeland Security Committee has eight Republicans and six Democrats, and if Romney sides with the Democrats and causes a 7-7 split, the subpoena motion fails.Joe Biden was the Obama administration's point person on Ukraine corruption when Burisma hired Hunter Biden, and Republicans are search for evidence that there was something corrupt in this arrangement, not just unseemly — like, say, overcharging the Secret Service to stay at your president-father's property, or profiting off a rule you pushed while working at your father-in-law's White House.Romney is already a pariah in some Republican circles because he voted to convict Trump on one impeachment count — abuse of power for trying to get Ukraine to announce an investigation into Joe and Hunter Biden — and in his speech explaining that vote, Romney made clear he thinks Hunter Biden "taking excessive advantage of his father's name is unsavory but also not a crime," adding: "There is no question in my mind that were their names not Biden, the president would never have done what he did." Trump has made clear he plans to make Burisma a campaign issue.More stories from theweek.com It's 2020 and women are exhausted Southwest Airlines CEO warns drop-off in domestic travel over coronavirus has '9/11-like feel' Warren calls online attacks from Sanders' supporters 'a real problem'

President Trump is sure that people think the government is doing "a very good job" handling the coronavirus outbreak, and while no one knows how it started, "it's gonna all work out."Trump was asked about the coronavirus during a Fox News Town Hall Thursday evening in Scranton, Pennsylvania. There have been 12 coronavirus deaths in the United States, and Trump said it's important for people to "be calm" and also think about not shaking hands with others. "If there was ever a time you could convince people not to shake hands, this could be it," he declared.Because Americans are worried about being exposed to the coronavirus in hot spots like China and Italy, they are "now staying in the United States, spending their money in the United States, and I like that," Trump said. "You know, I've been after that for a long time. I've been saying, 'Let's stay in the U.S., spend your money here.' It's sort of enforced doing that."More stories from theweek.com It's 2020 and women are exhausted Southwest Airlines CEO warns drop-off in domestic travel over coronavirus has '9/11-like feel' Trump says his impeachment 'damaged' Biden

President Trump believes his impeachment has "damaged" former Vice President Joe Biden in his quest to become the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee."They aimed at Trump and they took Biden down," Trump said Thursday evening during a Fox News Town Hall in Biden's home town of Scranton, Pennsylvania. During the impeachment, Trump was accused of withholding military aid to Ukraine in order to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into announcing an investigation into Biden, then considered the Democratic frontrunner. After stumbles in early voting states, Biden had major wins on Super Tuesday and is now ahead in delegates.Trump also took a swipe at Biden's cognitive function, saying that when he mistakenly said it was Thursday on Tuesday and stated he was running for U.S. Senate instead of president, it showed "there's something going on there."More stories from theweek.com It's 2020 and women are exhausted Southwest Airlines CEO warns drop-off in domestic travel over coronavirus has '9/11-like feel' Elizabeth Warren is optimistic there will be a woman president soon: 'We persist'

A bespectacled Ukrainian oligarch with a strongman reputation popped up over and over throughout the Donald Trump impeachment saga. And now, little-noticed filings in Delaware Chancery Court allege a closer relationship than previously known between that oligarch, Ihor Kolomoisky, and a South Florida businessman who donated to a member of Congress. It’s another example of how people and companies linked to some of the former Soviet Union’s most controversial oligarchs end up with connections to Capitol Hill. In Kolomoisky’s case, this is far from the first congressional link. In 2017, Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) secured a room in the basement of the Capitol Building for a fake congressional hearing. The focus of that hearing: lambasting a former Ukrainian official who seized control of PrivatBank, a bank Kolomoisky had previously owned. And now a lawsuit filed in Delaware last spring alleges that a South Florida businessman named Uriel Laber played a key role in an alleged scheme by Kolomoisky to steal billions from that bank. (Laber strongly denies the allegations.) In 2017 and 2018, Laber gave a total of $2,500 to then-candidate Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, now a Democratic member of Congress who flipped a Florida seat previously held by Republicans. Mucarsel-Powell sits on the House Judiciary Committee, which helped helm impeachment proceedings targeting President Donald Trump over his pressure campaign against the Ukrainian government. Mucarsel-Powell’s husband previously worked for firms linked to Kolomoisky, as The Daily Beast first reported. “The Miami Herald long ago debunked far-fetched theories involving Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell,” said her spokesperson in a statement. “Moreover, one of the first things Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell did in Congress is fight for a bill to protect our government from foreign influence.”The oligarch, who has not been charged with a crime in the U.S. or Ukraine, has allies in high places. His TV channel aired the show that propelled Ukraine’s now-president, Volodymyr Zelensky, to fame. And one of Kolomoisky’s former lawyers, Andriy Bohdan, was the president’s chief of staff until last month. Rudy Giuliani—who was at the center of Trump’s efforts to pressure Zelensky to announce an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden—telegraphed to Ukrainian officials that he wanted Bohdan out. However, a lawyer for ex-Giuliani associate Lev Parnas told The Daily Beast that Trump’s personal lawyer also delivered a letter to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) calling for sanctions on a host of Kolomoisky’s Ukrainian foes. On the list: the former regulator who was also the target of the Capitol basement fake hearing. Given Biden’s newfound frontrunner status in the Democratic presidential primary, the Ukraine story is finding its way back into the center of American politics after a brief post-impeachment respite. Senate Republicans, helmed by Chairman Ron Johnson of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, are ramping up their probe into the work Biden’s son did for a Ukrainian energy company controlled by a different allegedly corrupt oligarch. Laber, according to allegations in the lawsuit, has a peripheral connection to the long and sprawling saga of PrivatBank. According to the litigation—from a bank now controlled by the Ukrainian government—he played a meaningful role in Kolomoisky’s alleged scheme to seize billions from PrivatBank.Laber’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the suit last year. And a spokesperson for Laber strongly denied the allegations in a statement to The Daily Beast. > The allegations contained in the May 21 Delaware Chancery Court lawsuit are not only 100% false and defamatory, but they are outlandish. Unfortunately, people can make whatever allegations they want about someone else even when they are not true. This lawsuit is a perfect case in point. Messrs. Laber and Korf are outraged that the hard-earned reputation they have earned over the last 20 years as honest businessmen can be threatened by a lawsuit that is nothing more than a fictional orchestrated political attack on an investor in our businesses. They plan to fight the allegations vigorously and fully expect to be fully cleared of these allegations. With respect to the donations you referenced, Mr. Laber’s recollection is that he made a personal donation of $500 in 2017 and $2000 in 2018 to Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Debbie Powell’s husband was hired by the company of which Messrs. Laber and Korf were owners more than ten years prior to her decision to run for Congress. Mr. Powell stopped working for the company in 2017, of which Messrs. Laber and Korf were owners. Mr. Kolomoiskys company is a shareholder of the company where Mr. Powell used to work. He is not the owner. Mr. Powell did not work for Mr. Kolomoisky; Mr. Kolomoisky has no involvement in any hires or HR decisions.> > Mr. Laber does not work for Mr. Kolomoisky and has never worked for Mr. Kolomoisky. Mr. Laber has had a very successful business career entirely separate from Kolomoisky and significant sources of his assets and earnings are entirely separate from Mr. Kolomoisky.The allegations themselves, leveled against Kolomoisky, Laber, and a number of other people, are eyebrow-raising. The plaintiffs claim “hundreds of millions of dollars in damages” from unjust enrichment, fraudulent transfer of funds, and violation of Ohio’s RICO statute (legislation designed to fight organized crime). Laber and other defendants, the suit alleges, used millions of ill-gotten dollars to buy Miami real estate. Laber and other defendants acted as “trusted lieutenants… in the United States and abroad” for Kolomoisky and his business partners, the suit alleges.Kolomoisky has spent years trying to regain control of the bank. And in his time in public life, he’s gained a reputation of using hardball tactics to get what he wants. The lawsuit said that in one case, Kolomoisky and his business partner “are alleged to have employed an ‘army of thugs’ to descend upon a competitor’s plant with baseball bats, gas, rubber pistols, iron bars, and chainsaws.” Kolomoisky was governor of a province in Eastern Ukraine when Russian-backed separatists started a war there. He used his billions to fund a private army that took on those forces. His militarism has also frightened many of his critics. And while The Wall Street Journal dubbed him “Ukraine’s secret weapon” because of that fight, years later he took a much more Kremlin-friendly stance. In an interview with The New York Times in the middle of the impeachment process, he called for Ukraine to seek better relations with Russia, even at the expense of its standing with Western powers. “They’re stronger anyway,” he said of the Kremlin. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

A day after former Vice President Joe Biden scored a series of dramatic primary victories on Super Tuesday to become the Democratic presidential frontrunner, President Donald Trump said the quiet part out loud during an interview with sycophantic Fox News host Sean Hannity: He’s going to make Biden’s son a central part of his campaign against the ex-veep.Appearing on Hannity’s primetime show Wednesday night for another rambling friendly phone chat, the president first made sure to praise the Fox host—who’s been described as the White House shadow chief of staff—and other network personalities who’ve shown him sufficient loyalty and obsequiousness. After getting that out of the way, Trump was asked about Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) suddenly announcing on Wednesday that he’ll be ramping up the Senate Homeland Security Committee’s investigation into Hunter Biden and his employment with Ukrainian gas company Burisma. Johnson said an interim report would be released within a couple of months.Fox Host Praises ‘Classic’ Trump’s ‘Legitimate’ Call for China to Dig Up Dirt on Biden“It has to be a campaign issue,” Hannity said. “How do you plan to use it or do you plan to use it?”Trump, just weeks after his Senate impeachment acquittal over charges that he withheld military aid in order to pressure Ukraine to announce an investigation of a domestic political rival, replied that he would absolutely make Biden’s son a major campaign issue.Complaining that Democrats in the primary didn’t use the Ukraine scandal against Biden early in the primary, the president asserted that “wouldn’t happen with the Republicans, I can tell you.”“That will be a major issue in the campaign,” Trump added. “I will bring that up all the time because I don’t see any way out for them. I don’t see how they can answer those questions. I hope they can, I’d actually prefer it that they can’t but I don’t believe they will be able to answer those questions. That was purely corrupt.”During Johnson’s announcement of the new phase of his investigation, he told reporters that “these are questions that Joe Biden has not adequately answered” and he’d “want these questions satisfactorily answered” if he were a Democratic primary voter.Kellyanne Conway, meanwhile, initially dodged the question on Fox News earlier in the night, telling Martha MacCallum, “Well, we don’t run investigations here out of the White House like that, the Congress does,” before going on to preview the campaign's attacks on Hunter Biden.Fox News Host Grills Kellyanne Conway: Is Trump Scared of Biden?Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.