HERE ARE THE TOP STORIES
FBI Director James Comey has reportedly asked the Department of Justice to publicly denounce Donald Trump’s claims that Barack Obama wiretapped his phones during the election.
Trump accused the former president of spying on him by ordering the wiretapping of phones in Trump Tower — a charge Obama denied. Trump then asked Congress to investigate whether the Obama administration abused its powers in 2016. On Sunday, many Republicans in Congress said they were willing to investigate, but generally said they had not seen any evidence to support the claim.
Comey reportedly told the DOJ the former president didn’t order a wiretap, and that the government should make that clear.
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
And a little extra
The softening of Kellyanne Conway. As Conway becomes more and more of a liability — and, the worst in Trump’s eyes, an embarrassment — the counselor to the president has receded from public view. Her image may be beyond salvaging — and she may even be laying the groundwork for a potential exit strategy.
And Trump’s critics are letting the bigger Russia story slide: BuzzFeed News’ Miriam Elder writes, “when meeting an ambassador is a problem, we’re in trouble.”
WE’RE KEEPING AN EYE ON
North Korea launched several missiles, which fell in the Sea of Japan but could be capable of reaching the US.
The banned missiles came from a long-range launch facility and flew about 1,000 kilometers before falling into the waters between North Korea and Japan. Four missiles were fired, three of which landed within waters under Japanese control, Reuters reported. The launch appeared to be a protest of joint military drills by South Korea and the US, South Korea’s military said.
Here’s what you need to know about the threat from Pyongyang.
DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THIS?
There’s already a wall in Latin America. It’s ineffective, cost-laden, and casting a shadow on two once-united communities.
In 2014, a wall went up dividing two cities on the border of Argentina and Paraguay, in theory to stop smuggling into Argentina — despite the fact that the smuggling has gone on unchecked. The wall is mostly an annoyance that nobody in either city likes and has cast a shadow on the relations between the Argentinians and Paraguayans of the once united community.
Ineffective, cost-laden, and disliked as it is, the wall — with its obvious comparisons to the US under Trump and the wall he's promised to build between the US and Mexico — still reflects a greater push that's swelled up in Argentina, once Latin America's most open country, to tamp down on immigration, contrary to the rest of the region.
QUICK THINGS TO KNOW
US news: A UN observer slammed the US government for its use of force on protesters at Standing Rock.
World: Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, known in the Arab world as the infamous mukhabarat, recently hired a pair of high-powered Beltway lobbying firms on retainers of $50,000–$100,000 per month to influence the Trump administration.
Entertainment: One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson was arrested on Saturday morning after an altercation with paparazzi in Los Angeles. That ‘70s Show’s Danny Masterson is being investigated over sexual assault allegations. Leighton Meester returns to TV as an entirely different woman. And Emma Watson is confused about the backlash she’s getting after she wore a see-through top for her Vanity Fair shoot.
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