SEVENTH DAY

Donald Trump
Trump: If foreign power offered dirt on 2020 opponent, 'I'd want to hear it'
President claims he would have no obligation to call the FBI, contradicting bureau director he
appointed
Donald Trump has said he would be open to accepting damaging information on a 2020 election opponent
from another country, adding that he would feel no obligation to inform the FBI.
“I think you might want to listen, there isn’t anything wrong with listening,” Trump said in an interview with
ABC News on Wednesday. “If somebody called from a country, Norway, [and said] ‘we have information on
your opponent’ oh, I think I’d want to hear it.”
The news prompted 2020 Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren to repeat calls for Trump’s
impeachment.
Russia meddled in the 2016 US presidential election with the aim of helping elect Trump, according to a
lengthy investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. In June 2016, Donald Trump Jr, Trump’s eldest
son, met with a Russian lawyer who offered “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, Trump’s opponent in the election.
Mueller’s report didn’t conclude there was a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the
Russians, although there were contacts and Trump did publicly call for Russia to hack into information that
would compromise Clinton.
Asked if he would accept information from a country such as Russia or China or, instead, call in the FBI,
Trump said “I think maybe you do both.”
“It’s not an interference, they have information – I think I’d take it,” Trump added. “If I thought there was
something wrong, I’d go maybe to the FBI… but when somebody comes up with ‘oppo research’, right,
they come up with oppo research, ‘oh let’s call the FBI.’
“The FBI doesn’t have enough agents to take care of it. When you go and talk, honestly, to congressman,
they all do it, they always have, and that’s the way it is. It’s called oppo research.”
Christopher Wray, the director of the FBI, told Congress last month that the agency would want to know
about any election meddling by a foreign power. But these comments were dismissed by Trump when put
to him by his interviewer, ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos.
“The FBI director is wrong, because frankly it doesn’t happen like that in life,” Trump said of Wray, whom
he nominated to head the FBI in 2017.
Trump’s comments immediately prompted renewed calls for his impeachment from some
Democrats. Elizabeth Warren, who is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, tweeted
that the Mueller report found “a foreign government attacked our 2016 elections to support Trump, Trump
welcomed that help, and Trump obstructed the investigation. Now, he said he’d do it all over again. It’s time
to impeach Donald Trump.”
Trump’s comments came just a month after he pledged not to use information stolen by foreign adversaries
in his 2020 re-election campaign, even as he wrongly insisted he had not used such information to his
benefit in 2016. During a question-and-answer session with reporters in the Oval Office in May, Trump said
he “would certainly agree to” that commitment.
“I don’t need it,” he said as he met the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán. “All I need is the opponents
that I’m looking at.”
A small number of Republicans, such as Congressman Justin Amash, have also called for Trump’s
impeachment.
Trump has repeatedly claimed the Mueller report cleared him of wrongdoing, while criticizing its detailing of
his attempts to obstruct any investigation of Russia’s election activity.
One of several Trump advisors to be charged in relation to the investigation was Michael Flynn, the
president’s former national security adviser who was convicted of lying to the FBI over his contacts with the
Russian ambassador to the US.
On Thursday, Trump tweeted about Flynn, who is awaiting sentencing for the crime of lying to federal
investigators about conversations he had with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition
period in 2016. Trump wrote that Flynn is a “33 year war hero who has served with distinction, has not
retained a good lawyer, he has retained a GREAT LAWYER, Sidney Powell. Best Wishes and Good Luck
to them both!”
Last year, the New York Times reported that Trump’s lawyer had raised the idea of the president pardoning
Flynn and Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign manager also convicted in matters related to the
investigation and his foreign business dealings, for their crimes.
Hillary Clinton rules out running for president in 2020
This article is more than 3 months old
But ex-secretary of state and first lady says she’ll ‘keep on standing up for what I believe’
Follow the latest US politics news
Hillary Clinton says she won’t run for president in 2020, but vows she’s “not going anywhere”.
The former secretary of state, senator and first lady ruled out another campaign during an interview posted
on Monday by New York TV station News12 .
Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump, says, “I’m going to keep on working and
speaking and standing up for what I believe.”
“What’s at stake in our country, the kind of things that are happening right now, are deeply troubling to me,”
she said.
On Monday, the former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper joined the Democratic race for the
nomination, citing an ability to bring people together in a time of “crisis”.
He became the 14th candidate and second governor to join a historically diverse Democratic primary field.
Other moderate candidates include senators Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota) and Cory Booker (New
Jersey). SenKamala Harris of California has made a strong start running to the left of centre.
Leading lights further left include the independent Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, whose 2016
presidential campaign helped energise the progressive movement and reshaped the Democratic party, and
Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Governor Jay Inslee of Washington has announced a run based on
environmental concerns. Montana’s governor, Steve Bullock, and the former Virginia governor Terry
McAuliffe are also considering running, as is the Colorado senator, Michael Bennet.
Clinton said she had spoken with several of the candidates seeking the Democratic presidential
nomination, and told them “Don’t take anything for granted, even though we have a long list of real
problems and broken promises” from the Trump administration.

Facebook emails seem to show Zuckerberg knew of privacy issues, report claims
Firm has uncovered emails that appear to show chief executive’s connection to potentially
problematic practices, WSJ reports
Facebook has uncovered emails that appear to show Mark Zuckerberg’s connection to potentially
damaging privacy practices at the company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The emails were uncovered as part of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation that began
after the Guardian reported that the personal data of 50 million Facebook users had been improperly
harvested by Cambridge Analytica, a data firm that worked on Donald Trump’s election team and the
winning Brexit campaign.
The unearthing of the emails has raised concerns inside Facebook that they would be harmful – at least
from a public-relations standpoint – if they were to become public, the WSJ reported.
Facebook’s shares fell 2% on the news.
The Journal report said it could not be determined exactly what emails the FTC has requested and how
many of them relate to Zuckerberg.
Facebook signed a consent decree with the FTC in 2012 after the regulator found it had “deceived” its
customers by “telling them they could keep their information on Facebook private, and then repeatedly
allowing it to be shared and made public”.
Under the 20-year settlement, Facebook was required to ask for permission before changing the way
users’ personal information is released.
It has been working to settle the Cambridge Analytica scandal with the regulator and in April Facebook said
it expected to pay $5bn to end the privacy investigation.
“Facebook and its executives, including Mark, at all times strive to comply with all applicable law, and at no
point did Mark or any other Facebook employee knowingly violate the company’s obligations under the
FTC consent order,” a company spokesman said in a statement.
“We have fully cooperated with the FTC’s investigation to date and provided tens of thousands of
documents, emails and files.”
The FTC and the Department of Justice, which enforce antitrust laws in the United States, are gearing up
to investigate whether Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet’s Google misuse their massive market
power.
The powerful in tech…
… must keep being challenged with bold investigative journalism. It’s been a year since The Observer and
The Guardian broke the story that became the Cambridge Analytica scandal, exposing the truth and
shedding light on the reality of foul play within the tech industry. We saw how personal data could be
harvested on an unprecedented scale to fulfil the ambitions of the powerful. Through this courageous
investigative reporting, we shamed Facebook, and prompted a global conversation about the importance of
data privacy, holding tech companies to account and pressuring governments to enact regulation.
The Guardian is committed to continuing this vital work; we will keep persevering, uncovering and
challenging those with so much power in the tech industry. This has never been so pressing: we’re living in
a time when the integrity of our democracy and the legitimacy of our votes are in question. Political
campaigns reside in our many digital feeds and, with each year, this will become ever more prominent. The
world needs journalism that promotes transparency and investigates where others won’t go. Reader
support means The Guardian can keep investigating the critical issues of our time.
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This support enables us to keep working as we do – but we must maintain and build on it for every year to
come
UK public transport rolls out 'chat day'
There will be ‘chat carriages’ on Friday as part of BBC scheme to get strangers talking
Buses, coaches, trams and trains will be a bit chattier than usual on Friday as a day-long experiment to
encourage travellers to talk to strangers is rolled out on Britain’s transport network. Commuters on West
Coast Virgin trains will find every coach C is designated a “chat carriage”, while bus company Arriva is
placing “conversation starter” cards on vehicles servicing their UK network.
Transport for London, Greater Anglia and the Go Ahead Group are also all unveiling gambits to get people
to talk to staff, and each other. Counsellors trained by the charity Relate will ply London buses as part of an
initiative with Greener Journeys, encouraging passengers to open up.
National Express said it would invite people to take part in “some stimulating activities” on Birmingham’s
number 11 route, the longest urban bus route in Europe.
The series of initiatives, orchestrated by a BBC team focused on solutions journalism, is designed to
combat two of the most toxic issues of the age: polarisation and isolation.
Emily Kasriel, a BBC editor behind the project, said the aim was “to encourage people who are up for it to
get out of their comfort zone and emerge from their screens to interact with the adult sitting next to them”.
“Many people are reluctant to talk to strangers, but perhaps someone is battling loneliness and an
exchange could provide a meaningful moment that changes their day,” said Kasriel, the head of the
BBC’s Crossing Dividesseason, which seeks to combat antagonism through conversation.
“Everyone has an interesting story to tell. These chance encounters can provoke a new way of looking at
the world, and an opportunity to understand someone else’s story.”
Though typical commuter behaviour these days might involve inserting earbuds and avoiding all and any
interaction with fellow travellers, research indicates that those who do open up to strangers tend to feel
happier as a result.
In a 2014 study led by Nicholas Epley at the University of Chicago, the authors wrote: “Connecting with
others increases happiness, but strangers in close proximity routinely ignore each other.”
In a blogpost for the BBC, Epley wrote that one reason why a sudden conversation might improve a day is
that “the experience of talking with others and hearing a stranger’s voice makes us realise they have a rich
inner life of thoughts, feelings, emotions, and experiences, just like us”.
He added: “These brief connections with strangers are not likely to turn a life of misery into one of bliss.
However, they can change unpleasant moments – like the grind of a daily commute – into something more
pleasant.”
Not everyone agrees. Last month, Uber started trialling a “quiet driver” modeto prevent drivers from striking
up conversations on journeys.
World’s fattest parrot, the endangered kākāpō, could be wiped out by fungal infection
Seven of the birds native to New Zealand have died, with just 142 adults remaining
The world’s fattest parrot is facing an existential threat in the form of a dangerous fungal infection which
has already endangered a fifth of its species.
Seven of New Zealand’s native kākāpō have died in recent months after falling victim to the respiratory
disease aspergillosis. The latest was on Tuesday, where a 100-day-old chick died at the Auckland Zoo.
The nocturnal and flightless parrot ingratiated itself with world after it mated with a zoologist’s head during
a BBC documentary. The incident led it to being described as the “party parrot” and finding a life-long fan in
Stephen Fry.
Kākāpō, whose males can grow to 4.8 pounds (2.2kg), were once found in large numbers all over New
Zealand. However, habitat destruction and pest invasion forced the bird to edge of extinction.
The discovery of a previously unknown population of kākāpō in the 1970s led to a resurgence of their
numbers. The parrot was then the focus of a conservation effort that saw the bird’s population rise from a
low of 51 ageing birds to three times that number.
This year, a team of more than 100 scientists, rangers and volunteers worked to make it the biggest
breeding season on record.
Despite that effort, Auckland Zoo’s head of veterinary services Dr James Chatterton said the future of the
birds hangs in the balance.
“They could all die,” he told Radio New Zealand. “Obviously we’re trying very hard for that not to be the
case, but certainly with about 200 birds alive currently, every bird is valuable to the population, especially if
we have another 10 or 20 sick or dying from this disease.”
The total population of kākāpō is currently 142 adults and 72 living chicks. All of these live on remote
islands away from predators.
However, in late April, the first case of aspergillosis in the kākāpō population was detected. Since then 36
birds, or a fifth of their total numbers, have been sent to veterinary hospitals around the country for
diagnosis and treatment.
“Kākāpō need our urgent support,” the Department of Conservation said in a statement.
The department said that detecting and treating birds with this potentially fatal disease was extremely
difficult. Birds were flown by helicopter to mainland New Zealand for CT scans, and if affected, faced
several months or more of intensive treatment.
Kākāpō supporters have donated at least NZ$100,000 to help their recovery, with more than half of
donations coming from overseas.
Auckland Zoo said the severely ill kākāpō chick, Nora-1-A-2019, died after a last chance surgical
procedure to enable her to breathe, following a serious lung infection and obstruction of her wind-pipe.
The minister of conservation Eugenie Sage told the Stuff news website: “Any time a kākāpō dies is sad for
all of us.”