Political news

• Justin Trudeau Highlights Accepting 40,000 Refugees When Meeting Donald Trump

  13-02-2017 23:13
  
  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was not prepared to “lecture” US President Donald Trump over immigration during their first face-to-face meeting - but insisted his country’s decision to take in 40,000 Syrian refugees had not compromised national security.
  Trump and his counterpart from across the border met at the White House, with the event likely to be best remembered for the photograph of the President offering Trudeau his hand - which became a vira
  
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• Boris Johnson in new row over 'siphoning off' from foreign aid budget

  13-02-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Foreign secretary criticised for diverting new £700m ‘empowerment fund’ away from countries in Africa and Middle EastBoris Johnson has been criticised for “siphoning off” from the UK’s foreign aid budget to fund diplomacy in former Soviet states and the Middle East via a new £700m “pro-democracy” fund.The row came as the foreign secretary embarked on a two-day visit to the Gambia and Ghana, where he will announce that the Gambia is to rejoin
  
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• Martin Rowson on Kim Jong-un, Trump and nuclear weapons – cartoon

  13-02-2017 22:21 via theguardian.com
  
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• Human rights within Good Friday deal 'must get Brexit protection'

  13-02-2017 21:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Ireland’s foreign minister warns agreement is UN-recognised international treaty whose provisions are ‘inviolable’Human rights protections contained within the 1998 Good Friday agreement are “inviolable” and cannot be tampered with due to Brexit, Ireland’s foreign minister has warned.
  Speaking before meeting Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary James Brokenshire in Dublin on Tuesday, Charlie Flanagan cautioned against moves by the British government to d
  
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• No 10: Official Secrets Act proposals 'project of previous prime minister'

  13-02-2017 21:27 via theguardian.com
  
  Downing Street vehemently denies claims it plans to outlaw investigative journalism and public interest whistleblowersThe government has attempted to distance itself from claims that a new espionage act would outlaw investigative journalism or whistleblowing in the public interest – describing the proposals as the project of a “previous prime minister”.
  As a row erupted over a Law Commission report which suggested that the maximum penalty of two years in prison for leaking offi
  
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• UK aid groups plan fightback against media critics

  13-02-2017 21:09
  NGOs ‘finally waking up to’ the fact attacks are ideological, says Labour MP
  
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• Aid industry prepares for fight after latest furore

  13-02-2017 21:09
  NGOs ‘finally waking up to’ the fact criticisms are ideological, says Labour MP
  
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• Britons living in the EU face Brexit backlash, leaked paper warns

  13-02-2017 21:08 via theguardian.com
  
  Corbyn attacks No 10’s ‘Hunger Games approach’ after document shows UK treatment of EU nationals may colour EU27’s stance on reciprocal rights‘We should be ashamed’: our readers respondJeremy Corbyn has condemned Theresa May’s “Hunger Games approach to Brexit” after a document obtained by the Guardian warned that British nationals living on the continent could expect a backlash as a consequence of the government’s treatment of foreigner
  
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• Campaigners call for cuts to prisoner numbers

  13-02-2017 20:48
  Overcrowding blamed for persistent problems in English jails
  
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• Steve Hewlett tells Eddie Mair of his worries for future of BBC

  13-02-2017 20:41 via theguardian.com
  
  Media is closing in on itself, says journalist who has electrified Radio 4 PM audiences in Mair interviews on his cancerThe media commentator Steve Hewlett has raised concerns about the future of the BBC and the rest of the media industry during his latest affecting interview on Radio 4 about his terminal cancer.Hewlett, who revealed on Eddie Mair’s PM programme last week that he had been told he had only weeks to live, has continued to take an active interest in the industry and still hop
  
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• John Bercow supporters stage counterattack amid no-confidence plot

  13-02-2017 20:31 via theguardian.com
  
  MPs backing the Speaker are increasingly nervous after video of his comments on EU referendum emerged over the weekendSupporters of John Bercow in parliament have mounted a counter-campaign to save the Speaker’s job after the Tory MP who is leading the plot to oust him claimed to have widespread support at all levels of parliament.James Duddridge, the Conservative MP for Rochford and Southend East, who is calling on MPs to sign a motion of no confidence in the Speaker, said Bercow was &ldq
  
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• Q&A: Has net migration from EU to Britain peaked?

  13-02-2017 20:14
  A lot of the data are out of date but worker shortages are showing already
  
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• Has net migration from EU to Britain peaked?

  13-02-2017 20:14
  A lot of the data are out of date but worker shortages are showing already
  
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• Labour's Stoke byelection candidate apologises for offensive tweets aimed at women

  13-02-2017 19:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Gareth Snell expresses regret for posts aimed at ITV’s Loose Women hosts, Janet Street-Porter and Apprentice candidateLabour’s candidate in the Stoke-on-Trent Central byelection has apologised for a series of offensive tweets aimed at women on TV programmes including BBC Question Time, Loose Women and The Apprentice.In unguarded posts from several years ago, Gareth Snell called panellists on ITV’s Loose Women “squabbling sour-faced ladies”, described Janet Street-Po
  
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• British nuclear and the case for public funding

  13-02-2017 19:49
  If ministers want new plants to be built, they will need to back them
  
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• Businesses face ‘astronomical’ rise in rates bills

  13-02-2017 19:42
  First revaluation in 7 years provokes anger and calls for overhaul of system
  
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• Refugees Say What They Love, And Remind Us How Little They Have, In Valentine's Day Video

  13-02-2017 19:40
  
  These refugees don’t have much. When asked what they love, their answers aren’t material: Their family. Being warm. Peace in Syria.
  Help Refugees, the charity that looks after those living in camps and is fighting to get Britain to take more lone child refugees, has produced a video ahead of Valentine’s Day asking children and families in a camp in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon what they love.
  Having fled their neighbouring country’s civil war, hundreds of thousands of Syri
  
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• Scottish Tories accuse SNP of seeking to weaponise Brexit vote

  13-02-2017 19:38 via theguardian.com
  
  Ruth Davidson says nationalists have been ‘cranking up the grievance machine’ in hope of new independence bidThe Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson, has accused the SNP of copying the tactics of the leave campaign and seeking to “weaponise Brexit” in an attempt to boost support for Scottish independence before a possible second referendum.In a speech at the London School of Economics on Monday, Davidson claimed nationalists were “cranking up the grievance machine i
  
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• Justin Trudeau Resists Donald Trump's Alpha Male Handshake

  13-02-2017 19:33
  
  Ask any two-penny pundit what they think of the future prospects of left-leaning politics, and they’ll tell you it’s doomed: quoting Donald Trump, Brexit and the surge of populism across Europe before requesting their modest fee.
  But anyone clutching for straws about a political comeback for progressives may take hope from Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau, who today resisted Donald Trump’s pumping, alpha male handshake as they met for the fir
  
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• Rape trial loophole should not be excuse to shame victims, says minister

  13-02-2017 19:15 via theguardian.com
  
  Justice secretary Liz Truss launches review of law under which a complainant’s sexual history can be admissible in courtThe justice secretary, Liz Truss, is looking to change the law to prevent the cross-examination of rape victims in open court on their sexual history.Truss and the attorney general, Jeremy Wright, started a review on Monday of the impact on rape victims of the operation of section 41 of the 1999 Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act, under which a rape complainant&rsquo
  
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• May will rue her failure to lower expectations

  13-02-2017 19:14
  She should worry that only a third of voters support an abrupt departure from the EU
  
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• European commission upgrades growth forecast for UK economy

  13-02-2017 19:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Executive arm of EU sees UK economy growing 1.5% this year, compared with earlier forecast of just 1% growthThe eurozone will enjoy stronger economy growth than previously thought this year and next but face risks from uncertainty surrounding Donald Trump’s presidency and the UK’s negotiations to leave the European Union, according to forecasts by the European commission.The executive arm of the EU became the latest body to concede its predictions made shortly after the Brexit vote h
  
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• Paul Mason Says 'Most Ukip People' Are 'Toe-Rags' Who Would Steal Your Bike

  13-02-2017 18:16
  
  Most of Ukip’s members and activists are “toe-rags” who would steal people’s bikes, left-wing journalist Paul Mason has said.
  Mason, the former BBC Newsnight journalist and vocal Jeremy Corbyn supporter, told an event that “most of the Ukip people” were “the bloke who nicks your bike”.
  Ukip said the comments show “the radical metropolitan Left” think those considering ditching Labour for the Eurosceptic party “are s
  
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• Workers' feelings of powerlessness fuelling anger, says jobs tsar

  13-02-2017 18:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Matthew Taylor, in charge of review of modern employment, says improving the quality of work should be a national goalA feeling among workers that they lack control or a voice in the workplace is fuelling “misery and anger in British society”, the chair of a Downing Street review of modern employment has said.Matthew Taylor has called for the improvement of the quality of work in the UK to become a new “national goal” so that people “feel like citizens at work and n
  
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• Katya Adler asks if the EU can survive the biggest challenge in its history

  13-02-2017 17:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  As Britain prepares to begin withdrawing from the EU, BBC Europe editor Katya Adler asks whether the Union can survive facing the biggest challenge in its 60-year history.
  
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• Brussels acknowledges UK ‘more resilient’ than predicted

  13-02-2017 17:29
  European Commission upgrades UK growth for 2017 to 1.5%
  
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• Britain’s prison crisis will only worsen

  13-02-2017 17:18
  An unresolved staffing gap will hobble the sector’s rehabilitation, writes James Blitz
  
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• Pension Rise To Be Kept Despite Working Households Earning Less Than Retirees, Confirms Theresa May

  13-02-2017 16:49
  
  Theresa May today ruled out any changes to the “triple lock” for pensioners, which sees income rise by at least 2.5 per cent every year for the oldest in society.
  The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said May was committed to the policy, despite a report today claiming a typical pensioner is now £20 a week better off than working households.
  The study from the Resolution Foundation also warns that today’s workers will not enjoy the same standard of living in reti
  
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• Pension Rise To Be Kept Despite Retirees Being Better Off Than Working Households, Confirms Theresa May

  13-02-2017 16:49
  
  Theresa May today ruled out any changes to the “triple lock” for pensioners, which sees income rise by at least 2.5 per cent every year for the oldest in society.
  The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said May was committed to the policy, despite a report today claiming a typical pensioner is now £20 a week better off than working households.
  The study from the Resolution Foundation also warns that today’s workers will not enjoy the same standard of living in reti
  
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• Drivers' strike paralyses Uber, Ola services in Indian capital

  13-02-2017 16:23
  By Rupam Jain and Douglas Busvine NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A strike led by drivers' unions in the Indian capital demanding better pay from Uber [UBER.UL] and Ola has paralyzed the ride-hailing services that have grabbed business from traditional taxi and rickshaw operators with their cheaper fares. It was the first big confrontation between trade unions representing taxi drivers in the Delhi region of 25 million people and the two ride-hailing players, which have been ramping up services in India's
  
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• Baghdad's bloody protests mark resumption of Shi'ite power struggle

  13-02-2017 16:23
  By Maher Chmaytelli BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Bloody protests in Baghdad over the weekend by followers of influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr signal the resumption of a power struggle between Iraq's Shi'ite leaders which had been put on hold to focus on the war against Islamic State. With Iraqi forces all but certain to defeat Islamic State in Mosul this year, Sadr has begun mobilizing his supporters ahead of two elections, for provincial councils in September and the crucial parliamentary vote, by Apr
  
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• Italy's ex-pm Renzi calls leadership contest for his PD party

  13-02-2017 16:21
  Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Monday he wanted to hold a leadership contest in his ruling Democratic Party (PD), looking for a showdown with his many critics in the group ahead any parliamentary elections. Renzi stepped down as prime minister in December after losing a referendum on constitutional reform and wants early elections this year in an effort to regain power. "I think it's common sense to accept the idea of holding a Congress before a national vote," Renzi told PD bigwigs,
  
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• RFU hands written warning to sacked Sale winger Arscott

  13-02-2017 16:16
  Sacked Sale Sharks winger Tom Arscott leaked confidential team information to his brother Luke, who plays for Bristol, before a match between their Premiership sides, the Rugby Football Union said on Monday. Concluding an investigation triggered by Sale, it found Arscott's behaviour had been "inappropriate" and gave him a written warning. The RFU said the player had discussed tactical information about his side's defence with his brother on the night before a Jan. 1 match that Sale lost 24-23.
  
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• EU Commission 'very disappointed' by Swiss tax reform vote

  13-02-2017 16:13
  The European Commission is disappointed that Swiss voters rejected plans to overhaul corporate taxes and will consult with European Union governments on how to proceed, the EU Commissioner for taxation said on Monday. Voters on Sunday blocked the tax system revamp, sending the Swiss government back to the drawing board as it tries to abolish ultra-low tax rates for multinational companies without triggering a mass exodus by those companies. The vote put non-EU member Switzerland on a collision c
  
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• Primark sees plenty of scope to expand German business - AB Foods CFO

  13-02-2017 16:10
  By Emma Thomasson BERLIN (Reuters) - Discount fashion business Primark could triple the size of its business in Germany despite new stores eating into sales at existing ones, the finance chief of parent company Associated British Foods said on Monday. Primark has been expanding in continental Europe in the last decade as the chain has neared saturation in Britain and Ireland, putting pressure on budget rivals such as Sweden's H&M and family owned C&A. Primark opened its first store in Ge
  
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• Blast kills at least 10 in Pakistani city of Lahore

  13-02-2017 16:10
  By Mubasher Bukhari LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - An explosion near the Punjab provincial assembly in the Pakistani city of Lahore killed at least 10 people and wounded dozens on Monday, a local emergency rescue service said. The Rescue 1122 service in Lahore stated that 58 people were wounded when an explosion rocked a protest organised by Pakistan's chemist and pharmaceuticals manufacturers. "Apparently it was a suicide blast but police are still investigating to know the exact nature of blast,
  
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• Mozambique extends investigation into government loans by one month

  13-02-2017 16:06
  MAPUTO (Reuters) - Mozambique has extended the investigation into state firms that hid $2 billion (£1.6 billion) in loans from government and international creditors by 30 days, state media said on Monday, to allow the firm conducting the probe more time to access information. In November, Mozambique's attorney general appointed multinational risk management firm Kroll to audit the suspicious loans that led to the International Monetary Fund cancelling funding to the impoverished southern
  
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• Seize chance to make peace, U.N. envoy urges Cypriots

  13-02-2017 16:02
  By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) - A United Nations envoy has urged the rival sides on the divided island of Cyprus to seize an opportunity for peace, warning it could be years before such a chance arose again. In recent months Greek and Turkish Cypriots have been negotiating to try to end their decades-long conflict and have asked the United Nations to prepare for a new peace conference in early March. "It is possible to do it but it needs will on both sides in Cyprus and among the neighbouring
  
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• Netanyahu non-committal on Palestinian statehood as he heads to U.S

  13-02-2017 15:59
  By Luke Baker TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sidestepped a question on whether he still supports the creation of a Palestinian state as he left for the United States on Monday on his first visit since President Donald Trump took office. Netanyahu has never publicly abandoned his conditional backing for Palestinian statehood, which he first stated in 2009, but Palestinians say that commitment has been rendered worthless by Israeli settlement building on occupied la
  
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• Six Ivory Coast journalists arrested on suspicion of inciting mutiny

  13-02-2017 15:58
  Six journalists in Ivory Coast have been arrested on suspicion of faking news which could incite soldiers to revolt, journalist associations said on Monday, just days after a mutiny. Ivory Coast has been gripped by a series of revolts this year by various factions of the military seeking bonus pay, after the government conceded to the demands of an initial group of mutineers in January. Special forces seized the coastal town of Adiake last week in the latest episode of army violence which has ta
  
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• Egypt cabinet re-shuffle to include ministers of investment, agriculture

  13-02-2017 15:49
  CAIRO (Reuters) - A reshuffle of Egypt's cabinet will involve at least eight ministers, including those responsible for investment and agriculture, parliamentary sources said on Monday. The final names for the new posts have not yet been disclosed. A vote in parliament to confirm the new cabinet is expected on Tuesday. (Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Gareth Jones)
  
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• ECB money printing slowed in latest week

  13-02-2017 15:47
  FRANKFURT, (Reuters) - The European Central Bank bought 16.907 billion euros (13 billion pounds) of public sector assets last week as part of its quantitative easing programme, below the 17.347 billion euros it purchased a week earlier, it said on Monday.
  
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• Canada's Trudeau arrives in Washington to meet with Trump

  13-02-2017 15:45
  
  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a polar opposite to President Donald Trump in almost every way, arrived in Washington Monday morning keen to build a relationship that doesn't threaten trade. In ...
  
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• Polish PM to remain in hospital for next several days - government spokesman

  13-02-2017 15:41
  Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo is recovering quickly from a car crash last week but will remain in hospital for the next few days, the government spokesman said on Monday. Szydlo was hurt when her car struck a tree in a crash in southern Poland on Friday. Rafal Bochenek, the government spokesman, read a doctors' statement saying her injuries have not required any surgery.
  
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• Brazil's Temer denies shielding minister from corruption case

  13-02-2017 15:41
  BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Michel Temer said on Monday that he would not interfere in the country's biggest corruption investigation and denied that he had made a close aide a cabinet minister to shield him against prosecution. Temer did not mention by name Wellington Moreira Franco, his point man for infrastructure investment who became a minister despite being named in plea bargain testimony by a defendant in the sweeping graft investigation, known as "Car Wash," which centres on
  
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• Data suggests Swiss National Bank intervention to trim rising franc

  13-02-2017 15:40
  Rising sight deposits suggest the Swiss National Bank (SNB)intervened in currency markets last week to temper the rising Swiss franc and keep the safe-haven currency from further taking a bite out of the country's export-dependent economy. Total sight deposits including cash domestic banks hold with the SNB rose to 539 billion Swiss francs (430 billion pounds) from 535.194 billion francs the previous week, data showed on Monday. The SNB had impetus to intervene last week as the franc slipped to
  
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• 'No quick fix' solution to problem in prisons

  13-02-2017 15:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  There is "no quick fix" solution to the problem in prisons, says former Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf
  
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• Ukip spokesman apologises for retweet of racially charged slogan

  13-02-2017 15:38 via theguardian.com
  
  John Bickley apologises for ‘any offence caused’ by similarities to infamous slogan used in 1964 general election campaign in SmethwickUkip’s immigration spokesman has apologised for retweeting a cartoon with the slogan “if you want a jihadi for a neighbour, vote Labour”, saying he had not realised its connection to the racist slogan used in the in the 1964 general election campaign in Smethwick. Related: Britain’s most racist election: the story of Smethwick,
  
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• TrumpWatch: 5 Disturbing Things Donald Trump Did Over The Weekend

  13-02-2017 15:37
  
  1) Tweeted about crowd sizes (again) as 1000’s of Californians ran for their lives
  Around 188,000 Californians were ordered to flee their homes on Sunday night after a fault in the US’s tallest dam threatened to cause widespread flooding.
  A hole in a spillway on the Oroville Dam sent chunks of concrete flying and water cascading into the surrounding area. By late evening the flow of water had stabilised but officials warned more of the torrential rain that has hit the state rece
  
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• WH stops defending Flynn, raising questions about his fate

  13-02-2017 15:36
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Embattled national security adviser Michael Flynn's fate as one of President Donald Trump's senior aides is uncertain following reports that he discussed U.S. sanctions with a Russian envoy before Trump's inauguration.
  
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