WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump insisted there is no evidence he colluded with Russia after a Senate hearing that highlighted warnings that his former national security advisor was vulnerable to Russian blackmail. Instead, Trump chose to play up former director of national intelligence James Clapper’s acknowledgement during the same hearing that he was not aware of any evidence of collusion between the president and Russia, which American intelligence has concluded tried to sway the US election in Trump’s favor. “Director Clapper reiterated what everybody, including the fake media already knows – there is ‘no evidence’ of collusion w/ Russia and Trump,” Trump said. Pence said in January that Flynn denied those calls involved sanctions placed on Russia by the Obama administration in response to its election meddling. Yates’ comments came after former Obama officials revealed that the outgoing president himself firmly warned Trump against naming Flynn as national security advisor, just two days after the November 8 election.

Source: Manila Times May 09, 2017 06:22 UTC