Politics

With the political punditry debating whether Trump's real motive to sack Comey was the FBI Director's escalating probe into Trump's ties to Russia, despite - as Trump stated in his letter to Comey - the president allegedly being assured three times there was no investigation - the NYT reported moments ago that Comey had requested a significant increase in funds and personnel in connection with the Russia probe just days before he was fired.

From the NYT:

Following yesterday's news that the White House had radically changed its strategy involving Syrian military intervention, and that it had decided to provide weapons to Kurdish militants in the region, we were curious to see just how livid Turkey would be when it inevitably responded to Trump's announcement. One day later we got the answer when the Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Isik was quoted by Reuters that the U.S. decision to provide weapons for Kurdish militants in the fight against ISIS "is a crisis" and warned it would not benefit the United States or the region.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov is holding a press conference following his discussions in The Oval Office with President Trump, who described it as a "very, very good" meeting.

President Trump “clearly stated his desire for businesslike” relations with Russia, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met with President Trump Wednesday.

Written by The Wall Street Journal editorial board

President Trump fired James Comey late Tuesday, and better now than never. These columns opposed Mr. Comey’s nomination by Barack Obama, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Director has committed more than enough mistakes in the last year to be dismissed for cause.

In a mini "mutiny" inside the Senate, moments ago three republicans joined with Senate Democrats to reject overturning an Obama administration rule limiting methane emissions from oil and natural gas drilling, also known as H.J. Res. 36. Only 49 senators voted to move forward with debate on legislation to undo the Bureau of Land Management rule, short of the 51 majority needed to advance the measure.