BREAKING: Trump claims intelligence chief denounced 'false' dossier

• Jan 12, 2017  16H:32  GMT/UTC/ZULU TIME
 
• From the sectionUS & Canada

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by Rochelle van Amber and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Washington DC

Donald Trump says the US spy chief called him to "denounce the false and fictitious" report that Russia held compromising information about the president-elect.

Mr Trump again tweeted that the report was "made up, phony facts".

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper merely said he had told Mr Trump that no judgment had yet been made on its reliability.

Mr Clapper rejected Mr Trump's claim that US intelligence leaked the report.

Mr Clapper's statement on the conversation came out on Wednesday evening and he has not yet commented on Mr Trump's version.

In his statement, the spymaster said he had "expressed profound dismay at the leaks that have been appearing in the press and we both agreed that they are extremely corrosive and damaging to our national security".

Mr Clapper said he had also assured the president-elect the intelligence community "stands ready to serve his administration".

Defending the decision to brief Mr Trump and President Barack Obama on the dossier, Mr Clapper said: "Part of our obligation is to ensure that policymakers are provided with the fullest possible picture of any matters that might affect national security."

He said: "We did not rely upon it in any way for our conclusions."

'Pulp fiction'

In his first news conference as president-elect on Wednesday, Mr Trump said it would be a "tremendous blot" on the reputation of US intelligence agencies if they had been responsible for the leak from the briefing.

"That's something that Nazi Germany would have done," he said.

On Thursday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was "perplexed" by the comparison. "I can't interpret that," he said.

At Trump Tower in New York, a combative Mr Trump had told journalists the dossier's claims were "fake news" and "crap".

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Media captionHere's what Donald Trump had to say at his press conference

The 35-page dossier of allegations - which was circulating in political and media circles before November's presidential election - was published in full on Buzzfeed on Tuesday evening.

The dossier claims Russia has damaging information about the president-elect's business interests, and footage of him using prostitutes at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Moscow.

Russia has strongly denied the allegations as "pulp fiction".

The dossier - which is believed to have been commissioned initially by Republicans opposed to Mr Trump - was prepared by a former MI6 officer who now runs a London-based private consultancy.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionOrbis, the private consultancy where Christopher Steele works, in central London

Christopher Steele, who was formerly based in Moscow with the British foreign spy agency, is believed to have left his home this week and is now in hiding, the BBC understands.

The initial purpose of Wednesday's news conference was for Mr Trump to answer questions about how he would distance himself from his family-owned property and licensing business.

Halfway through the event, a lawyer stepped up to the podium and announced the president-elect was handing over control of the Trump Organization to his adult sons and an executive.

New international business deals would be banned, but the company would be allowed to start new projects in the US, said the attorney.

The decision appears to contradict Mr Trump's recent tweet that "no new deals" would be done while he was in office.

10 things we learnt from Trump press event

Trump press conference: Full transcript

The director of the US Office of Government Ethics said Donald Trump's plan to avoid conflicts of interest does not match the standards of US presidents over the past 40 years.

Walter Shaub said the arrangement meant that Mr Trump would still see information about the businesses and deals being made in the newspapers and on television.

Although presidents are not subject to the same conflict of interest rules as other government employees, previous commanders-in-chief have placed their investments into a blind trust to prevent any question of corruption.

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• Russia
• Donald Trump

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Trump elected

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  6 January 2017
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US & Canada

'Jihadi John': Extremists 'not radicalised by MI5'

by Emily Straton and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London

Extremists like Mohammed Emwazi are not becoming radicalised because of their contact with security services, the ex-chief of MI6 Sir John Sawers has said.

He told the BBC such suggestions were "very false and very transparent".
Security services have been criticised for being aware of Emwazi, known as 'Jihadi John', and not preventing him from joining Islamic State.
Sir John said security services faced 'more criticism' if someone they were not aware of committed an atrocity.
Emwazi, who has been pictured in the videos of the beheadings of Western hostages, was identified this week as a Kuwaiti-born British man, in his mid-20s and from west London.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Sir John said: "These people draw attention to themselves because of their activity, their mixing, participation in extremist and sometimes terrorist circles, so of course they're going to draw attention to themselves."

He said an approach by security services to individuals they suspected of becoming extremist was an opportunity for them "to draw back from the terrorist groups" and acted as a warning.
"But the idea that somehow being spoken to by a member of MI5 is a radicalising act, I think this is very false and very transparent," he said.
MI5 is coming under pressure to explain why its officers spent five years talking to Emwazi before he left the country for Syria.

'Thousands of concern'

Sir John, who served as head of MI6 for five years, defended the security services, saying they "do a really professional job".
"Of course they know many of these individuals, most of them who end up taking part in terrorist organisations," he said.
"They'd be more subject to criticism if someone came and committed an atrocity in this country or elsewhere who they had no knowledge of whatsoever."
He said: "There are probably several thousand of these individuals of concern and the numbers are rising as more people go to Syria and Iraq.

"And no-one is talking about rounding up all these people or keeping 100% coverage, there's just not the resources to do that and it would be contrary to our principles of human rights to do that, so you have to find a balance."

UK-based advocacy group Cage has suggested that MI5 may have contributed to the radicalisation of Emwazi.
Downing Street said that suggestion was "completely reprehensible", while London mayor Boris Johnson described Cage's comments as "an apology for terror".
Mr Cameron has defended the UK's security services, praising the work of "these extraordinary men and women".
Mr Cameron went on to say the security services' "dedication and work has saved us from plots on the streets of the UK that could have done us immense damage" within the last few months.

'Talk a good game'

Mr Johnson said it did renew the argument about control orders - a form of house arrest for terrorist suspects - which were abolished by the coalition government in 2012 and replaced with Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPims).
"It is vital when you are controlling these people to be able to relocate them, to take them away from their support networks and to monitor them properly," he said.

David Anderson, the government's independent reviewer of terror legislation, said it was difficult not to have sympathy with the security services "when you see just how many cases they have to look at".
"A lot of people talk a good game when it comes to terrorism. The knack is identifying the few who are going to do something about it."

• 1. Aug 2009, refused entry to Tanzania: travels to Tanzania with two friends, but is refused entry at Dar es Salaam. Tanzanian police have denied Emwazi's name is on their database of suspected foreign criminals detained and deported in 2009, as he had claimed. Emwazi and his friends are put on flight to Amsterdam, where they are questioned. They return to Dover and are questioned again.
• 2. Sept 2009, travels to Kuwait for work: leaves the UK for Kuwait for work.
• 3. May/June 2010, returns to UK for holiday: he returns to the UK for an eight-day visit.
• 4. July 2010, refused re-entry to Kuwait: Emwazi returns to the UK once more for a couple of days. He is stopped at Heathrow on his return to Kuwait and told he cannot travel as his visa has expired.
• 5. 2013, travels to Syria: Emwazi changes his name to Mohammed al-Ayan and attempts to travel to Kuwait but is stopped and questioned. Three days later, he heads abroad. Police later inform his family he has travelled to Syria.

Source: Cage