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Colombia’s president met with the top US diplomat in his country and discussed anti-drug efforts, Bogota said Tuesday, after a renewed public feud with counterpart Donald Trump frayed relations between the historic partners.President Gustavo Petro had a “long, frank, and constructive” meeting on Monday with US Charge d’Affaires John McNamara, Colombia’s foreign ministry said in a statement, after Trump threatened to revoke all aid and impose punishing tariffs on the South American nation.”Representatives from both countries agreed that this is the first step toward resolving the current impasse in bilateral relations and that further meetings will be held with the aim of reaching a prompt solution,” the statement said.Trump, who has launched a lethal naval campaign in the Caribbean against alleged drug traffickers, lashed out on Sunday at leftist Petro, calling him an “illegal drug dealer.”In addition to halting aid and imposing tariffs, Trump threatened unspecified action to “close up” drug cultivation in the country — the world’s largest cocaine producer — if Petro failed to act.At the meeting with McNamara, Petro “reiterated the importance of the United States basing its assessment on actual figures from the fight against drugs in Colombia,” the statement said.Petro’s administration contends that, counter to Trump’s assertions, it has continued to combat drug production, touting record seizures.The leftist government has nonetheless championed a paradigm shift in the US-led war on drugs, away from forced eradication to focus on underlying social problems and aiding coca producers to substitute other crops.At the meeting between Petro and McNamara, the “senior officials reaffirmed the commitment of both parties to improve drug fighting strategies,” Colombia’s foreign ministry said.”It is desirable that these efforts continue to be made in coordination with the United States,” the statement added.

The memoir of one of Jeffrey Epstein’s main accusers whose claims sparked the downfall of Britain’s Prince Andrew shot to the top of Amazon UK’s bestseller list Tuesday as it went on sale, ratcheting up pressure on the disgraced royal.The publication of Virginia Giuffre’s book has refocused attention on the Epstein saga in both Britain and the US, where a row is raging over the release of files on the convicted sex offender.In the UK, the re-emergence of allegations that Giuffre was forced to have sex with Andrew three times, including twice when she was only 17, prompted the prince on Friday to renounce his royal title and honours. It followed reported pressure from his brother King Charles III and nephew, heir-to-the-throne Prince William.Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, took her own life in April aged 41, leaving behind her posthumous memoir “Nobody’s Girl”.”She would view it as a victory that he was forced — by whatever means — to voluntarily give them up,” the book’s ghostwriter, Amy Wallace, told the BBC, referring to Andrew’s titles.”His life is being eroded because of his past behaviour.”In another interview Tuesday, the ghostwriter urged Andrew to cooperate with US authorities still probing Epstein’s crimes.  “He saw things that were going on,” she told Times Radio, adding “he could share that information with investigators”.- ‘The prince had fun’ -US Congressman Pete Sessions, who is on a congressional oversight committee investigating Epstein, echoed the sentiment.”It would be interesting to see what he did know, what he did see,” he told the BBC.Andrew, 65, who denies wrongdoing, agreed to pay Giuffre millions of dollars in 2022 to end her civil sexual assault case against him.Her chart-topping memoir recounts three sexual encounters with Andrew — one of which she claims was an orgy on Epstein’s island that included Epstein, the prince and “eight other young girls”.At their first alleged meeting in March 2001, Giuffre recounts having sex with the prince at the London mews house of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was jailed two decades later for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls.”He seemed in a rush to have intercourse,” she said of Andrew. “Afterward, he said thank you in his clipped British accent.”She recalled Epstein snapping the notorious photograph of the prince with his arm around her, side-by-side with Maxwell, earlier in the evening. Giuffre said Maxwell praised her the next morning, telling her: “You did well. The prince had fun.” Giuffre alleged Epstein soon gave her $15,000 for “servicing” Andrew.She painfully recounts another incident on Epstein’s island with a man she describes as “a former minister”, without giving his nationality.”He wanted violence. He repeatedly choked me until I lost consciousness,” she wrote, adding she emerged bleeding from different parts of her body.- Mansion furore -The prince relinquished his royal duties and HRH title in 2019 following a disastrous TV interview about Giuffre’s claims.He now faces renewed calls to lose his title of prince, alongside demands for more transparency about his finances and housing arrangements. Charles is preparing for a two-day Vatican state visit starting Wednesday.A Buckingham Palace source told AFP the book’s claims were of “very serious and grave concern” and should be “examined in the appropriate way”.Meanwhile, British newspaper the Times reported on Tuesday that Andrew had not paid rent for two decades on the 30-room Royal Lodge in Windsor, west of London, where he lives with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. It stems from a seemingly favourable 2003 deal for the mansion owned by the Crown Estate, the royal family’s independently run land and property holdings. In return for spending £8.5 million ($11.4 million) upfront on a lease and refurbishments, Andrew was not required to pay annual rent and can stay there until 2078, according to The Times.Senior Conservative MP Robert Jenrick was among those to hit out, telling the newspaper it was “about time Prince Andrew took himself off to live in private” as “the public are sick of him”.In the US, the so-called Epstein files have been the focal point of the controversy engulfing Trump’s second presidency.Epstein, the president’s one-time friend, took his own life in 2019 while in prison awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.Giuffre was recruited into Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking network by Maxwell while working at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2000. She revealed in the book her subsequent treatment by Epstein and others led her to fear she would “die a sex slave”. burs-jj/jkb/jxb

European leaders Tuesday threw their support behind President Donald Trump’s peace push for Ukraine, while reaffirming their red lines, as the Kremlin cast doubt on chances of an imminent summit between the US leader and Vladimir Putin.Fresh from his Gaza peace deal, Trump has resumed the search for an elusive breakthrough in Ukraine, as the war grinds into its fourth year since Russia’s invasion, through contacts with both Kyiv and Moscow.The likelihood of a Trump-Putin summit taking place in Budapest within two weeks, as promised by the US leader, appeared to recede Tuesday as Moscow warned laying the groundwork “could take time”.But the mooted sit-down has revived the prospect of Washington and Moscow cutting a deal that could disadvantage Kyiv and threaten broader European security interests.The US leader asserted, after hosting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last Friday, that peace talks should begin based on the current frontline with Russia — but multiple reports said US officials had in private pushed Kyiv to concede territory.In a joint statement on Tuesday, leaders including Zelensky, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s Friedrich Merz threw their weight behind Trump’s peace effort — while appearing to seek to hold him to his public comments.”We strongly support President Trump’s position that the fighting should stop immediately, and that the current line of contact should be the starting point of negotiations,” said a statement signed by Zelensky, EU chiefs Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, Macron, Merz, Britain’s Keir Starmer and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni.”We remain committed to the principle that international borders must not be changed by force,” said the leaders, who also included those of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Poland.- Closing ranks -In comments made on board Air Force One on Sunday, Trump made no references to Kyiv ceding territory.”What I say is they should stop right now at the battle lines,” Trump told reporters, adding: “They can negotiate something later on down the line.”Zelensky, who is pushing to attend any summit in Budapest after being shut out of Trump’s last meeting with Putin, in Alaska, has ruled out territorial concessions.France’s Macron said Tuesday Ukraine’s Western allies were ready to provide security guarantees in the event of a ceasefire, but that Kyiv alone would decide on any territorial negotiations.”No one else can do this. Therefore, it is up to Ukraine to decide for itself and its territory,” Macron said in Slovenia.EU leaders are set to close ranks in support of Ukraine at a Brussels summit on Thursday — followed a day later by a “coalition of the willing” meeting of European leaders in London to discuss the next steps to help Kyiv.Their statement on Tuesday was about “clearly” reiterating Europe’s position, expressed during a visit by the leaders to Washington following the US president’s talks with Putin in August, an EU official told AFP.- ‘Strongest’ Ukraine position -In the text, European leaders slammed “Russia’s stalling tactics” which “have shown time and time again that Ukraine is the only party serious about peace”.”Therefore we are clear that Ukraine must be in the strongest possible position — before, during, and after any ceasefire,” they said.The European Union is considering a new 140-billion-euro ($163-billion) loan for Ukraine funded by frozen Russian central bank assets, which will be discussed at Thursday’s summit in Brussels.Officials are hoping the summit will produce a green light to move ahead with a detailed legal proposal on the loan.”We must ramp up the pressure on Russia’s economy and its defence industry, until Putin is ready to make peace,” the leaders said.burs-raz/ec/st

A memoir by one of Jeffrey Epstein’s main accusers whose claims led to the downfall of Britain’s Prince Andrew was released Tuesday, promising to keep Epstein’s ties to President Donald Trump in the spotlight.While Trump features minimally in Virginia Giuffre’s book, pre-publication publicity has refocused attention on the Epstein saga in the United States where a row rages over the release of files on the disgraced financier and sex offender.Andrew on Friday renounced his royal title under pressure from King Charles III, following further revelations about his ties to Epstein and repeated allegations in Giuffre’s book that she was forced to have sex with the prince three times, including when she was 17.The ghostwriter of “Nobody’s Girl,” Amy Wallace, said that Giuffre — who died by suicide in April aged 41 — told the Washington Post that the prominent campaigner against sexual abuse had admired Trump.”She was a huge Trump fan… There were two reasons for it: One, she’d met him. She worked at Mar-a-Lago. Her dad worked at Mar-a-Lago. She met Trump several times, and he was always very kind to her,” Wallace told the Post.”And secondly, he said he was going to release the Epstein files. He was on her side. That’s how she felt.”The BBC reported that in the book Giuffre alleges three sexual encounters with Andrew — one of which she claims was an orgy including Epstein, the prince and “eight other young girls.”The so-called Epstein files have been the focal point of the controversy engulfing the second presidency of Trump, who was a longtime friend of Epstein.In 2019 Epstein took his own life while in prison awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.Giuffre was recruited into Epstein’s alleged sex-trafficking network when she was a 17-year-old minor while working at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in 2000, saying in the book she feared she would “die a sex slave.” Giuffre claimed she was approached there by Ghislaine Maxwell, who was later jailed in 2022 for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls.Trump appeared to be on good terms with Epstein during this time, praising him as a “terrific guy” in a 2002 New York Magazine profile.In the book, Giuffre recounts being introduced to Trump by her father, with the property developer asking her “do you babysit at all.””Soon I was making money a few nights a week, minding the children of the elite,” she said in an excerpt published by Vanity Fair.The publication of a now-infamous photo taken in London appearing to show Prince Andrew with his arm around Giuffre’s waist set in motion the former military helicopter pilot’s downfall.Andrew, 65, has long denied the assault accusations, which have caused considerable embarrassment to the British monarchy and seen the prince virtually banished from royal life in recent years.Prince Andrew reached a financial settlement with Giuffre in 2022.”The hope was that once the book was published for the first time since 2011, she could say: ‘I respect your wish to know my memories of Prince Andrew, Ghislaine, Jeffrey, etc, all the other men. I respect that need. I have done the best version of my story,'” Wallace said.

The chess world has been plunged into mourning following the sudden death of prominent US grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky aged 29.Governing body the International Chess Federation (FIDE) remembered Naroditsky, who was also a chess commentator and streamer, as someone “whose influence extended far beyond the chessboard”.Fellow grandmaster and world number two Hikaru Nakamura wrote on social media: “I’m devastated. This is a massive loss for the world of chess.”Charlotte Chess Center announced the death of California-born Naroditsky on Monday, saying: “Daniel was a talented chess player, commentator and educator, and a cherished member of the chess community.”It said he was “admired and respected by fans and players around the world”.It did not say how he died.FIDE said that Naroditsky “played a pivotal role in popularizing chess content online, bridging the gap between professional and amateur chess”.”There are not many people in the world who manage to achieve so much before turning 30.”Naroditsky was ranked number one in his native United States when he was just nine years old, The New York Times said.

US President Donald Trump signed a deal on rare earth minerals Monday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and said Washington’s key ally would get its coveted nuclear-powered attack submarines. The two leaders met at the White House to concentrate on a pair of areas — defense and critical minerals — in which Washington and Canberra are cooperating against what they view as an increasingly assertive China.Albanese said the rare earths deal would lead to $8.5 billion in critical minerals projects in Australia and take relations to the “next level.”The Australian premier has touted his country’s abundant critical minerals as a way to loosen China’s grip over global supplies of rare earths, which are vital for tech products.Government figures show Australia is among the world’s top five producers of lithium, cobalt and manganese — used in everything from semiconductors to defense hardware, electric cars and wind turbines.China is easily the world’s largest refiner of lithium and nickel, and has a near monopoly on the processing of other rare earth elements. Analysts have said Australia is unlikely to challenge this dominance — but does offer a reliable, albeit smaller pipeline that lessens the risk of relying on China. The Australian government said it and the US government would each invest more than $1 billion over the next six months, while the White House put the figure at $3 billion between the two countries.Albanese had also been pushing for progress on the stalled 2021 AUKUS submarine deal between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.Washington said earlier this year it was reviewing the deal for at least three Virginia-class nuclear attack subs signed under previous president Joe Biden, but Trump promised Australia would get them.”The submarines that we’re starting to build for Australia are really moving along,” Trump told reporters as he sat alongside Albanese in the cabinet room of the White House.”We’ve worked on this long and hard, and we’re starting that process right now. And it’s really moving along very rapidly, very well.”- ‘I don’t like you either’ -The AUKUS deal could cost Canberra up to US$235 billion over the next 30 years. It also includes the technology to build its own vessels in the future.Australia also had a major bust-up with France after it canceled a multi-billion-dollar deal to buy a fleet of diesel-powered submarines from Paris and go with the AUKUS program instead.The nuclear-powered vessels lie at the heart of Australia’s strategy of improving its long-range strike capabilities in the Pacific, particularly against China.But the Trump administration said in June it had put AUKUS under review to ensure it aligned with his “America First agenda,” saying it needed to ensure the United States had enough of the subs.Albanese meanwhile managed to ride out an awkward confrontation between Trump and Australia’s ambassador to Washington — former prime minister Kevin Rudd.Rudd deleted a series of critical social media posts about Trump following the Republican’s election victory last year.”I don’t like you either. I don’t. And I probably never will,” Trump said to Rudd when a reporter pointed out that the ex-premier was in the room and asked the US president whether he minded the comments.Australians have a mostly unfavorable view of the Trump administration, polling shows, though the country relies on the United States to balance China’s expanding military clout in the Pacific region.China loomed large over both of the key issues in the talks.Australia has touted itself as a key US ally against China’s territorial assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region, from Taiwan to the South China Sea.On China, Australia announced plans for a strategic reserve of critical minerals to provide to “key partners” such as Washington to help relax Beijing’s chokehold.Trump this month accused China of pressuring trade partners with new rare export curbs and threatened 100-percent tariffs in response.

The agency responsible for safeguarding the US nuclear stockpile began placing most staff on enforced leave Monday, an official said, as yet another congressional vote to end the crippling government shutdown failed.With the standoff about to enter its fourth week, some 1,400 workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration were due to receive notices telling them they had been placed on unpaid furlough.”Due to the Democrat shutdown, approximately 1,400 NNSA federal employees will be furloughed as of today, October 20th and nearly 400 NNSA federal employees will continue to work to support the protection of property and the safety of human life,” a Department of Energy spokesperson said in a statement.The United States has an arsenal of 5,177 nuclear warheads, with about 1,770 deployed, according to the global security nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.The NNSA, which oversees 60,000 contractors, is responsible for designing, manufacturing, servicing and securing the weapons.The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but CNN reported that the furloughs will initially hit sites that assemble nuclear weapons, such as Pantex in Texas and Y-12 in Tennessee.At 20 days, the United States is enduring its longest full government shutdown ever — the third-longest if partial stoppages are included.President Donald Trump has been ratcheting up pressure on Democrats to vote with his Republicans to reopen the government, with increasingly ominous threats to slash public services and ramp up mass layoffs.”So we’re hoping the Democrats become much less deranged and that we will get the vote pretty soon. And I hear they’re starting to feel that way, too,” Trump said at the White House.Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told CNBC he expected the shutdown to end “some time this week” — but he warned Democrats of “stronger measures… to bring them to the table” if it dragged on further.- ‘Danger to the American people’ -Democrats’ key condition for backing a House-passed funding resolution that would reopen the government through late November is the renewal of expiring health care subsidies for 24 million Americans.Senate Republicans have offered a vote on renewing the subsidies, but many Democrats insist that any deal in the upper chamber will be meaningless without the sign-off of Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson.A Senate vote Monday evening on a House-passed resolution to reopen the government failed, for the 11th time.Johnson has vowed to keep the House closed until the shutdown ends, and it has already been out of session since September 19. “Every day that the government is shut down, it is a danger to the American people,” Johnson told reporters on Monday when asked about the NNSA furloughs.He warned that falling behind US adversaries in the nuclear arms race would be a “very serious” threat to the country’s status as “the last great superpower.” Trump has been clear that he believes Republicans are winning the messaging war and has not felt the need so far to intervene. But Democratic strategists are confident that they can stick Republicans with the blame for skyrocketing premiums and health care coverage losses that would hit millions of Americans in 2026 if no action is taken.”In Georgia, Virginia and Maryland, people are now finding out that their health insurance premiums are about to increase, in some instances by more than $2,000 per month, for a total of $24,000 per year,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters.”No one can afford those types of increases.”Federal employees — who generally get paid every two weeks — are expected to miss the entire amount for the first time on Thursday, and troop pay is another issue pressuring lawmakers to strike a deal.The Senate is due to consider legislation midweek that would allow members of the military and other federal workers to receive pay, though it is not clear that the effort has sufficient Democratic buy-in. 

Donald Trump has often been dubbed a political wrecking ball for his unorthodox style — and now the US president has literally started demolition work on the White House.Work crews began tearing down part of the East Wing on Monday as the former property mogul said work had formally commenced on a huge new $250-million ballroom.A mechanical excavator had ripped through the facade of the East Wing, leaving a tangle of broken masonry, rubble and steel wires, AFP journalists at the scene saw.Republican Trump said as he hosted college baseball players at the White House on Monday that “right on the other side you have a lot of construction that you might hear occasionally.”The 79-year-old billionaire later officially announced that work had started on the ballroom, the biggest addition to the US presidential mansion in more than a century.”I am pleased to announce that ground has been broken on the White House grounds to build the new, big, beautiful White House Ballroom,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.Trump said the East Wing was being “fully modernized as part of this process, and will be more beautiful than ever when it is complete!”The East Wing is where US first ladies have traditionally had their offices. The president works in the West Wing and the couple live in the Executive Mansion.- ‘Generous Patriots’ -But while Trump said that the East Wing is “completely separate from the White House itself,” it is in fact physically joined to the main mansion by a covered colonnade.Trump says the new 90,000-square-foot ballroom with a capacity of 1,000 people is needed to host large state dinners and other events that currently have to be held in a tent.The former reality TV star held a glitzy dinner at the White House last week for donors to the ballroom. The guests included representatives from tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Meta, Google, Microsoft and Palantir and defense giant Lockheed Martin — all companies with significant contracts or other dealings with the government.They also included twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of crypto platform Gemini, who were made famous as jilted investors in the movie “The Social Network” about the birth of Facebook.”The White House Ballroom is being privately funded by many generous Patriots, Great American Companies, and, yours truly. This Ballroom will be happily used for Generations to come!” he said on Monday.It is the largest part of the huge makeover Trump has given the White House since returning to power in January, including covering the Oval Office with gold decor and paving over the Rose Garden.Trump has also unveiled plans for a huge triumphal arch in Washington, which was dubbed the “Arc de Trump” after AFP first revealed the proposal.

A US appeals court said Monday that President Donald Trump can send National Guard troops to Portland, despite objections from Oregon’s governor.The ruling is the latest step in a battle pitting the White House against liberal states who have pushed back against what they characterize as Trump’s authoritarian over-reach and a creeping militarization of US society.”After considering the record at this preliminary stage, we conclude that it is likely that the President lawfully exercised his statutory authority” when he federalized the state’s National Guard, the Ninth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals said.The ruling clears the way for 200 National Guard personnel to be deployed to protect federal buildings, where authorities say protestors — many dressed in animal costumes — are impeding immigration enforcement.Portland, along with Chicago, became the latest flashpoints in the Trump administration’s rollout of raids, following the deployment of troops to Los Angeles, Washington and Memphis.In such raids, groups of masked, armed men in unmarked cars or armored vehicles target residential neighborhoods and businesses.The state of Oregon took the administration to court to try to prevent its forces being used, obtaining a stay from a lower court that prevented any boots on the ground while the matter was decided.Monday’s decision — by two out of the three justices on the appeals panel — overturns the stay.Trump has repeatedly called Portland “war-ravaged” and riddled with violent crime. But in her original ruling granting the stay, US District Judge Karin Immergut dismissed his comments as “simply untethered to the facts.”Although the city has seen scattered attacks on federal officers and property, the Trump administration failed to demonstrate “that those episodes of violence were part of an organized attempt to overthrow the government as a whole,” Immergut wrote.Protests in Portland did not pose a “danger of rebellion” and “regular law enforcement forces” could handle such incidents, Immergut said.Circuit Judge Susan Graber, dissenting from the ruling released Monday, said the administration’s seizing of Oregon’s National Guard — a force usually under the control of the state’s governor — was a dangerous erosion of constitutional rights.”Given Portland protesters’ well-known penchant for wearing chicken suits, inflatable frog costumes, or nothing at all when expressing their disagreement with the methods employed by ICE, observers may be tempted to view the majority’s ruling, which accepts the government’s characterization of Portland as a war zone, as merely absurd,” she wrote.”But today’s decision is not merely absurd. It erodes core constitutional principles, including sovereign States’ control over their States’ militias and the people’s First Amendment rights to assemble and to object to the government’s policies and actions.”Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield called for an immediate “en banc” hearing — a gathering of the most senior judge on the circuit and 10 other justices, who could override Monday’s judgment.”Today’s ruling, if allowed to stand, would give the president unilateral power to put Oregon soldiers on our streets with almost no justification. We are on a dangerous path in America,” he said.Governor Tina Kotek said she wanted to hear from Trump exactly what he expected National Guard troops to do in a city where people protest peacefully.”The Trump Administration is being dishonest, and these actions to deploy troops are a gross, un-American abuse of power,” she said.

Former FBI director James Comey asked a federal court on Monday to throw out his felony charges on the grounds they were motivated by the “personal spite” of US President Donald Trump.Comey, 64, a prominent Trump critic, said the case against him is a “vindictive and selective prosecution” and should be dismissed.Comey pleaded not guilty this month to charges of making false statements to Congress and obstructing a congressional proceeding.He was the first of three outspoken critics of the Republican president to be indicted in recent weeks in what is widely seen as a campaign of retribution against Trump’s political opponents.New York Attorney General Letitia James, who successfully prosecuted Trump, was indicted this month on one count of bank fraud and a second count of making false statements to a financial institution.Another Trump critic, his former national security advisor John Bolton, was indicted last week on 18 counts of transmitting and retaining classified information.Comey’s lawyers, in a filing with a district court in Virginia, said his prosecution is an “egregious abuse of power by the federal government.””The United States Constitution entitles individuals to speak out against the government and, in turn, forbids the government from retaliating against individuals for their protected speech,” they said.”President Trump ordered the Department of Justice to prosecute Mr Comey because of personal spite and because Mr Comey has frequently criticized the President for his conduct in office,” they added.Comey’s lawyers noted that the charges were brought by a US attorney who was hand-picked by Trump after the previous federal prosecutor declined to proceed with the case.Comey’s indictment stems from sworn testimony he gave to a Senate committee in 2020 on the probe he led into whether any members of the Trump presidential campaign had colluded with Moscow to sway the 2016 election.He is accused of falsely stating he had not authorized another FBI employee to be an anonymous source in news reports.He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.Comey was appointed to head the FBI by then-president Barack Obama in 2013 and was fired by Trump in 2017.The charges against Comey came days after Trump publicly urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to take action against the former FBI director and others he sees as enemies — a stunning departure from the principle that the Justice Department must be free from White House pressure.The 79-year-old Trump — the first convicted felon to serve as US president — hailed the indictment, calling Comey “one of the worst human beings this country has ever been exposed to.”Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against perceived enemies, purging government officials he deemed to be disloyal, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities.