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FBI Director Comey: Justice Dept. has no information that supports Trump’s tweets alleging he was wiretapped by Obama
FBI Director James B. Comey acknowledged Monday that his agency is conducting an investigation into possible coordination between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign in a counterintelligence probe that could reach all the way to the White House and may last for months.
At the same time, Comey repeatedly refused to answer whether specific individuals close to the president had fallen under suspicion of any criminal wrongdoing, “so we don’t wind up smearing people” who may not be charged with a crime.
The extraordinary disclosure came near the beginning of a sprawling, 5 ½ -hour public hearing by the House Intelligence Committee, the panel’s first into the Russian government’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.
The FBI traditionally does not disclose the existence of an investigation, “but in unusual circumstances, where it is in the public interest,” Comey said, “it may be appropriate to do so.”
Comey also said he was authorized by the Justice Department to confirm the existence of the wide-ranging probe into Russian interference in the electoral process. He drew fire last year after he notified Congress 11 days before the presidential election — and against the department’s strong advice not to — that the FBI had reopened an examination of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
That move, Democrats charged, hurt Clinton as she was heading into the home stretch of her campaign for president. Now, the tables are turned.
Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the committee chairman, urged Comey to reveal if and when the bureau has information clearing any of its targets, and to do so as quickly as possible.
“There’s a big gray cloud that you’ve now put over people who have very important work to do to lead this country, and so the faster that you can get to the bottom of this, it’s going to be better for all Americans,” he said.
The hearing came amid the controversy fired up by President Trump more than two weeks ago when he tweeted, without providing evidence, that President Barack Obama had ordered his phones tapped at Trump Tower.
Comey said there is “no information” that supports Trump’s claims that his predecessor ordered surveillance of Trump Tower during the election campaign
“I have no information that supports those tweets,’’ he said. “We have looked carefully inside the FBI,’’ and agents found nothing to support those claims.
Under questioning from the top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), Comey said no president could order such surveillance. He added that the Justice Department had asked him to also tell the committee that that agency has no such information, either.
Remarkably, Trump’s presidential account continued to fire away throughout the widely watched hearing, live-tweeting comments and assertions that lawmakers then referred to and used to question Comey and National Security Agency Director Michael S. Rogers.
[Full transcript: FBI Director James Comey testifies on Russian interference in 2016 election]
Comey and Rogers both predicted that Russian intelligence agencies will continue to seek to meddle with U.S. political campaigns, because they view their work in the 2016 presidential race as successful.
“They’ll be back in 2020. They may be back in 2018,’’ Comey said. “One of the lessons they may draw from this is that they were successful, introducing chaos and discord” into the electoral process.
“It’s possible they’re misreading that as ‘it worked,’ so we’ll come back and hit them again in 2020,” Comey added.
Rogers agreed: “I fully expect they will maintain this level of activity.” And, he said, Moscow is conducting a similar “active measures” campaign in Europe, where France and Germany are holding elections this year.
The panel’s Democrats focused on contacts between Trump associates and Russian officials, while the Republicans seemed most exercised by leaks to the media. Information shared with the press has resulted in a series of stories since the election about the intelligence community’s conclusion about Moscow’s desire to see Trump win and about contacts Trump administration officials or close associates had with Russian officials.
One story in particular that apparently upset the Republicans was a Feb. 9 piece by The Washington Post, reporting that Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, discussed the subject of sanctions with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, in the month before Trump took office. The Post reported that the discussions were monitored under routine, court-approved monitoring of Kislyak’s calls. Flynn, who had denied to Vice President Pence that he had spoken about sanctions, was forced to resign.
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) suggested that the leaks were political. He asked Comey whether the intelligence community had shared such information with Obama or his attorney general, Loretta E. Lynch.
Comey — who had acknowledged that, in general, senior officials, including Lynch, would have access to such information — said he would not comment on his conversations with Obama or Trump.
As the hearing was going on — in an apparent dig at Comey and carrying the suggestion that Obama administration officials were behind the leaks — Trump’s presidential Twitter account tweeted out “FBI Director Comey refuses to deny he briefed President Obama on calls made by Michael Flynn to Russia.”
[Comey: Please don’t draw conclusions from my no-comments. Trump: Nah, I’m good.]
Just hours before the start of the hearing, Trump posted a series of tweets claiming Democrats “made up” the allegations of Russian contacts in an attempt to discredit the GOP during the presidential campaign. Trump also urged federal investigators to shift their focus to probe disclosures of classified material.
“The real story that Congress, the FBI and all others should be looking into is the leaking of Classified information,” Trump wrote early Monday. “Must find leaker now!”
Nunes sought an admission from the officials that the leaks were illegal under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the law that governs foreign intelligence-gathering on U.S. soil or of U.S. persons overseas.
“Yes,” Comey answered. “In addition to being a breach of our trust with the FISA court.”
Rep. Tom Rooney (R-Fla.) pressed Rogers to clarify under what circumstances it would be legitimate for Americans caught on tape speaking with people under surveillance to have their identities disclosed publicly, and whether leaking those identities would “hurt or help” intelligence collection.
“Hurt,” Rogers noted.
Rogers stressed that the identities of U.S. persons picked up through “incidental collection” — that being the way intelligence officials picked up on Flynn’s phone calls with Kislyak — are disclosed only on a “valid, need-to-know” basis, and usually only when there is criminal activity or a potential threat to the United States at play.
Rogers added that he has delegated a total of 20 people in the NSA to make decisions about when someone’s identity can be unmasked.
Comey did confirm that the NSA, CIA, FBI, main Justice Department and others — including personnel in the White House in some situations — could have access to unmasked names of U.S. persons.
But he stressed that only the collecting agency can unmask the identities of people. Others with whom the information is shared “can ask the collectors to unmask,” he said — but can’t do it on their own.
GOP members fretted that the leaks to the media would complicate the effort by lawmakers to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the government to collect through U.S. companies general categories of foreign intelligence contained in phone calls, emails and other electronic communications when one end of the communication is overseas.
Comey rejected the suggestion.
“This conversation has nothing to do with 702,” he protested, adding: “702 is about targeting non-U.S. persons overseas. The FBI can apply to collect electronic surveillance in the United States [on individual targets], but it’s a different thing from 702.”
[Intelligence chairman: No evidence for Trump’s claim of wiretapping]
Comey declined to say whether any officials had sought approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to monitor anyone in the Trump campaign, saying he did not want to discuss the workings of the highly secretive court. Individuals familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, have said there was no such request made during the campaign.
The FBI probe combines an investigation into hacking operations by Russian spy agencies with efforts to understand how the Kremlin sought to manipulate public opinion and influence the election’s outcome
In January, the intelligence community released a report concluding that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to not only undermine the legitimacy of the election process but also harm the campaign of Hillary Clinton and boost Trump’s chances of winning.
Hackers working for Russian spy agencies penetrated the computers of the Democratic National Committee in 2015 and 2016 as well as the email accounts of Democratic officials, intelligence official said in the report. The material was relayed to WikiLeaks, the officials said, and the anti-secrecy group began a series of damaging email releases just before the Democratic National Convention that continued through the fall.
Read more:
The web of relationships between Team Trump and Russia
James B. Comey complicated the life of every Republican elected official today
Social Buzz: The continued evolution of content marketing
Content marketing works to drive results by boosting brand awareness, building an identity as a trusted expert, encouraging customers to take action, providing sharable content to further reach and keeping a brand’s website fresh.
At its core, content marketing is a type of marketing that involves the creation and sharing of online material with the intention to stimulate interest in a brand’s products or services.
The amount of noise that businesses are competing against has increased dramatically over the past several years. Consumers have the option to cut through some of that clutter by customizing what is in their social media feeds and fast forwarding through commercials on television.
However, content marketing still proves effective and, like many other things, will continue to evolve with the digital movement.
Moving into 2017, the evolution of content marketing will likely require extra work to keep a brand in front of their target audience.
Brands will be getting much more creative with format. Content marketing has long focused on blogging, written content and a drive to generate email subscribers. Visual content will become more important as search engines and social media continue to reward this type of content. This may also mean that content will be more unique, short and pack a punch to grab audience attention.
As saturation continues to run high, messages will become more niche. Scratching the surface of over-discussed topics won’t push a brand to the top. By focusing on a niche audience, messages will reach an audience that is more likely to engage with the content rather than be buried in the noise of other content.
Video’s reign will continue to bring the highest return on investment. Estimates like 74 percent of all Internet traffic in 2017 being video from Syndacast confirm this trend. Just last week, Marketing Dive highlighted a study that found native video outperforms YouTube content on Facebook. The optimizing of feeds to improve the viewing experience will continue. Having more videos also improves brand search engine optimization. Think about the last thing you Googled and the placement of video at the top of those results.
Brands are continuing to spend more on content marketing than advertising. This is a shift that will likely continue in 2017. It will really put the pressure on for consistent engagement to keep a brand at the front of a consumer’s mind. Acquisition and retention to drive growth with existing audiences will likely be the sought after position as brands work to optimize content marketing.
This means taking the next step, instead of just reaching a brand’s audience, the goal will be to elevate that reach by encouraging engagement, information collection and a reason to come back.
Content marketing is known for constantly creating and distributing information that is valuable and relevant to a target audience and it will continue to be alive and well. However, results will be more work, challenging and require a plan for success.
Brook Bentley is the Digital Content Manager for the Northern Nevada Business Weekly.
PixelBolt could help users create ultimate graphic and videos for their marketing requirements in just a few minutes
PixelBolt is a powerful WordPress Plugin that helps the user create a logo, video, banner, flyer, T-Shirt, and also a restaurant menu in a very short time. This easy-to-use, simple and powerful tool enables users to make PHCG (Professional High Converting Graphics) and videos for their business needs in just a few minutes.
Reader could see the features of PixelBolt at their official site here.
This WordPress plugin will help the user to optimize their website as it is easy to create a website using WordPress. However, by default, the user cannot get the proper graphic and video editing tool. But, PixelBolt software can solve their problem quickly. It helps the user create an excellent graphic within minutes, and also helps them create a video without waiting for exporting/render. The tool offers an instant solution. The best part is, the user can make a striking design using any device, including smartphone, tablet, PC, etc.
The Drag Drop editor gives users the ability to create certified graphic and video with just a few clicks. Moreover, this user-friendly tool is totally tested and does not require any technical skills to use. It helps the marketer produce and edits any graphic designs in a few minutes, including banner ads, T-shirt, logo, business card, Facebook cover, Instagram ads, restaurant menu and much more.
The tool contains 3,000 graphic elements, assets, and cliparts, and users can choose from over 700 high converting design/ graphic templates for their business requirements. Users can create and publish their video without description. With PixelBolt soft, it is simple to create an animated video, create video pop-ups and insert Lead form inside the video, and it allows users to integrate it with any WordPress tool.
Let us now have a look at some vital features of PixelBolt software:
PixelBolt Graphic Creator: This feature offers over 3,700 graphic templates and Assets. Marketers can use these high-quality templates, including Goggle Ads, Instagram, Flyer, Facebook Ads, Business Cards, Restaurant Menu, and Logo. These templates are prebuilt, and they are ready to use, the user can use them for their marketing needs.
Drag and Drop Editor: The user can easily drag and drop live video editor and live editor graphic, and they can easily edit it for their requirements. All that the user needs to do is, click on the text or image that they want to edit, and they can get a striking graphic design in a very short period.
Custom Drawing Tool: This feature allows the user to explore their creativity. It enables them to draw inside PixelBolt, and create their own graphic design. PixelBolt is an all-in-one graphic and video creator that allows users to make their own profession graphic and videos in minutes.
All in all, PixelBolt WP plugin offers ready-to-use professional graphics and videos to the user for their marketing needs. It also allows them to create a video, flyer, banner, etc. within minutes. Marketers can use PixelBolt to save hundreds of dollars on expensive designers and software.
Concerned reader may find more specific information in PixelBolt soft review and demo.
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Google’s Head of Europe apologises for ads on extremist content but furious MP says ‘sorry is not enough’
Google today apologised for allowing adverts to appear alongside offensive videos on YouTube as more big firms including MS and HSBC pulled their advertising.
The UK Government has suspended its marketing on YouTube after some public sector ads appeared next to videos with homophobic and anti-Semitic messages.
And Google’s European boss Matt Brittin said today he was sorry for ‘advertisers who might have been affected by their ads appearing on controversial content’.
Google’s European boss Matt Brittin (pictured today at the Advertising Week Europe event in London’s West End) has apologised for allowing adverts to appear alongside offensive videos
But the apology did not go far enough for home affairs select committee chair Yvette Cooper who said the company must do more to filter out extremist content.
Britain is Google’s second biggest market after the US, generating £6billion mainly from advertising in 2016, or nearly 9 per cent of the firm’s global revenue.
And, speaking during the annual Advertising Week Europe event at Picturehouse Central in London’s West End, Mr Brittin said sorry for the company’s failings.
He told the conference: ‘I would like to apologise to our partners and advertisers who might have been affected by their ads appearing on controversial content.’
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Now MS boycotts Google: Web giant faces growing storm of…
DOMINIC LAWSON: Utter shamelessness of filth-peddling web…
Mr Brittin said Google was committed to doing better and would simplify advertiser controls, add safer defaults and increase investment to enforce its ad policies faster.
But Labour MP Miss Cooper, who has accused the company of ‘profiting from hatred’ in recent days, said the apology ‘doesn’t go far enough’.
She told The Guardian: ‘It isn’t enough for Google to respond only when their advertising revenues take a hit.
‘They are one of the biggest and most powerful companies on the planet. They can afford to do far more, far faster to deal with illegal and hate-filled content online.’
Vile: Masked figures marching in a recruitment video for the banned far-Right National Action, which has only just been taken down from YouTube
Last night, Marks Spencer pulled its advertising from YouTube as part of a growing boycott over its failure to remove extremist content.
The chain became the latest in a string of household names to suspend its marketing on the site because of concerns adverts are inadvertently funding terror groups.
Ministers are facing demands to take action against the internet giant after the Daily Mail found neo-Nazi videos remained on YouTube despite repeated warnings.
Fears about Google’s political influence also mounted after it emerged the firm’s bosses have met ministers at least once a month since the 2015 general election.
MS yesterday followed HSBC, Lloyds, RBS, McDonald’s, L’Oreal, Audi, the BBC, O2, the Royal Mail and Domino’s in pulling its advertising from YouTube.
Today, Brian Wieser, a senior analyst at Pivotal Research Group, said: ‘Google faces a hostile industry of media owners in Europe… and we expect they will be all too happy to highlight future brand safety failings.’
He added: ‘Overall, we think that the problems which have come to light will have global repercussions as UK marketers potentially adapt their UK policies to other markets and as marketers around the world become more aware of the problem.
WPP, the world’s largest advertising firm, said today that it is talking to clients and media partners such as Google to find ways to prevent brands from being tarnished.
Founder Martin Sorrell said: ‘We have always said Google, Facebook and others are media companies and have the same responsibilities as any other media company.
‘They cannot masquerade as technology companies, particularly when they place advertisements.’
Google’s apology today did not go far enough for home affairs select committee chair Yvette Cooper (pictured) who said the company must do more to filter out extremist content
Publicis, the world’s third largest advertising firm, said today that it was clear Google had fallen short of meeting advertising standards and that the French company was reviewing its relationship with Google.
Google said on Friday it worked hard to remove ads appearing on pages or videos with hate speech, gory or offensive content but with 400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute it did not always get it right.
A Google UK spokesman said it would look again at the way it defines incendiary commentary and hate speech to raise the bar on videos and sites allowed for advertising.
On Friday, Google executives were called in to face questions from the advertising industry and Britain over the issue.
A Government spokesman said today: ‘It is totally unacceptable that taxpayer-funded advertising has appeared next to inappropriate internet content – and that message was conveyed very clearly to Google.
‘The Cabinet Office has told Google it expects to see a plan and a timetable for work to improve protection of government adverts to ensure this doesn’t happen again. YouTube advertising remains on hold while that work is carried out.’
HOW THE YOUTUBE ROW HAS DEVELOPED OVER THE PAST WEEK
Monday: Google apologises to its ‘partners and advertisers who might have been affected by their ads appearing on controversial content’
Sunday: Marks and Spencer becomes the latest in a string of big names to suspend its marketing on YouTube
Friday: The BBC and the Cabinet Office are among a host of organisations to pull their adverts from YouTube
Friday: Havas, whose clients include O2 and Royal Mail, is claimed to be the first major global advertising company to announce that none of its budget will go to Google or YouTube
Friday: Home affairs select committee writes to Google asking for an explanation after Government adverts were placed on ‘hate-filled sites’
Thursday night: An investigation published by The Times claims that rape apologists, anti-Semites and hate preachers are among those receiving payouts from publicly subsidised adverts on Google’s YouTube
YouTube hands £6.15 of advertising revenue for every 1,000 views to those who post videos, meaning household names have unintentionally been funnelling cash to terror groups, neo-Nazis and homophobes. Many videos generate millions of hits.
In a bid to halt the advertising exodus, Google has admitted it ‘can and must do more’, and has promised to make changes ‘in the coming weeks to give brands more control over where their ads appear.’
But an MS spokesman said yesterday: ‘In order to ensure brand safety, we are pausing activity across Google platforms whilst the matter is worked through.’
Google does not actively look for hate content on YouTube, instead waiting for users to flag it up. This has enraged many firms, which have found their brands promoted alongside terrorist videos.
The advertising boycott comes as the close links that Google has built with the top of Government were revealed today.
Prime Minister Theresa May, her predecessor David Cameron and Culture Secretary Karen Bradley are among 13 ministers who have held dozens of meetings with the internet giant since the election.
The extent of the cosy relationship between Google and Whitehall has sparked fresh concerns over the scale of the firm’s political clout.
In the 17 months between May 2015 and September last year, ministers held at least 27 meetings with the web company. Data for the past six months has yet to be published.
Mrs May met Google in July 2015, when she was home secretary, while the firm attended a business roundtable with then prime minister Mr Cameron that October.
Marks and Spencer last night pulled its advertising from Google’s YouTube as part of a growing boycott over its failure to remove extremist content
Internet safety minister Baroness Shields – a former Google managing director – met with her old firm seven times, which included discussions on online extremism.
Baroness Shields, who was made a peer by Mr Cameron, is one of dozens of Google executives who have been through a ‘revolving door’ between the tech company and Government.
The firm has hired at least 26 Whitehall staff, including No 10 aides, in the past decade.
HOW PROGRAMMATIC ADVERTISING WORKS
1) Internet user clicks on an extremist website or YouTube video.
2) User’s internet address sent to ‘advertising exchanges’ – the most profitable is Google run DoubleClick.
3) Advertising agencies hired by companies bid on the exchange to place an advert on the site or video. In most cases, the advertiser has no idea where the advert will be placed.
4) Advertisers are supposed to be able to blacklist extremist websites, but this relies on video creators honestly and accurately categorising their uploads, which in the case of extremist content is extremely rare.
5) A slice of the advertiser’s fee is paid to the person or group who created the website or uploaded the video.
Its staff have also headed in the opposite direction. Nigel Huddleston left his job as the search engine’s industry head of travel after being elected as a Tory MP in 2015.
Rachel Whetstone, a former aide to ex-Tory leader Michael Howard – and friend of Mr Cameron – later worked for Google as head of international communications. She is also married to the former PM’s ex-strategist, Steve Hilton.
The Tories lavished £312,000 on Google ads in the run-up to the election. Google chairman Eric Schmidt spent five years as a business adviser to Mr Cameron and previously gave the keynote speech at the Tory conference.
According to marketing experts, extremists have made £250,000 from adverts for household brands and public bodies hosted on Google. The search giant has earned around £120,000.
One of the biggest earning hate preachers is the Egyptian cleric Wagdi Ghoneim, who is banned from visiting the UK. His YouTube channel has netted him around £65,000.
The boycott of YouTube started on Friday, when ministers suspended all government advertising on the video- sharing platform until it could all but guarantee public money would not fund hate content.
Officials learned that adverts for public bodies such as UK Aid and the Metropolitan Police had been running alongside YouTube videos containing extremist material.
In China debut, Tillerson appears to hand Beijing a diplomatic victory
BEIJING — While his boss was goading China over Twitter, new Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been trying to build a constructive and “results-oriented” relationship with the leadership in Beijing.
And though his warnings about the possibility of eventual military action over North Korea have raised hackles here, Tillerson received a warm welcome from China’s president on Sunday.
“You have made a lot of active efforts to achieve a smooth transition in our relationship under the new era,” President Xi Jinping told Tillerson as the men sat down for talks in the Great Hall of the People. “And I also appreciate your comment that the China-U.S. relationship can only be defined by cooperation and friendship.”
But some critics say Tillerson has bent too far, handing Beijing what Chinese media reports are calling a “diplomatic victory.”
After meeting China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday, Tillerson voiced Chinese catchphrases about the relationship, including the avoidance of conflict and confrontation and the need to build “mutual respect” and strive for “win-win” cooperation.
The phrase “mutual respect” is key: In Beijing, that is taken to mean each side should respect the other’s “core interests.”
In other words: The United States should stay away from issues such as Taiwan, Tibet or Hong Kong — and in principle almost anything China’s Communist Party deems a vital national security concern. Increasingly, that also appears to include China’s territorial claims in the contested waters of the South China Sea.
Several Chinese foreign policy experts called the comments “very positive” and in line with a concept Beijing has long advocated — what it calls “a new model of great power relationships,” which would put the two nations on a roughly equal footing.
Jin Canrong, a Sino-U.S. relations expert at Renmin University of China in Beijing, said Tillerson’s comments came as a surprise.
“China has long been advocating this, but the United States has been reluctant to accept the point of ‘mutual respect,’ ” Jin said. “Tillerson’s comment will be very warmly welcomed by China.”
But Bonnie Glaser, senior adviser for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the United States should use its own language to describe bilateral relations, not embrace China’s.
More importantly, “mutual respect” signals acceptance of “a litany of issues that China views as non-negotiable,” she said. “By agreeing to this, the U.S. is in effect saying that it accepts that China has no room to compromise on these issues.”
That would be a mistake, said Glaser, adding that China has shown no inclination to accept what might be seen as American “core interests,” such as its alliances in Asia.
On the campaign trail last year, candidate Donald Trump pilloried China as a security threat and, particularly, a stealer of American jobs. On Friday, as Tillerson prepared to make his way to Beijing on the third leg of his Asian tour, Trump took to Twitter to criticize China for not helping rein in North Korea’s nuclear program.
Tillerson has almost certainly been pushing China hard on the North Korean issue behind closed doors. But in public, his tone has been much more measured, judging this to be a better way to save China’s face and gain its cooperation.
He could have received assurances from China — for example, over North Korea or trade — that he felt merited giving ground in return. Or perhaps the former ExxonMobil boss is simply not that worried about parsing diplomatic language and is more focused on results.
“Tillerson’s remarks were probably an effort to provide Xi face in public, while behind doors, the conversation was probably more direct,” said Walter Lohman, director of the Asian Studies Center at the Heritage Foundation. “At least I hope so. Because, assuming Xi paraphrased Tillerson accurately, it is certainly not true that ‘the China-U.S. relationship can only be defined by cooperation and friendship.’ ”
Nevertheless, Tillerson appears to have given ground to Beijing in a way that the Obama administration had studiously avoided doing.
Ely Ratner, who worked as deputy national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, took to Twitter to call it a “big mistake and missed opportunity” by Tillerson for parroting Chinese government “platitudes and propaganda.”
“China’s characterization of the U.S.-China relationship, as exemplified by those phrases, portends U.S. decline and accommodation,” he wrote in an email. “Tillerson using these phrases buys into this dangerous narrative, which will only encourage Chinese assertiveness and raise doubts in the region about the future of U.S. commitment and leadership in Asia.”
As for Trump, he had shown so little regard for Beijing’s sensitivities that he even questioned whether the United States should continue to uphold the one-China policy, which rules out independence and diplomatic recognition for Taiwan.
That had spooked and angered Beijing until Trump backed down during what has been described as a warm and cordial telephone conversation with Xi last month.
On Sunday, China’s president said that, after talking, both leaders “believe that we can make sure the relationship will move ahead in a constructive fashion in the new era.”
Both sides are talking about a face-to-face meeting between the leaders. China realizes that a personal rapport with Trump is important and watched in consternation as Japan’s President Shinzo Abe made an early visit to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Tillerson seemed to acknowledge that getting his president better acquainted with China would make his job easier.
The “very lengthy” phone call between the leaders not only improved China’s understanding of the United States but also President Trump’s understanding of China, Tillerson said. “And he looks forward to enhancing that understanding in the opportunity for a visit in the future.”
“We know that through further dialogue, we will achieve a greater understanding that will lead to a strengthening of the ties between China and the United States and set the tone for our future relationship of cooperation,” he said.
Tillerson and Xi nodded as the other spoke, both flanked by officials and aides in the lavishly decorated Fujian Room in the Great Hall of the People, on the west side of Beijing’sTiananmen Square, before the media was ushered out for Tillerson’s last meeting of his three-nation Asian tour.
Even more than trade ties, North Korea has emerged as the biggest thorn in the relationship between Washington and Beijing. The United States wants firmer action to isolate Pyongyang and persuade the regime to abandon its nuclear program.
Tillerson says diplomatic efforts have failed and has not ruled out eventual military action. China, though, opposes anything that could bring down the regime in Pyongyang and bring instability to its borders.
[Tillerson says ‘all options are on the table’ when it comes to North Korea]
It insists that dialogue is the only way forward, and Wang, the foreign minister, told Tillerson on Saturday that the United States should remain “coolheaded.”
Yet North Korea upped the ante even further Sunday by announcing it had carried out a rocket engine test “of historic significance.”
Luna Lin contributed to this report.
Read more:
North Korea says it tested rocket engine ‘of historic significance’
China urges U.S. to remain ‘coolheaded’ on North Korea as Tillerson warns of danger
Tillerson says ‘all options are on the table’ when it comes to North Korea
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Coal Creative founder paints the area in a positive light
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Gerard Durling, owner and founder of Coal Creative.
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Warren Ruda / The Citizens’ Voice Gerard Durling, owner and founder of Coal Creative.
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Warren Ruda / The Citizens’ Voice
WILKES-BARRE — While some news reports paint a pessimistic picture of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Gerard Durling wants to tell another story.
Durling, founder of the internet and video marketing business Coal Creative in Wilkes-Barre, said he plans to work on a video showing the area in a positive light.
“It’s all in your perception of the area,” he said. “A lot of people who are complaining about the things there are or aren’t to do in our area are also going to be the same people who are going to go to a bigger city and probably do something that they can do here for five times less the cost.”
He said if people put as much work into planning to do things in Northeastern Pennsylvania as they did planning a vacation, “they would probably find there are a lot of different things that are really great to do here.”
Durling, 31, of Kingston and formerly of Pittston, founded Coal Creative in 2010 and worked out of his house. The business’s name is tied into the local roots of the area, a former coal mining region. He formerly was a website designer and handled marketing for igourmet.com and TABcom.
In 2012, Coal Creative moved into its current location on the eighth floor of the Luzerne Bank Building on Public Square, which includes a green screen video production studio. The business designs websites, helps businesses with social media marketing and produces videos. Its local clients include local internet entrepreneur Kris Jones, the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce and the Woodlands Inn Resort in Plains Twp. as well as Chikara, a professional wrestling promotion based in Philadelphia.
Coal Creative has grown and now has nine employees and six interns.
Its staff and interns highlight local creative people in a weekly series of 60-second videos called #NEPACreative posted on Wednesdays on the business’s Facebook page.
Holly Pilcavage, director of business development for Coal Creative, came up with the idea for the weekly video series.
“This is our New Year’s resolution to highlight 52 different creative people from the NEPA region,” she said. “It’s just our way of giving back and helping shine light on the incredible people in the area.”
Durling said the videos help to humanize the area and show people can be creative here.
“They don’t need to live in Los Angeles to be creative,” he said. “They are doing it here.”
Coal Creative was one of four local businesses recently highlighted in videos at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber’s Spotlight Series held in the THINK Center in downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Durling said the idea of the Wilkes-Barre Connect Spotlight Series was to show local college students all the opportunities that exist in the area.
Videos also highlighted internet marketing company Pepperjam and Wilkes-Barre digital marketing services firm LSEO as well as the locally developed app Tunefly.
“The idea was to inspire college students to look at our area in a different way and see there are people who are trying to do these things here,” Durling said. “Each of the videos highlighted was a different person talking about internship programs available here. It’s not you going to get coffee. It’s you coming in and being a part of the experience with our companies.”
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dallabaugh@citizensvoice.com