FBI Director James Comey, via Wikipedia

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

FBI Director James Comey pledged to reveal today whether the FBI is investigating ties between the campaign of Donald Trump and Russia, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse said.

The Rhode Island Democrat said the promise was made in a March 2 meeting with him and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-Rhode Island, CNN reports. 

Whitehouse said Comey pledged to confirm if an investigation exists and  “the scope of their Russia/Trump investigation because he had not been able to at that point say that there was one.”

Whitehouse and Graham, who are leading one of three Congressional investigations into Russia’s meddling in the U.S. elections, requested evidence from the Justice Department last week  that Trump Tower was wiretapped by former President Obama.

The FBI did not return calls for comment.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi was placed on FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorist” list.

Ahlam Aref Ahmad al-Tamimi was captured, pleaded guilty and sentenced in 2003 to 16 life prison terms, Al Jazeera reports.

The case involves an Aug. 9, 2001, bombing at a Sbarro pizzeria in Jerusalem that killed 15 people and injured about 120 others.

In 2011, al-Tamimi was freed from prison as part of a prisoner exchange between Hamas and Israel. Jordan has refused to let the U.S. take her into custody because the constitution forbids the extradition of Jordanian nationals.

“This is the first time the US government has attempted to achieve the extradition and prosecute someone involved in a Palestinian attack against the Israeli occupation,” Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, DC, said. “There have been civil wrongful death suits filed by relatives of Americans killed but this is the first time the government is taking such action.”

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Four people with suspected ties to the Russian government are expected to be charged soon for alleged hacking attacks against Yahoo!, sources told ABC News. 

The Justice Department is expected to announce today charges against three people in Russia and one in Canada.

Federal authorities expected to arrest the Canadian, but detaining the Russian suspects may be more difficult because officials don’t have access to them yet.

Yahoo was breached in 2013 and 2014, affecting 1.5 billion user accounts.

The Justice Department is holding a press conference this morning.

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Ron Vitiello

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

New U.S. Border Patrol Chief Ron Vitiello said a wall at the Mexican border will be effective if done “right.”

“Placement is important, where it is in relation to the actual boundary and then what kind of equipment and resources support it because in it of itself, it won’t do that job,” said Vitiello in an interview with ABC News. 

Vitiello said agents will be the critical component of a successful wall.

“Somebody has to arrest the people who are going to continue to attempt to enter even if there is a border wall,” he said.

Vitiello added that the wall will need adequate surveillance technology and sensing equipment to alert agents when someone attempts to breach the wall.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The Secret Service has its eye on Snoop Dogg after he released a video that featured him shooting a clown-faced Trump impersonator with a toy gun.

On Wednesday, President Trump appeared to call for Snoop Dogg’s arrested on Twitter: “Can you imagine what the outcry would be if @SnoopDogg, failing career and all, had aimed and fired the gun at President Obama? Jail time!”

The Secret Service declined to comment on the issue, so it’s unclear whether the agency is investigating the video “Lavender.”

The Wrap wrote:

In the video, directors Jesse Wellens and James DeFina depict an America where everyone’s a clown, including president “Ronald Klump.”

After Klump holds a press conference to announce the deportation of all dogs, Snoop chains up the Clown-in-Chief and shoots him with a toy gun.

Since the video was released, it has drawn criticism from U.S. senator and hip-hop fan Marco Rubio, who said that the rapper should be “very careful” about such depictions.

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