Top US intelligence chief declassifies unproven allegation against Hillary Clinton

Inexplicably, John Ratcliffe, the director of US national intelligence, has decided NOW to declassify details of an investigation into whether Hillary Clinton plotted to stir up a scandal involving Donald Trump and the Kremlin during the 2016 presidential election campaign. The claim had come from "Russian intelligence sources", allegedly. So the imputation is that, according to some sinister and mysterious Russians, the then Democratic Party presidential nominee deliberately fabricated a scandal linking Trump in a dark deed with Moscow to make sure he didn't win the election. Ratcliffe, a Trumpite and appointed to run the 17 US intelligence services earlier this year, admitted in a letter to Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, that he didn't know whether any of this stuff was true. But still thought it was a good idea - less than five weeks from the November 3 election - to get the allegations out into the open. I thought intelligence services never put anything into the public domain unless they had pretty good proof that what they were doing was truthful, honest and accurate. Or am I being naive? This stuff about Hillary sounds and smells more like Russian dark disinformation to me. If this is the case, then Ratcliffe who should know better has done Moscow's job for them. Extraordinary. Hillary's spokesman described the contents of the Ratliffe letter as "baseless bullshit". I can just hear Hillary herself saying that. So much of the scandalous allegations about the 2016 presidential election was baseless bullshit, on both sides of the fence, Republican and Democrat, that it is impossible to know how much was pure Russian skuldugerry and how much was pure American political skulduggery. But for Ratcliffe, in his current position, to spread the word that Hillary may have been at the centre of an evil plot to tie Trump in with Moscow yet at the same time wash his hands of it is pretty outrageous. But then everything is outrageous about American politics right now. And don't tell me the Ratcliffe letter doesn't stink of politics. Just look at the Trump/Biden TV debate last night. Like two alleged grown-ups scrabbling around in the sandpit. Trump looked wild and violent and rabble-rousing. Biden just looked old.

Trump didn't pay tax shock! Like a lot of wealthy people

Nancy Pelosi says Trump's failure to pay tax over a long period is a national security issue. Somehow I doubt it. Trump like a lot of big-time dollar earners think of crafty ways of getting round their tax liabilities. That's why they employ accountants to see if they can avoid paying tax if there is any loophole around which can make it look lawful. Judging by the revelations in the New York Times which has found some source or sources inside the Inland Revenue Service prepared to hand over masses of confidential Trump tax return documents, the president lost so much money on his multiple property and business ventures that he was able to offset the losses against his tax liabilities for years. But I thought we knew that. So the revelations are not that revealing and not at all surprising. When the first lot of Trump tax "scandal" stories broke some years ago, the president summed up why and how he avoided paying millions of dollars in tax every year. He said he was smart. In other words, smart at avoiding paying tax because he had fancy accountants to skirt round the edges of what is allowed and what is forbidden. Would the American people think more of Trump if he had paid the full whack of taxes every year? Well, possibly. It's a bit like presidents who somehow managed to avoid the draft because they had an in-growing toenail or dodgy hearing. Trump of course escaped being sent to Vietnam because he had bone spurs in his heels. Nasty! But avoiding Vietnam and avoiding paying taxes somehow seems all part of the man who sits in the White House and a lot of Americans don't care very much because they vote for him and will vote for him again in November. The tax issue will come up in tonight's presidential TV debate in Cleveland Ohio, especially after Joe Biden cleverly published his 2019 tax returns on the eve of the debate. Now that's smart. But I doubt Trump will care a fig. Just as he claimed the New York Times tax revelations were "fake news" he will probably say that Biden's tax returns are fake news too.

What will history conclude about the UK government's anti-coronavirus fight?

I think it would be pretty fair to say that most people in the United Kingdom are now more confused than ever about what they can and cannot do to help counter the pandemic spreading further. There have been so many edicts, often contradicting each other, that it really is impossible to be sure about anything from day to day. Rule of six, mingling households, self-isolation, lockdown, masks here but not there, drinking until 10pm, then crowd out in the street, it's all getting mixed together in a mish-mash of pleas and rules and guidance and orders. Thousands of students go up to university for the first time and start enjoying the social get-togethers and then have to stay in their rooms and not move because of the sudden surprise surprise surge in virus cases. It's not just a farce. It's a romping disaster. I know we are all being warned that Covid-19 is the deadliest pandemic to hit the world since the last deadliest pandemic but is it right that it has totally taken over our lives? The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak (future prime minister) said that we shouldn't live in fear of the virus. He's right. The students, bless them, are doing just that, living in fear and confusion. If this was a flu epidemic, would everyone be running around in circles not daring to go left or right? No, flu is flu, you feel awful for a few days, take to your bed and suffer from the heavy hot hot headaches and then after a bit get up have some food and get on with your life. For the majority of people catching Covid-19 that is also their experience. Obviously for the rest, the experience is much much worse and potentially life-threatening. But people die of flu every winter. In fact I think I'm right in saying that now in the so-called second wave of coronavirus fewer people are dying each day of the disease than would normally be dying of flu at this time of the year. This is not to play down Covid-19. Some of the images of the pandemic will remain with us for ever. But to counter coronavirus the government and all its ministers are giving the impression that they have turned into headless chickens. So when we get assurances that if Brexit goes ahead without an EU trade deal fixed by the end of October it will all be fine, absolutely no one believes them. No one!!

Amy Coney Barrett could make the difference on November 3

In every possible way Judge Amy Coney Barrett could become the big issue in the US presidential election. Appointing a new justice to sit on the Supreme Court in the United States is a big big big political event. It's huge! I don't suppose the majority of people in Britain have a clue who serves on the British Supreme Court. It's just not that big a deal. The Supreme Court here in UK is about the law. In the US it's about the law AND politics and social mores and, yes, it can be about who becomes the next president of the United States. So no pressure, Justice Barrett! By all accounts she is a seriously brainy lady but she is also super-conservative in her views on life - like abortion for example (against it big time) - and deeply religious. In other words perfect for Trump to select and move into position in the Supreme Court before November 3 to make sure he has the balance of conservative thinkers on the bench totally in his favour when the votes start coming in. Judge Amy Coney Barrett tells us it's all about the law but, hey lady, you know it's about much more than that. This is why the Democrats are going to fight tooth and nail to stop her being confirmed before the election, so that if Biden wins, she will be forced out of the reckoning and someone more liberal-minded can be slotted in. But confirmation has to be made by the Senate, not by the House, and the Senate is Republican-controlled. So unless a bunch of Republican senators decide to go all soft and refuse to vote for her confirmation there is every chance Trump will force the whole process through in double-quick time and get her seated well before November 3. Even Senator Mitt Romney, Trump's biggest critic in the Republican party, has agreed that the president has the right to nominate a new member of the Supreme Court even in an election year. Polls suggest the majority of voters would prefer the decision on the new Supreme Court justice, following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, should be postponed until after the election. But there is no way Trump is going to delay anything. I see fireworks ahead but success for Trump.

Biden sounds like he expects to win

The US presidential election campaign has reached a fascinating point. The first of the big TV debates between Trump and Biden will take place in Cleveland Ohio on Tuesday. But still the biggest and most interesting story is Trump's game-playing about whether he will stand down if he loses or whether he will find some legal or other reason for disputing the result if it goes against him and hanging on until it gets decided in the Supreme Court. The danger here for the Democrats and in particular for Biden is that they are beginning to sound too confident that Trump will lose. In fact Biden in a TV interview predicted that despite all the things the president has said about not necessarily leaving if he loses, Trump will step down peacefully in November. Biden clearly believes the polls and is fully expecting to beat Trump and become president in the normal way, leading to the traditional inauguration ceremony on January 20 2021. I think he said what he said to try and be nice to Trump and to paint him as a democratic president (with a small d) who will accept defeat gracefully. I think he must have said that with his fingers crossed under the table. Nobody really knows what Trump will do if he loses. If he loses really badly, then it's difficult to see how he can argue a case for asking the Supreme Court to decide. But if it's close then I fear we will have the full works, a mighty battle in the courts, with Trump staying on in the White House for as long as he can. It could be months of crazy government. The Republican hierarchy however are saying that there won't be a battle and that if the president loses he will go. All nice and quiet. It's what the constitution demands, they say. Yes, but this is Trump. He has given enough warning that he might not leave. The more confident-sounding Biden becomes that he will win might only encourage Trump to become more and more subversive, never mind the constitution.

Is a vacccine going to save us all?

What seems like a long time ago, we were all told that a vaccine against coronavirus was what would finally make the pandemic vanish but we would have to wait a year, maybe two or three years before the injections could begin. Now we're told that even if there is a successful vaccine, coronavirus is here to stay, like flu and colds. Not such a killer, but still around. And who knows perhaps another virus will emerge from somewhere and hit us all over again. It's hardly surprising that people have become somewhat disillusioned by the vaccine dream. There has been too much politics involved. First it was Russia claiming to have found the silver bullet but it was too early and no one believed Moscow. Why would you? Then Trump promised a vaccine by election day. Well you can't get much more political than that. Again, no one believes him. Now China claims to be heading the race and should have a real vaccine before anyone else and will be ready to sell it to every country on the globe. Well of course they will but who wants it? Yet another Made in China product! No one has a clue who is telling the truth and because of that the queues to get the first jabs will probably be quite short. The people I admire most are the volunteers who have said they are prepared to be given the vaccine and then be dosed with the virus to see if it works. That's amazing. Thank you. But I still worry about whether the vaccine, be it Oxford, American, Russian or Chinese, is going to save the planet. Obviously I hope it does, especially now that we are entering the second wave of the virus and the gloomy statistics are returning to ruin our daily lives.

Senior retired military don't like Trump

Nearly 500 retired military, diplomats and ex-administration officials have got together to sign a statement that supports Joe Biden for the presidency in November and warns against having another four years of Donald Trump. They'd rather have Biden in charge of the nuclear button than the present president. Well, it makes good headlines for the Democrats but I doubt it will have much impact on the average voter in the US. There is unquestionably a large masse of people who have served various administrations in either a military or civilian capacity who no longer or never did trust Trump as commander-in-chief. Many of the individuals on the list are not household names but there are a few big guns amidst the 500. The backing of the military is crucial for any president and Trump believes that the rank and file love him. To an extent that is true. He has given them big pay boosts and increased defence spending. But recent polls carried out among servicemen and women have shown that the president's popularity is waning, and judging by the number of resignations and sackings in Trump's administration since he came into office in January 2017, the top military are as about as wary as they could be whenever Trump gives them orders. James Mattis as defence secretary deliberately disobeyed some of Trump's orders if various memoirs are to be believed. Now we have a heap of retirees who have spoken out against Trump as commander-in-chief and praised Biden for being a decent chap who will woo back all the allies who have become disenchanted with both the president and the country he leads. Will Biden be the man to make all the allies happy again? I guess with his time as vice president under Barack Obama at least everyone knows him and will have made up their minds a long time ago whether they rate him as a leader. I think it's true to say that if Trump loses in November and does actually get round to leaving the White House with his luggage, there will be a great sigh of relief amonsgt the European allies at least. Biden would be so much easier to deal with. But Trump would say that's a weakness. Only his tough hit-em-hard approach to European allies had made them, or some of them, increase defence spending, he would argue. But still, Biden as president would be a helluva lot quieter and more gentlemanly. Whether, ultimately, that would be best for this challenging world we live in, that's another question. But 500 retired American military chiefs and diplomats have declared they have more faith in Biden than in Trump. So there.