Happy Friday! We're kicking off with the latest in the UK election, 2016, and with Deflategate.
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Mika and Joe were on the Seth Meyers show last night and why is Chris Christie hyping about Tom Brady saying how perfect he is and how people are jealous of him while also saying that deflategate Is ‘Overblown’ from upstate New York or maybe he is in New Hampshire last night? Governor blames media over heavy attention on Deflategate New Jersey Governor Chris Christie thinks the media circus over New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady potentially knowing that his team’s footballs were a little light on air is, frankly, “way, way overblown.” “I don’t think anybody is really trying to say that Tom Brady won four super bowls or became a future Hall of Famer because the balls were a little under inflated,” Christie, a noted Cowboys fan, told IJ Review in an interview on Thursday in New Hampshire. “I think the media and others love for somebody who is married to a beautiful model, who is richer than you can imagine and who is a future Hall of Famer, to take a couple of shots at him? People like that every once in a while.” Christie’s comments come one day after an NFL investigation found it was “more probable than not” that Brady was at least “generally aware” about team employees tampering with footballs.
Election 2015: Ed Miliband resignation imminent as Conservatives win stunning majority - LIVE Election results: Tories projected to win majority as Labour is humiliated by the SNP and Liberal Democrats capitulate - latest general election newsUK election live: The candidates, the drama and CNN's #bigredbus
Results: 639 / 650 seats declared
Seats required for a majority 323
Cons
323
+21
Lab
228
-26
SNP
56
+50
Lib D
8
-46
Ukip
1
+1
Other
23
0
Which parties have enough seats to form a government?
Undeclared seats
Required to govern 323
Results are still coming in from around the UK. Here's an at-a-glance guide to the key points of Election 2015.
Story so far
The BBC's latest forecast, based on results so far:
Conservatives 329
Labour 234
SNP 56
Lib Dems 8
UKIP 1
Plaid Cymru 3
Green 1
Others 18
Labour leader Ed Miliband is expected to step down after addressing party staff, the BBC has learned.
The Conservatives are forecast to win enough seats - more than 325 - to form an overall majority in the House of Commons.
Labour's shadow chancellor Ed Balls has lost his Morley and Outwood seat to the Conservatives.
UKIP leader Nigel Farage fails in his bid to be elected in Thanet South.
The SNP has ousted Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy in a landslide general election victory in Scotland, winning 56 seats. Labour's Douglas Alexander, and Lib Dems Danny Alexander and Charles Kennedy also lost to the SNP.
The Liberal Democrats have sustained heavy losses across the board, including Business Secretary Vince Cable and Education Minister David Laws. Party leaderNick Clegg held his Sheffield Hallam seat.
Elsewhere on election night:
UKIP's Douglas Carswell won his Clacton seat, while the Conservatives defeated Mark Reckless in Rochester and Strood
George Galloway, Respect's only MP, was defeated in Bradford West
Caroline Lucas held onto her Brighton Pavilion seat for the Green Party
Elections have been held for more than 9,000 council seats across England, with most of the counts taking place on Friday morning
Employment minister Esther McVey lost to Labour Wirral West
Liberal Democrat energy minister Ed Davey lost the Kingston and Surbiton seat to the Tories
Shadow Scottish secretary, Labour's Margaret Curran, lost in Glasgow East
Simon Hughes, the former deputy leader of the Lib Dems, was beaten by Labour's Neil Coyle in Bermondsey and Old Southwark
Conservative leader David Cameron: "This is clearly a very strong night for the Conservative Party. We've had a positive response to a positive campaign."
Labour leader Ed Miliband: "This has clearly been a very difficult and disappointing night for the Labour Party"
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg: "It is now painfully clear this has been a cruel and punishing night for the Liberal Democrats. The election has profound implications for the country and for the Liberal Democrats"
UKIP leader Nigel Farage called for "real, genuine, radical reform" and said that on a personal level, he felt "like an enormous weight has been lifted from my shoulders".
SNP's Alex Salmond: "There's going to be a lion roaring tonight, a Scottish lion, and it's going to roar with a voice that no government of whatever political complexion is going to be able to ignore"
Green Party leader Natalie Bennett: "I am immensely proud to have led the party into a general election where we have been able to stand more Green candidates than ever before and saved a record number of deposits
Analysis: BBC Scotland correspondent James Cook
Is this the end of the union? That is the question many people will be asking this morning after the party which has fought for Scottish independence for 80 years swept to victory. The answer from the jubilant Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon is a firm "no". She insists that her MPs will speak for all of Scotland, not just for the 45% who voted for the country to leave the United Kingdom last September. "This changes nothing," Ms Sturgeon told me when I asked her about independence at the count in Glasgow, in a brief moment of calm during the nationalist avalanche. Of course she hopes that the real answer is not "no" but "not yet". More from James here.
The New York Times Reported last night that the F.B.I. Says It Sent Warning on One Gunman in Attack at Texas Gathering.Three hours before two gunmen opened fire outside a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Tex., the F.B.I. sent a bulletin to the Garland police warning them that one of the men might show up at the event, the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said Thursday. “We developed information just hours before the event that Simpson might be interested in going to Garland,” Mr. Comey told reporters at a news briefing, referring to Elton Simpson, 30, who carried out the attack on Sunday night with Nadir Soofi, 34, also of Phoenix. Mr. Comey said he did not believe that the officers in the security detail outside the event were aware of the bulletin. One school security guard was shot in the leg before a traffic police officer killed both gunmen. Mr. Comey praised the traffic officer, who he said, “under fire, remained calm and returned fire in an appropriate way.” “These aren’t native Texans that are gravitating to picking a fight with their neighbors,” said Mohamed Elibiary, a founder of the North Texas Islamic Council, speaking of the gunmen who attacked on a gathering in Garland, Tex.Shooting Clouds Life as Both Muslim and Texan. Texas Attacker Left Trail of Extremist Ideas on Twitter. A crew on Monday removing the bodies of two gunmen who made an assault on a gathering in Garland, Tex., Sunday night.Gunman in Texas Shooting Was F.B.I. Suspect in Jihad Inquiry. Pamela Geller on Sunday at the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest, where two gunmen opened fire and were killed. Pamela Geller, Organizer of Muhammad Cartoon Contest, Trumpets Results. A police officer outside the Muhammad Art Exhibit on Sunday night where two gunmen opened fire in Garland, Tex.Texas Police Kill Gunmen at Exhibit Featuring Cartoons of Muhammad. The F.B.I., which investigated Mr. Simpson from 2006 to 2014, reopened its investigation in March when he began to post messages on Twitter about the Islamic State. Mr. Comey’s disclosure on Thursday underscored how close the authorities came to heading off the attack. Law enforcement officials had recognized that the cartoon contest, staged by anti-Muslim activists in what they called a defense of free speech, might be a target for violence. The F.B.I. set up a command center nearby in Dallas and issued a number of intelligence bulletins about the possibility of trouble, Mr. Comey said. As early as April 23, Mr. Simpson had referred on Twitter to the planned cartoon contest. Mr. Comey declined to say whether agents had seen that post or what specifically had prompted the bureau to warn the Garland police 10 days later about Mr. Simpson. Asked about Mr. Comey’s remarks, a spokesman for the Garland police, Joe Harn, said he could not comment on the F.B.I. bulletin, but added, “We on the ground had no idea, no information that these guys had left Phoenix and were on their way to Garland.” Mr. Comey said that Mr. Simpson was one of hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of people in the United States who are following the Islamic State on social media and “consuming this poison.” He said that while the F.B.I. had hundreds of investigations into homegrown terrorism underway, the influence of social media had made it far more challenging to determine who actually posed a threat. “Where are they on the path from talker to doer?” he said. Until a few years ago, Mr. Comey said, people with an interest in jihad tended to show up on a small number of militant Web forums, where the authorities could watch and study them. With the explosion of social media, “That has changed dramatically,” Mr. Comey said. In the past, he said, Al Qaeda vetted operatives carefully before assigning them to carry out an attack. But the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, simply tells its admirers to “kill in our name.” Mr. Comey said the shift had eroded the distinction between attackers “directed” by foreign extremists and those “inspired” by them. He said he would address an audience of local and state police officers on Friday via a secure video link and talk about the evolving threat. “I know there are other Elton Simpsons out there,” he said, including some whom the authorities have not yet identified. Mr. Comey repeated his concern about what the bureau calls the problem of “going dark” — the increasing use of strong encryption to protect the privacy of Internet messages. In some cases, he said, Islamic State supporters engage potential recruits on social media before shifting to encrypted messaging that the F.B.I. cannot unlock. If counterterrorism investigators are looking for needles in a haystack, he said, “The haystack is the entire country.” “Increasingly, the needles are invisible,” he added, because of encryption. Texas attacker had private conversations with known terrorists. Elton Simpson, one of the two men who were foiled in an attempted attack on the Prophet Muhammad exhibit in Garland, Texas, was in private contact with known jihadists overseas who were encouraging Simpson to launch an attempted attack, multiple officials tell CNN. Simpson and his roommate, Nadir Soofi, were killed Sunday by a guard outside the exhibit after they drove up and opened fire. The FBI has found private communications between Simpson and some prominent terrorists whom he also had public exchanges with on Twitter including Jenaid Hussein, a British national tied to ISIS and Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan, an American now believed to be in Somalia and part of that country's al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab, according to one law enforcement official. Another law enforcement official described the communication with Hussein as "non public" while a third government source said the two interacted via secure communication. U.S. investigators believe Hussein and Hassan encouraged Simpson to carry out an attack, though the sources -- who spoke to CNN on the condition of anonymity -- say that Simpson probably chose the venue and plan of attack on his own. Hussein is described as radicalizing Simpson, pushing him to carry out an attack, officials said in describing the interaction between the two. But such influence did not mean he was giving "operational orders," such as choosing targets or helping plan the attack, but rather an effort to push Simpson to act on his own. U.S. investigators say Simpson was being encouraged to act, but this is a murky case carried out between a self-directed lone wolf and one directed by overseas terrorists, officials explained. Simpson had publicly connected with a Twitter account that investigators believe belongs to ISIS recruiter Jenaid Hussein. Simpson used Hussein's Twitter name in a tweet alluding to the coming Texas attack. Several hours before the attack, Hussein tweeted an ominous message to his followers, writing: "the knifes have been sharpened, soon we will come to your streets with death and slaughter." And Simpson himself sent a tweet with the hashtag "#texasattack" just before he launched the attack. There were also public hints of Simpson's contacts with the American-born Hassan who, according to U.S. court documents, traveled to Somalia in 2008 from Minneapolis to join the terrorist group Al-Shabaab. A few days before the attack, Simpson tweeted a message to Mohamed Abdullahi Hassan. "How are you doing?" Simpson wrote in a tweet, then followed with another tweet that said "dm me," meaning to send him a direct message. Alert to the online activities, the FBI warned police in Garland about Elton Simpson's general interest in the controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoon event about three hours before Simpson and Soofi launched their attack, FBI Director James Comey said Thursday. Comey said the FBI had seen his social media comments referencing the event but didn't know he had traveled from Phoenix to Texas, and had no indication he was planning an attack. Comey made the comments at a meeting with reporters in Washington. One law enforcement official told CNN that the two drove all night from Phoenix to Garland ahead of the planned attack. Law enforcement officials said the FBI had a list of suspected extremists who similarly were interested in the event and it had shared those names with local authorities. In Simpson's case, the FBI shared a photo and possible vehicle license plate. But there's no indication that information made it to officers on the street, or otherwise played a role in the quick reaction by a local officer to kill Simpson and his roommate. Comey wouldn't say whether he believed the attack was directed or inspired by ISIS, because he said the distinction has become irrelevant the way ISIS's social media influence works. He said there are hundreds of investigations in the U.S. of possible extremists influenced by known ISIS recruiters. "I know there are other Elton Simpsons out there," Comey said. Many begin with connecting with ISIS recruiters in Syria via Twitter and other public sites, then move their communications to peer-to-peer applications, which are much more difficult to track. Comparing the FBI's task of tracking such extremists to finding a needle in a haystack, Comey said: "Increasingly the needles are invisible to us." In Simpson's case, the FBI investigated him in 2006 for possibly trying to travel to join Somalia's Shabaab terrorist group. He was sentenced to probation, and the FBI closed its case on him in 2014, when he completed that probation. The FBI reopened an investigation on Simpson weeks ago, in March after noticing some of his online activity that indicated an interest in ISIS, Comey said. The FBI plans to hold a secure conference call Friday with state and local law enforcement officials, a routine event, but Comey said he and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson plan to appeal to local officials for help. Finding potentially violent extremists before they attack is a task that requires federal and local coordination, Comey said. So he plans to tell local officials "I need your help in finding them." Morning Papers Include that the Police Break up US-Italy Drug Ring Run Out of NYC Pizzeria. A major cocaine trafficking ring run out of a New York City pizzeria was dismantled after a trans-Atlantic probe revealed how the Italian 'ndrangheta crime syndicate has expanded its ties with New York's traditional Mafia crime families, Italian police and U.S. FBI agents said Thursday.
At least 13 people were arrested in pre-dawn raids in Calabria, the region in southern Italy that is the power base of the 'ndrangheta, which has increasingly taken advantage of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra's disarray to consolidate its influence and operations in the United States, officials said at a joint Italian-U.S. news conference in Rome.
Three other Calabrians were arrested in New York several weeks ago. All were members of the family that ran the pizzeria in the Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York's most populous borough, authorities said.
The restaurant, Cucino a Modo Mio, which means "I cook it my way,'' was the command center for an international trafficking operation, said Andrea Grassi, who is in charge of an Italian state police special operations unit known as SCO. Authorities said they seized more than 60 kilograms of cocaine in the Netherlands and Spain during the probe that began last year.
"In the evening, the family ran a good pizzeria. In other hours they were running'' the drug trade, Grassi said. The pizzeria also served as a weapons cache for drug traffickers, investigators said.
Police said operatives bought the cocaine in Costa Rica with cash brought in specially constructed suitcases. The cocaine was warehoused in Wilmington, Delaware, and Chester, Pennsylvania, until it could be shipped, using a produce company as a cover, to northern Europe and Italy, investigators said.
The 'ndrangheta has operatives in Australia and Canada, but this probe, code-named Operation Columbus, convinced investigators that the syndicate has increasingly moved its foot soldiers and bosses to the United States, said Renato Cortese, a top Italian police official.
"Because of its blood ties, the 'ndrangheta is a terrible organization,'' Cortese said. He was referring to the syndicate's ironclad rule of relying on members who have either family or marriage ties. Family pressures discourage turncoats, a small army of whom helped weaken Sicily's Cosa Nostra, which largely chose its mobsters based on skills and not blood ties.
The Calabrian family that ran the pizzeria in New York allegedly turned to the U.S. Mafia's Genovese crime clan for financing so they could invest in the cocaine trade, Calabria-based anti-Mafia prosecutors said. Bill Krystal, Katy Kay, Howard Dean and Jeffry Sachs are on Morning Joe debating about how the U.S. aims to make Iran nuclear deal immune to Russian, Chinese veto. Washington wants to be certain that any nuclear deal between Iran and major powers includes the possibility of restoring U.N. sanctions if Tehran breaks the agreement without risking Russian and Chinese vetoes, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday. United Nations sanctions and a future mechanism for Iran to buy atomic technology are two core sticking points in talks on a possible nuclear deal on which Tehran and world powers have been struggling to overcome deep divisions in recent days, diplomats said on condition of anonymity. Negotiators were wrapping up nearly a week of talks in New York on Tuesday, the latest round in 18 months of discussions aimed at clinching a long-term deal by June 30 to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for an end to sanctions. Expert-level negotiations are expected to continue for several days. The current talks have been taking place on the sidelines of a conference on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The negotiations between Iran, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union will resume in Vienna next week. The latest discussions revolved around a future Security Council resolution that would endorse a deal and render invalid all previous sanctions resolutions, while keeping U.N. bans on ballistic missiles, an arms embargo and some other restrictions. U.S. and European negotiators want any easing of U.N. sanctions to be automatically reversible - negotiators call this a "snapback" - if Tehran fails to comply with terms of a deal. Russia and China traditionally dislike such automatic measures. The "snapback" is one of the most important issues for Western governments who fear that, once any U.N. sanctions on Iran are suspended, it could be hard to restore them because Russia and China would veto any such attempt. U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power made it clear that Washington did not want Russia's and China's recent slew of vetoes on resolutions related to Syria to be repeated with an Iran nuclear agreement. She offered no details. Power said Washington hoped the conclusion of a nuclear deal with Tehran would lead to a change in Iran's posture on Syria, where it has supported President Bashar al-Assad in a four-year civil war against rebels seeking to oust him. PROCUREMENT CHANNEL Iran's chief negotiator in New York offered a positive assessment of the latest round of nuclear negotiations. "The atmosphere of the talks was good and it is possible to reach the final deal by June 30," Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Iranian state television. However, Western diplomats said on condition of anonymity that Iran and the six powers, who struck an interim agreement on April 2 in Switzerland, were far from agreement due to divisions on sanctions, monitoring and other issues. Restoring U.S. and EU sanctions is relatively easy, but that is not the case with U.N. sanctions. While the United States is worried about Russia and China, Moscow, Beijing and Tehran want to be certain that Washington cannot unilaterally force a snapback if the Republicans win the U.S. presidency in 2016. "We haven't found a mechanism that works for everyone yet," one diplomat said. Another difficult issue is the "procurement channel" - a mechanism for approving Iranian purchases of sensitive atomic technology currently banned under U.N. sanctions. One idea under consideration is a vetting committee that would include Iran and the six powers. Tehran would have a say but not a veto, diplomats said. Iran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and rejects allegations from Western countries and their allies that it wants the capability to produce atomic weapons. It says all sanctions are illegal and works hard to circumvent them. A confidential report by a U.N. Panel of Experts, obtained by Reuters last week, said Britain had informed it of an active Iranian nuclear procurement network linked to two blacklisted companies. (report by Louis Charbonneau along with additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Ankara; Editing by Andre Grenon and Paul Tait). Keir Simmons has done an EXCLUSIVE MORNING JOE interview for NBC News that Russia Hopes Next U.S. President Will 'Cure' Ties. He interevied the Putin Aide Peskov. Russia hopes that the next U.S. president will help "cure" the icy relations between Washington and Moscow, according to one of Vladimir Putin's closest aides. In a wide-ranging interview with NBC News, the Russian president's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin would not try to "put our nose in your business" in the run-up to the 2016 election. "We do want to believe that whoever is elected as a new American president will [work] for a cure in our bilateral relations," Peskov said. "We will respect your choice and we will welcome any slightest sympathy toward our bilateral relations." Ties between the rivals have deteriorated over the crisis in Ukraine, triggering fears of a renewed Cold War. Peskov acknowledged there were problems the Russia and the U.S. could not solve on their own — such as "the fight against terrorism" — and said Moscow was "looking forward to curing our relationship from the period of freezing that we currently live through." He added: "We are open and will continue to be open, but you cannot tango alone. If Washington doesn't want to do that, we are patient enough that this readiness will appear somewhere in the depths of Washington." Asked whether Putin would be able to work with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should she be elected to the White House, Peskov said the Russian leader was "very pragmatic" and "always open for cooperation and for reestablishing a good relationship." Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, did an impression of Putin during an event in January and joked he was able to decide to elect himself president without a proper vote. The Economist's Democracy Index last year ranked Russia in the bottom third of the world's nations and questions have previously been raised by the White House over the fairness of its elections. Asked about Clinton's impersonation of Putin, Peskov said: "American politicians unfortunately don't get the full information about what is going on in Russia." On Saturday, Russia will hold the largest Victory Day parade in post-Soviet history, marking 70 years since the end of World War II. The newest Russian military equipment will be on display, including the RS-24 Yars weapons system that can carry up to 10 nuclear warheads, according to the Moscow Times. The day marks Russia's sacrifice in helping liberate Europe from the Nazis. Despite this show of military might, as well as Putin's alleged intervention in the conflict in Ukraine, Peskov said that "Russia is not aggressive." He said that just because Moscow "says 'no' to Washington, or 'no ' to Brussels, or 'no' to Paris, or 'no' to London, it is not aggression. We will continue to pursue our own interests but it has nothing to do with aggressiveness." Peskov expressed anger at what he said were attempts by the U.S. to persuade European governments to boycott the Victory Parade.
"Sometimes we simply cannot understand why Washington is doing that," Peskov said. "This is what we cannot tolerate." The sanctions imposed by the West over Moscow's annexation of Crimea were "hurting Russia, but not to the extent that it would make Russia change it's mind," he said. Meanwhile, Peskov pointed to Russia's strengthening economic ties with China, whose troops were due to take part in the Victory Day parade in Red Square for the first time Saturday. Chinese President Xi Jìnpíng was scheduled to be in Moscow on Friday. Peskov also described China as "our very close partner." In other Chris Christie News, he is back at it again fighting the media. He refused to answer a Kasie Hunt question because he found it so ridiculous. That is funny. I love it when he gets hat way. I assume he feels a new reprieve if you will, after the Bridgegate issue went down on Monday without him being implicated in any ways. Regardless of it all on this Happy Friday, Stay in touch!
Election 2015: Ed Miliband resignation imminent as Conservatives win stunning majority - LIVE
"Sometimes we simply cannot understand why Washington is doing that," Peskov said. "This is what we cannot tolerate." The sanctions imposed by the West over Moscow's annexation of Crimea were "hurting Russia, but not to the extent that it would make Russia change it's mind," he said.
