I do not intend to spend a single moment of my day dissecting a Donald Trump tweet or series or tweets based on something he saw on TV. YMMV and if it does there is this comment thread. Happy Saturday.
UPDATE: Here is a piece on this that lays out the facts. Kinda useful on a day when the entire world is spouting nonsense they scraped up somewhere on the Internet.
[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]
Pronounced "Patter-EE-koh"
E-mail: Just use my moniker Patterico, followed by the @ symbol, followed by gmail.com
Disclaimer: Simpsons avatar may resemble a younger Patterico...
The statements made on this web site reflect the personal opinions of the author. They are not made in any official capacity, and do not represent the opinions of the author's employer.
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | ||
Powered by WordPress.
the sleazy unamerican pettiness of food stamp and that skank valerie is what strikes me most about it
Plus failmerica’s gaywad CIAFBINSA pansies are genuinely sick and depraved anymore
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/4/2017 @ 11:03 amThey see enemy of the state as how to guide
https://mobile.twitter.com/omriceren/status/838073782908616708?p=v
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 11:08 amBased on that beauchamp report, Shirley
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 11:11 amhttps://heatst.com/world/exclusive-fbi-granted-fisa-warrant-covering-trump-camps-ties-to-russia/
Maybe it’s chaff.
Maybe it’s borscht.
Or maybe… it’s strawberries.
“Ahh, but the strawberries that’s… that’s where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt and with… geometric logic… that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox DID exist…” – Captain Queeg [Humphrey Bogart] ‘The Caine Mutiny’ 1956
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/4/2017 @ 11:31 amGold question:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/explain-it-to-me_us_58b75cd5e4b0ddf654246351
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 11:55 amWhy does he think he doesn’t know
https://mobile.twitter.com/omriceren/status/838102246709682178
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 12:01 pmI’ve seen it claimed that his tweets are based on a Breitbart News article. But I don’t think that’s right. I think he does have more information that he isn’t sharing yet.
Look at Obama’s denial: Obama did not deny that wiretapping occurred. He denied that he himself was involved with it (in that he denies interfering with any investigation). He did not deny have knowledge of it. He did not deny reading wiretapped messages and he did not deny leaking them to Hillary’s campaign (I’m not accusing him of this, I’m just discussing how his denial is quite limited)
Jon Favreau, Obama’s former speechwriter, tweeted: “I’d be careful about reporting that Obama said there was no wiretapping. Statement just said that neither he nor the WH ordered it.”
http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/04/trump-accuses-obama-of-wire-tapping-during-general-election.html
Over at PowerlineBlog: “Someone in the intelligence/law enforcement bureaucracy had a applied for a FISA warrant to tap the Trump people in June, It was turned down. Renewed and granted in October, I think. The details are out there. That’s what he’s talking about.”
Daryl Herbert (7be116) — 3/4/2017 @ 12:36 pmNone of that is news though. What set him off? Probably the Breitbart article.
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/4/2017 @ 1:08 pmThe issue is multi-layered, and I don’t think its a coincidence that more texture is being provided for a story that first broke several months ago, but at the time seemed to be limited to issues of whether or not email and data communications connected Russian banks to Trump campaign officials.
As is reported in several places, early in the summer of 2006, the FBI originally sought a criminal warrant which named Trump, but was turned down by the court it was presented to. Criminal warrants require a showing of probable cause that a crime has been committed, and a wiretap warrant has a ton of requirements with regard to exhausting other investigative means and techniques before a criminal wiretap will be approved.
Without solid information that a crime was being committed, the FBI turned to FISA. Since FISA is only an intelligence gathering technique, you only need to show that the target is suspected of being an agent of a foreign power. But there are restrictions on the ability to monitor US citizens with a FISA tap. The initial application for a FISA tap named Trump and several campaign officials, but it was turned down as being overbroad. In October, a FISA warrant was approved, but the only thing that had been reported previously was that the warrant authorized the interception of email and data traffic between Russian banks and server in the Trump building that might be connected to the campaign. Presumably they were looking for evidence of money being funneled through the Russian banks to Trump campaign officials. Remember, Paul Manafort’s PR firm had worked on PR matters for the Ukrainian rebel group which was backed by Putin’s government in Russia, so there was probably an earlier trail of payments from the Russian banks to Manafort and others (Carter?) who were connected to the Trump campaign.
What is new in the current reporting is the suggestion that the FISA warrant was not just for email and data traffic, but it may have also been a wiretap warrant for monitoring phone conversations.
Andy McCarthy has previously written on the question of whether the Obama Justice Department attempted to use FISA to dig out information that may have led to the foundation for a criminal investigation. That would be an improper use of the FISA process, and there is suspicion associated with there efforts since it seems to be the case that the FBI sought a criminal wiretap warrant first and was turned down.
What might have prompted this latest round of reporting — and Trump’s tweets — is that the Trump administration is now in a position to know what the Obama Justice Department was up to in the summer and fall of 2016 when it was looking into connections between the Trump campaign and Russia. The existence of a FISA wiretap that intercepted phone communications of Trump campaign officials would be a HUGE deal, and really open up the Obama Administration to scrutiny on the question of whether there was an improper use of FISA against US citizens. Folks in the intelligence community who signed off any such an effort — if improper — could end of in jail for that.
It would in large measure explain the immediate war which the IC waged on the Trump administration as soon as they took office. There might be a lot of Obama Admin. IC folks who are nervous about what they did — never imagining that Trump would win and now control all the information they went about gathering on him in the months prior to the election. So they embarked on the old “The Best Defense is a Good Offense” gambit by trying to undermine the Administration before their own misdeeds were uncovered and publicized.
So, I’m not sure yet if this is only old information being recycled, or if Trump’s tweets are indicative of the Trump DOJ uncovering what the Obama DOJ had been up to during the campaign.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 3/4/2017 @ 1:24 pmI think if they had something substantial, they would have published it by now, so far its vaporwear, carter page, seems to have come through Sam clovis, a fmr advisor to walker.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 1:32 pmYeah, it does look like Barack’s just denying that he authorized a wiretap in his official capacity.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/4/2017 @ 1:39 pmOkay, so his pal Loretta may have authorized it.
I would respectfully suggest you look at this. It is indeed sordid.
Now, you may not like the sources, but if this is true, and it sounds as if it is, this is some serious stuff.
Darth Chcolate (913b6b) — 3/4/2017 @ 2:05 pmThis thing could wind up being stuck right up Obama’s narrow behind.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 2:28 pmIf there was anything to this beyond Trump’s fevered imagination, he’d be doing more than tweeting about it.
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/4/2017 @ 2:47 pm“If there was anything to this beyond Trump’s fevered imagination, he’d be doing more than tweeting about it.”
He tweets about everything. We will see what happens.
If liberals want to play drip-drip-drip with fake news about Russian puppetmasters, Trump can drip-drip-drip real news about FISA abuses.
Did you see Breitbart News highlighted Valerie Jarrett’s tweet:
“Check out statement from Kevin Lewis, spokesperson to former President Obama. Enough said.”
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/04/non-denial-denial-obama-response-trump-wiretap-claim-raises-questions/
Does she really think we are stupid enough to accept a non-denial denial as the end of the matter? That tweet is intentionally obtuse. She is way too smart to be that dumb. That is the sign of someone who is very scared.
Daryl Herbert (7be116) — 3/4/2017 @ 2:58 pmlol Breitbart
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/4/2017 @ 2:59 pmTime will tell. This does have all the markings of the sort of crap the Obama administration would pull and would be consistent with their laying mines and salting the ground as they oozed their way out the door.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 3:01 pmIt’s consistent with the way contemporary leftists roll.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 3:02 pmMentally ill game-show host president is mentally ill.
Dave (711345) — 3/4/2017 @ 3:03 pmSometime Colonel, you use words like Rembrandt used paint. I can actually picture the “ooze”.
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 3/4/2017 @ 3:30 pmGet off your sister, Dave.
mg (31009b) — 3/4/2017 @ 3:31 pmLeftist attacking people, rioting and marching in the streets. The leftosphere in complete chaos with their media heads exploding at every tweet. Voodoo journalists caught lying and making fake news. But according to Dave it’s Donald Trump who is mentally ill. The ctrl-left never misses a chance to project, do they?
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 3/4/2017 @ 3:36 pmThanks, Hoagie. Seemed to describe it a bit better than “slimed”.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 3:46 pmObama having a spokesdope is troubling. Clinton told Albright to tell the public nothing happened with Miss Lewinsky.
mg (31009b) — 3/4/2017 @ 3:54 pmRemember the investigation that had foundation:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/03/03/breaking-fbi-quietly-releases-batch-7-of-clinton-investigation-notes-and-interviews/
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 4:21 pmDid obama wiretap James Rosen and Angela Merkel?
mg (31009b) — 3/4/2017 @ 4:29 pmWell fraud merkel was a target Kong before, but rosen (re the Korean sanctions story) and the entire ap switchboard re the bibuybomber plot, which Brendan had burned the asset.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 4:36 pmWhat streiff said.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:06 pmwe all just have to wait until someone does the associated press cnn jake tapper propaganda sluts’ job for them
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:15 pmUPDATE: Here is a piece on this that lays out the facts. Kinda useful on a day when the entire world is spouting nonsense they scraped up somewhere on the Internet.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:16 pmThis country could use a Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason or Johnny Carson.
mg (31009b) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:18 pmIt’s very simple: Trump saw this on the tube, didn’t listen carefully, and ran to Twitter to rant like a street person.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:21 pmgreat link
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:22 pmActually, no, someone has been releasing unverifiable claims from the authority of unnamed officials, the crowdstrike report wasnr evidence neither was the dodge dossier.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:24 pmIts circumstantial. But in light of price Ahmed and dear, a well as laughman’s curious CV, anything is possible.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:32 pmThis is what prestige publication, insists on putting out
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:36 pmhttps://mobile.twitter.com/ForeignPolicy/status/838182270880071680
Vice President Mike Pence is calling for the Associated Press propaganda sluts to apologize to his wife for publishing her personal email address in a news article on Friday, subjecting her to a slew of “vitriolic and malicious emails” on her private AOL account.
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:37 pmI hope we don’t get to the point where the Trump administration starts putting the press under surveillance to out the leakers as Obama did with James Rosen and others. I’m guessing this is the boy from Queens telling the Obama gang either knock if off or bring it on.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:40 pmI think the Lakers, their motive and means have outed themselves but they are the ones speaking to the main papers, meanwhile real malfeasance like the awan attar affair, crickets.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:44 pmQueens was nice back then.
urbanleftbehind (847a06) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:49 pmPence still doing well throwing off the scent.
mg, you said it!
This is typical of fmrly stAte run media
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 5:57 pmhttp://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tom-blumer/2017/03/03/ap-takes-one-sided-hatchet-trumps-tribute-ryan-and-carryn-owens?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
So the defense is apparently that there was an investigation into what some people in the campaign were saying to the Russians.
Hmmm.
The DNC was bugged by Nixon’s DoJ because they thought that some people in the McGovern campaign were involved with Castro.
Didn’t work as a defense for Nixon.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:02 pmI hope we don’t get to the point where the Trump administration starts putting the press under surveillance to out the leakers as Obama did with James Rosen and others.
If Trump did it, the press would be screaming “Gestapo!”
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:04 pmA little perspective
m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/2/obama-refused-to-call-it-islamic-terror
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:08 pmUnconvincing, Julian Sanchez. Many Americans have concerns about the Obama Administration and DOJ’s abuse of power and a thorough investigation would help resolve those concerns. In fact, there should be multiple investigations launched regarding the IRS, the DOJ (e.g., the civil rights division), the Dept of State… just for starters. Concerns must be alleviated.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:15 pmSessions is having dinner in Florida w/Trump tonight.
Some one will have the meatloaf; some one will eat crow explainin’ why only a looza’ is a recusa’.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:20 pmHtttp://www.juliansanchez.com/2006/08/16/pathologizing-bush-hatred/
Can’t be the same guy right?
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:28 pmColonel Haiku says:
Apparently thinking that Sanchez is against an investigation. Huh? Here’s Sanchez:
I’m confused about what the Colonel finds unconvincing. The notion that it would be appropriate to scrutinize the surveillance?
Or is it just that Sanchez did not give sufficient respect to the insane Twitter rantings of a President who obviously misheard what he saw on the teevee last night?
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:29 pmnarciso and happyfeet do a great job of attacking the messenger. Any specific thing he said that is wrong?
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:30 pmNo tell me when showed reasonableness when a legitimate couterterror operations were being implemented, we’ve had four months of this steady drip of garbage, which we except because it comes from danger, who has served as an Obama tool in the past, or Atkins who leaked a book of codeword operations
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:37 pmThe DNC wasn’t bugged by the DoJ, and it wasn’t bugged because of concerns about contact with Castro.
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:38 pmNo, to be clear, I think there is more there than Sanchez seems to. Did they also monitor the Clinton campaign? Let’s see what the Intelligence community’s “due diligence” consisted of. We need transcripts.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:39 pmHope that helps!
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:40 pmwe know that the barack administration would never use any misdirection tactics and lawyerly denials about something like this
because they never lied to protect their dirty deeds in the past
benghazi was about a youtube video
lois lerner was a lone wolf
secretary of state hillary was hiding her emails so that future generations wouldn’t know what kind of nasty influence she was selling
and eric holder being in contempt of congress was just a figment of the imagination of fox news fan boys
barack never knew about any of those things until he read about them in the morning paper over toast and orange juice just like the regular folks out there in flyover states
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:40 pmAll things are possible
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/yes-obama-could-be-prosecuted-if-involved-with-illegal-surveillance
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:42 pmAt least Obama had enough sense to move away from Ben Rhodes making denials. They were surprised – and not in a good way for them – that Trump won. That complicated this for them.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:44 pmFor the first time in his administration, the buck must be made to stop with Barack Obama. As has been mentioned, the leaking of this info was illegal.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:52 pmA felony for which the perp(s) would face 5 years.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:54 pmExcept there dint anything genuine in these leaks, the officials are in a position to know there’s nothing there.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:56 pmi’m old enough to remember when the architect of obamacare said in a taped interview that the american voters are too stupid to understand public policy, so they had to lie to us
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:57 pmBut according to Dave it’s Donald Trump who is mentally ill. The ctrl-left never misses a chance to project, do they?
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 3/4/2017 @ 3:36 pm
Or is it just that Sanchez did not give sufficient respect to the insane Twitter rantings of a President who obviously misheard what he saw on the teevee last night?
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:29 pm
According to Hoagie, Patterico is now part of the Left. This is just like those little white specks on top of the chicken guano mountains at egg farms: more chicken guano. In other words, just more evidence of how far into the guano Hoagie has gone. I lost all respect for Hoagie a long time ago. And he keeps proving why he is worthy of none.
John Hitchcock (fd101d) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:57 pmbarack always said his was the most transparent administration in the history of the universe
i tend to agree because we can see right through them
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/4/2017 @ 6:59 pmNot sure that would apply in the case, Narciso.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:02 pmWell coronello, hundreds of thousands of words (being charitable) have been emitted re acct that have no foundation, Adam kredo showed their motives in part, Chuck Ross has showed the wider picture, but the cover syorybis what wemtobeverywhere from ABC to the Washington post
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:08 pmStory as it was with Sanford, Lerner, fast and furious.
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:10 pmA week or so ago, Allahpundit mentioned that Comey had a very hush-hush meeting with members of congress. He speculated that it was about Trump, but because the topic of the briefing was never leaked to the press and publicized – and it would have been if the confab was on the topic of Trump – I presumed it implicated a Democrat or Democrats.
I also thought it interesting that Sessions said he’d recuse himself for any matter having to do with the campaign. Some commenter here, Leviticus?, noticed the breadth of the recusal and inferred that something was up.
I think something is up and I’m now hoping for a special prosecutor to sort out all the issues raised during the campaign season. I understand Andrew McCarthy is available.
ThOR (c9324e) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:23 pmThis is precisely why in am concerned about the session recusal, we saw how one witch hunt was started through a similar process.
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:32 pmIf Obama has been illegally eavesdropping on conversations between Trump and his allies, which would surely include Sessions, the Attorney General will need to recuse himself. With all the Obama insiders still at Justice, an outside counsel is the only route.
ThOR (c9324e) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:36 pmWe shouldn’t get our hopes up, Thor, it would probably end up being some putz Obama’d appointed.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:39 pmTherein lies the rub coronello, they targeted sessions because they expectedvthey would come under scrutiny
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:42 pmInteresting theory, narciso.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:44 pmI’m old enough to remember when Trump called Cruz “Lyin’ Ted”, insulted his wife, and stated that his father was involved in the Kennedy assassination.
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:44 pmOccams razor, coronello and the administration’s outreach could be framed as collusion, the nournolist has just been enbiggened with the risotto tray carriers
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:50 pmIf DJT has significantly overstated the BHO connection in this illegal wiretap, he will never recover politically. If he is substantially correct in his tweets, the popcorn industry will run out of product.
Watching the various Fox News shows tonight, it appears that it can be proven the FISA process was illegally corrupted by someone(s) in the FBI. The verrrry specific denial from BHO leaves him fully vulnerable to charges that he knew of the wiretap(s). It sure appears that he did.
I am a big league skeptic of DJT. That being the case, if he badly exaggerated in his tweets, I would be very, very surprised.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:54 pmAs we discovered with the Irs, you don’t need an express command, underlings will understand what needs to be done, to prevent scrutiny of their own action, and they 3/4 of the press to run cover for them.
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:58 pmI’ve enough interest to link to some very stupid things Obama has said… http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2012/09/18/the_25_most_obnoxious_quotes_from_barack_obama
and I also remember all of the terrible things he’d done as POTUS… things we may well spend decades recovering from.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 8:02 pmIt’s so tough finding a blogger that will hold Trump to account. Like finding hen’s teeth.
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/4/2017 @ 8:04 pmWhat’s that? Common knowledge that Obama was tapping Trump’s phones once the nomination was wrapped up? Maybe Donna Brazile, Valerie Jarrett, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz knew. I doubt Obama told Biden though. And there’s the rub. It’s the coverup that’s going to get ya.
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/4/2017 @ 8:22 pmHmm, where do we start.
1. Obama wasn’t behind the tap,
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/4/2017 @ 8:51 pm2. The tap wasn’t on Trump, because FISA warrants only apply to foreigners.
3. Here’s a timeline, reported by the BBC back in January:
link didn’t attach: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38589427
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/4/2017 @ 8:52 pmSome things to consider:
http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/03/some-curious-language-in-both-trumps-wiretap-accusation-and-obamas-defense/
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 8:57 pmIsn’t that the buzzkill “Golden Shower” 4chan prank old man McCain fell for?
NO WONDER you lost the link. I’be be embarrassed to post that too.
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/4/2017 @ 9:13 pmYou don’t know dave, tiger.
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 9:29 pmThey are incapable of getting the Story right:
http://nypost.com/2017/03/04/capitol-hill-staffers-probed-for-theft-worked-for-nyc-congressmen/
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 9:38 pmIs Davethulhu Barack’s new online persona?
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/4/2017 @ 9:46 pm@ 30: Yeah — I’d rely totally on Julian Sanchez of the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine for all the necessary authoritative views on FISA wiretaps and counter-intelligence investigations.
Wait — you mean he’s not an attorney? He’s never worked for DOJ? He has no actual experience in wiretap investigations or FISA warrants?
Oh — he just plays one on the internet.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 3/4/2017 @ 9:47 pmah, so you didn’t read it. there are some big words, I can help you if you like.
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/4/2017 @ 9:48 pmIn so far as he’s been paranoid about surveillance till 06, now he chooses to sound reasonable.
narciso (496253) — 3/4/2017 @ 9:51 pm“ASSOCIATED PRESS, WHOSE REPORTERS OBAMA TAPPED, leaps to Obama’s defense over claims he tapped Trump.
Plus, why we need a special prosecutor:
This scandal cries out for aggressive investigation. Let’s see the initial FISA application, and the court order denying it. Then let’s see the second application, and the order that approved it. Let’s put the Obama administration officials who signed the applications under oath, and find out who put them up to it. Let’s find out what judges denied the first application, and what judges granted the second one. Let’s get the details on the Obama administration’s spying. Did they tap the Trump campaign’s telephones? If so, which lines? Did they hack into the Trump campaign’s servers? If so, which ones?
Obviously, as President Trump said, the Obama administration learned nothing of significance from its spying on the Trump campaign. But it now appears that the election of 2016 may have been hacked after all, in a far more meaningful way than an intrusion into Debbie Wasserman-Schultz’s email account. It may have been hacked by the Obama administration. We need to find out what happened. Congress should give top priority to this investigation.
Absolutely.
Flashback: New York Times: “The Obama administration, which has a chilling zeal for investigating leaks and prosecuting leakers, has failed to offer a credible justification for secretly combing through the phone records of reporters and editors at The Associated Press in what looks like a fishing expedition for sources and an effort to frighten off whistle-blowers. On Friday, Justice Department officials revealed that they had been going through The A.P.’s records for months. The dragnet covered work, home and cellphone records used by almost 100 people at one of the oldest and most reputable news organizations. James Cole, a deputy attorney general, offered no further explanation on Tuesday.”
So, yeah, it’s crazy talk to suggest Obama might have been spying on Trump.
Related: 64% of investigative journalists say Feds spying on their email, calls, online searches. More here: “Over the past eight years, the administration has prosecuted nine cases involving whistle-blowers and leakers, compared with only three by all previous administrations combined. It has repeatedly used the Espionage Act, a relic of World War I-era red-baiting, not to prosecute spies but to go after government officials who talked to journalists. Under Mr. Obama, the Justice Department and the F.B.I. have spied on reporters by monitoring their phone records, labeled one journalist an unindicted co-conspirator in a criminal case for simply doing reporting and issued subpoenas to other reporters to try to force them to reveal their sources and testify in criminal cases.”
Plus: Ex-CBS reporter: Government agency bugged my computer. More here. (Bumped).”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/258863/
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/4/2017 @ 10:00 pm#86: thanks for that careful explanation of what he got wrong rather than using sarcasm and ad hominem logical fallacies.
Patterico (3b6af9) — 3/5/2017 @ 12:35 amStill not one person has said what he supposedly got wrong. Which makes all the complaining about him utterly pointless and a waste of time to read.
Patterico (3b6af9) — 3/5/2017 @ 12:43 amStarted out with an “ah” . No “ums”, but I’m feeling pretty good with my chances that Davethulhu is Obama’s beard.
Read as far as, “The BBC’s Paul Wood saw the allegations before the election, and reports on the fallout now they have come to light.”
Looks like Obama/Dave is in the hot water. Reads like it too,
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/5/2017 @ 2:57 amDana Boente was removed to be successor of Sessions by obama, then Trump restored Boente. Maybe Boente is one of us.(Americans who love their country and President Trump) We can win this without the lawyerly no trumpers and their cohorts the democrats.
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:01 amhttp://www.wnd.com/2017/03/loretta-lynch-need-more-marching-blood-death-on-streets/
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:10 amSessions should arrest this seditious traitor.
Trump has done a lot of things I like so far. Another thing I would like to see him do is indict reporters who receive classified information for solicitation (conspiracy?). The First Amendment does not give you the right to ask someone to commit a crime so you’ll have something to print on that dead tree.
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:12 amIsn’t Holder still under charges for contempt of congress? If so, wtf is Sessions doing?
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:18 amI don’t want a civil war, but Trump people will kick the punk anarchists and the lawyerly brotherhood of no trumpers booties into the next century. Ever see a lawyer put his dukes up? Hysterical.
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:22 amTrump peeps battle cry should be” the lawyers are coming, the lawyers are coming”
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:34 amReady aim fire.
LOL no they wouldn’t. We already figured this out when you guys wanted to keep slavery.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:46 am😀
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:46 amhttp://www.tias.com/stores/tsj/pictures/lepggwtwa324a.jpg
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:48 amnationalreview—Obama Email Alias Tanked the Clinton E-mail Investigation
Hillary couldn’t be proven guilty without proving the president guilty as well.
IN THE HOT WATER. Whose the teabag now?
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:45 amPending figments are fake, and the real is fake:
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/03/trump_a_master_tactician_serves_filet_after_the_russian_souffl_collapses_.html
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:46 amPatrick, I actually read your link and it is of no help.
The Democrats are carried away by their hatred of Trump (which you share) and may not see the danger of insisting on a “special Counsel.” Starr began with Whitewater. The Democrats think this is their next Watergate in which they managed to force out a sitting president who had just won an election.
First, they are a minority that is likely to get smaller if you have looked at the new Missouri governor.
Second, there are issues with the Clinton Foundation, which includes the Russians. Why not add that ?
Third, what if Trump is right ? Obama is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is.
Mike K (f469ea) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:36 amIt would seem they exceeded their reach, but furthermore they found no evidence, that is the clincher.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:42 amCorrect me if I’m wrong Dustin, but wasn’t it the democrats who fought for slavery? Was Lincoln not the first Republican president?
Yeah, the Grand Armee of Napoleon the left is not:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y22_Jvvys0Y/WJfr1pbwWPI/AAAAAAABevo/10dogQsMmq4BWJk6X_2-0WEUFWa7BGWRgCLcB/s1600/eFhdgWB.jpg
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:14 amClapper’s most interesting almost categorical denial on MTP raises the intriguing angle of a state or local entity (intentional or incidental collection from stingrays, for example) if the reported collection took place.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:32 amThe DNC wasn’t bugged by the DoJ, and it wasn’t bugged because of concerns about contact with Castro.
It was bugged by anti-Castro Cubans who were told that. The guy in charge was the (now former) Attorney General, but he had been AG when the wiretapping plan was first presented by Liddy.
So, maybe it was the AG/former AG rather than the DoJ. Fine distinction, if you ask me.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:39 amthey targeted sessions because they expectedvthey would come under scrutiny
They never would have done it if they didn’t think Hillary was a lock. They were hoping for some dirt they could use to win back the Senate.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:42 amcrazy,
Clapper is alternating between generating smoke and generating fog. The FISA warrant (if one exists) may only list Boris and Natasha as targets. If Boris and Natasha are in regular contact with people located in Trump Tower, then…
If only Trump had some sort of authority to personally review work product generated by the DoJ, he might be able to get to the bottom of this impenetrable mystery. Someone employed by the DoJ might even have signed the request for a FISA warrant!!!
Rick Ballard (a1c54c) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:47 amLawyers approval ratings continue to plummet and are the cause of opiate pill abuse. smiley face.
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:47 amAs far as who “ordered” the wiretaps, I’m certain that Obama wasn’t involved. But there is NO EFFING WAY that a low-level official would tap a presidential candidate without KNOWING that the President was OK with it. Especially the first request to a criminal court to tap Trump outright.
Maybe all he said was “It would be good if we had a way of knowing what they are saying over there.”
And if the take happened to leak to the Hillary camp, ooops.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:51 am106… that hurt, Hoagie… but don’t let the SFBay area fool you, there are still a lot of good folks in this state.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:08 am@110. Totally agree. Clapper always says something curious when he’s squirming through his denials. His choice to add “a state or local entity” into the discussion is curious particularly because they’ve got nothing to do with FISA but they do have their own technical collection abilities in NYC making whatever did or did not happen even curiouser and curiouser.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:18 amcrazy (d3b449) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:32 am
Clapper seemed to hesitate a little before saying that also if the FBI had a FISA warrant he would know about it. Something that important he would, he seemed to be saying.
Of course this was not a wiretap, but a penetration of a computer in the Trump tower. I thnk that;s the answer, particularly since Trump’s first tweet – where he says “Nothing found” sems t trac a story I read.
The story goes, the computer was found out to be sending out spam – and we can add: Like 100,000 other computers, (and that it had probably been captured by hackers based in Russia or a former Soviet republic.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:38 amI’d like to pitch a new HBO show that’s a combination of The Wire and Spinal Tap.
Looks like Obama beat me to it.
Pinandpuller (061e95) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:38 amNK, you weren’t BSing us about your hood http://abc7chicago.com/news/employee-cut-in-face-trying-to-break-up-fight-outside-old-irving-park-restaurant/1785658:
urbanleftbehind (b047be) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:41 amNotice Trump says “wires tapped” in quotes.
That is not the same thing as a wiretap
Wires tapped DOES NOT EQUAL wiretap!
Trump knows what this was, but he’s trying to make it sound like something else, and all the major media are not picking up on this!
They are also ignoring that he says nothing was “found.” That sounds like it was pursuant to warrant.
The Democrats are saying that if the tap was real, it had to be based on good evidence. It might be evidence good enough to get by a judge but it was actually not good. The “evidence” may have the dossier that came from Christopher Steele.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:46 amLaw and Order SVU Saudi Arabia didn’t go anywhere either. “We already had a show about nothing.”
Pinandpuller (061e95) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:48 amPossibly, it’s all the game of telephone, but one can’t even name the officials who are paszimg the phone aroumd.
narciso (aa2331) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:57 amThere’s a nice question how Trump garbled that, perhaps on purpose. It’s maybe more like he, in consulation with others, carefully picked his words, (or maybe it came to him already garbled) and the media garbled it because they were not famiiar with the story.
It was reported before Election Day:
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-election-donald-trump.html
The only bit of news here is that this “Trump-connected server” was in the Trump Tower.
Again Wires tapped – in quotes yet – Trump knows what he is doing -DOES NOT EQUAL wiretap!
Now, 2 tweets and 13-14 minutes later, later, Trump switches to wiretap, but it is still in quotation marks:
Turned down by court earlier. Theer is no question what this story is.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/10/fbi-chief-given-dossier-by-john-mccain-alleging-secret-trump-russia-contacts
That’s waht this is.
THE FISA WARRANT PROBABLY COVERED A FEW THINGS, and one of them was this server in the Trump tower. A server that probably had little or noithing to so ith the campaign.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:57 amTHE FISA WARRANT PROBABLY COVERED A FEW THING
It will turn out that, in order to monitor those few things, a wider array of “collateral” information was captured. Like where campaign money was being spent.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:03 amThe short take:
Hillary: cheated and still lost.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:03 amTalk about carefully.choosing your word. Of course Obama didn’t order it. Only a judge makes the order. But the DOJ sought it and Obama approved it.
AZ Bob (bf5d1e) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:07 amIt is as crooked as the IRS scandal.
AZ Bob (bf5d1e) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:08 amnarciso (aa2331) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:57 am
Stephen Bannon has to be one of them, because the story appeared in Breitbart, which he used to run. And Breitbart is said to have gotten it from radio talk show host Mark Levin.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/03/mark-levin-obama-used-police-state-tactics-undermine-trump/
Breitbart called it a wiretap, but Trump (has some other sources) and knows it is not a “wiretap” because he doesn’t use that word without putting it in quotation marks.
Mark Levin was on Fox and friends today.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:09 am“I won’t comment in detail on the substance of today’s latest outbreak of our fevered politics: Trump’s accusation that Obama ordered wiretapping of Trump Tower and the Trump campaign. I will just mention one fact that strongly supports the veracity of Trump’s allegation: namely, the very narrow–and lawyerly–“denials” emanating from the Obama camp.
Obama and his surrogates – notably the slug (or is he a cockroach?) Ben Rhodes – harrumph that Obama could not unilaterally order electronic surveillance. Well, yes, it is the case that Obama did not personally issue the order: the FISA court did so. But even if that is literally correct, it is also true that the FISA court would not unilaterally issue such an order: it would only do so in response to a request from the executive branch. Thus, Obama is clearly implicated even if he did not issue the order. He could have ordered his subordinates to make the request to the court, or could have approved a subordinate’s request to seek an order. Maybe he merely hinted, a la Henry II – “will no one rid me of this turbulent candidate?” (And “turbulent” is a good adjective to apply to Trump.) But regardless, there is no way that such a request to the court in such a fraught and weighty matter would have proceeded without Obama’s acquiescence.
I therefore consider that the substance of Trump’s charge–that he was surveilled at behest of Obama has been admitted by the principals.”
http://streetwiseprofessor.com/?p=10443
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:09 amNow there are some gross errors here if anyone is accusing Prsident Obama of persoanal responsibiliry for the “wiretap.”
This would not have been personally ordered by president Obama.
There are protocols in place now, and presidents are not ordinarily told about investigations, and don’t make the investigatory decisions, especially in politically senstive matters. shipwreckedcrew can probably tell us more.
The protocols are such that President Trump’s White House counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, can’t find out exactly what happened (what some Democrats notwthstanding) and Trump is now asking the Cogressional intelligence committees to find out for him.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:13 amNo sammeh the former Obama officials, prietap who is fbi ci, might be involved but not speaking, laufman based on his history might be a source.
narciso (aa2331) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:21 amCorrection: Trump did finally switch to his telephones being wiretapped without quotation marks in his 5th and 6th tweets Saturday morning. Note: Tweet times are Pacific time, but Trump was on Estern time, three hours later.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:21 amnarciso @129 3/5/2017 @ 10:21 am
Prietap = ? It sounds the word might be wiretap, bt you seem to be talking about a person.
laufman = Who
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:23 amMike K (f469ea) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:36 am
That;s right. What about all the dictatorships in the world?
Something about what Sessions said in his press conference when he recused himself leds me to believe (or confirms my belief) that there is a Clinton investigation going on.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/03/02/transcript-of-jeff-sessionss-recusal-press-conference-annotated/?utm_term=.23fd730d5771
Note, he is recusing himself, not from “matters that deal with the Trump campaign” but from “any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States.”
Campaigns
Plural.
And his discussion with his staff concerned “investigations
Plural.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:34 amCorrection – Trump’s tweets yesterday about having his “wires tapped” in Trump Tower and “wire tapping” a race for president and President Obama..tapping {his] phones in October and how low /President Obama [went] to tapp [his] phones were actually, the second, fourth, fifth and sixth tweets that morning.
The first was about how the first meeting Jeff Sessions had with the Russian Ambassadir was set up by the Obama Administration under education program for 100 Ambassadors and the third was about the fact that the Russian Ambassador who met with Jeff Sessions visited the Obama White House 22 times, 4 times in 2016.
There was also a 7th tweet that claimed that Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, but was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by him. (Schwarzenegger had said the raings were low because of controversy about Trump)
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:44 amdni trashturd clapper thinks he has credibility lol
yeah you and your corrupt reptilian freakboy koskinen
y’all just keep stroking each other
and it will be so good
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:52 amTrump people will kick the punk anarchists and the lawyerly brotherhood of no trumpers booties into the next century.
LOL no they wouldn’t. We already figured this out when you guys wanted to keep slavery.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:46 am
+1
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:56 amToday Trump has another issue:
Yes, it is true, and Trump knows that and it is possible, because the FBI didn’t and wouldn’t ask for a search warrant. Obviously the DNC didn’t want any secrets leaking.
On person responded by saying that based on Trump’s tweets yesterday morning he’d say he needs a vacation but it turns out he’s already on one (Trump is at Mar a Lago)
Trump’s second tweet this morning was:
Trump knows the answer to that one, too, of course. Its a rhetorical question.
Fox and Friends is where Mark Levin appeared today. Trump must have encountered a promo.
Maybe not this one, unless their twitter accounts are in different time zzoes.
Also:
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:00 amI don’t usually watch the Sunday morning talking heads, but I did catch some of it today.
My take away: this story has the Democrats scared, which I read as an admission of guilt.
Don’t you think it’s time for a detailed post, Pat?
ThOR (c9324e) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:01 amulb at 117,
LaVilla is a nice place, family restaurant with the best thin-crust pizza I’ve ever had. I’ve known the people for 40 years. The fight was probably scumbag customers of Brudders tavern a block up the street.
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:02 amMark Levin’s advice to President Trump:
https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10154136687485946
It’s repeated.
But it’s the third FISA warrant request one that is supposed to have been successful – or was that merely the second one presented before a different judge?
It’s more important to find out exactly what’s going on, or went on.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:02 amMarco Rubio says he’s not going to be part of a witchhunt and he’s not going to be part of a coverup.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:04 amEd from SFV @ 74
Nicely stated.
ThOR (c9324e) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:08 amLink to Mark Levin on Fix and friends and some of what he said on his radio show:
http://therightscoop.com/the-evidence-is-overwhelming-mark-levin-rips-into-obama-on-wiretapping/
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:09 amIf Obama has, indeed, out Nixoned Nixon – as appears to be the case – it is difficult to imagine a story that would more effectively minimizing any and all of DJT’s faults.
ThOR (c9324e) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:12 amRight now, the Dems are out in full force trying to make Trump look paranoid and worse with the gleeful help of the media.
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:14 amThe FISA warrant affidavits would give us Boris and Natasha’s real names. They wouldn’t give us the names of all the people communicating with Boris and Natasha.
Rick Ballard (a1c54c) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:21 amI’m intrigued by his use of the word “tapp” in his last tweet? What 4th dimensional chess genius allegation is he making here?
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:24 amEd from SFV (3400a5) — 3/4/2017 @ 7:54 pm
He stated out with “wires tapped” – in quotation marks – went on to “wire tapping,” again in quotes, followed up with tapping my phones and finished with Obama having sunk so low as to tapp my phones
But the original source was about targeting a computer server! (and they were presumably looking for evidence of money being funneled through the Russian banks to Trump campaign officials, but of course, could use anything else they turned up, even if it was a FISA warrant, although that’s not settled law.)
It’s not clear at all there was any eavesdropping on voice communivations. That comes from the idea that maybe Flynn’s conversation Ambassador Sergei Kislyak was recorded not because aof any tappoing of Kislyak but because Flynn was being tapped, and maybe ageneral feeling that it must have included some wiretapping of Trump associates. But this is definitely not a “fact.”
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:25 amBoris and natalya they were the programmers at severnaya, which it turns out is on the island of novaya semlya, so how did scorrupco get off the island.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:25 amtapp is just a typo. Trump makes some *, and some spelling mistakes, too. This has to be a typo, not a spelling error.
He’s typing on his android phone.
There are other tweets he sends during business hours that he prepares and discusses in advance and other people type in, but the early am tweets are all personally thumb typed by Donald Trump when nobody is near him, ALTHOUGH THEY MAY FOLLOW DISCUSSION (maybe the previous day) or seeing something on TV.
—————
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:32 am* But nobody makes more typos than me.
#146 dave, he spelled it “tapp” because he knew it would cause you to stay up all night counting ceiling tiles contemplating it.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:33 amNah, I’m still waiting for the results of the 3 million illegals voting investigation. I’m sure that’ll be along any day now.
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:38 amSammy, you’re not making any sense. Slow down a little. If there’s a point to make, make it concisely.
Still zero criticism of Julian Sanchez’s points about what we do and do not know about the wiretapping.
ThOR, I do have a new post, which concludes that this is the country working itself into a tizzy over Trump’s misinterpretation of a teevee show. Which has been my take from the moment I posted this yesterday morning. And that is all I intend to say about it here. I may inhabit the Jury version of my new post if you want to talk there, but I developed a good sense of which posts not to comment on here, and the new post is one of them. See you at The Jury, or not, as you choose.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:45 am90 — I’ll tell you what he got wrong.
Once the tech agents (do i need to explain that to you or Mr. Sanchez?) were authorized to connect into the server and intercept communications, the ONLY BARRIER to monitoring all digital traffic over that network was the integrity of the agents. “Minimization” is the voluntary actions of the agents to not monitor that which they are not supposed to monitor.
When it comes to a TIII wiretap, the simple explanation is that they agents with the earphones on turn off the recorder for 2 minutes, then turn it back on again. If they hear more conversation that is not about criminal activity, they are supposed to turn off the recorder for 2 minutes, and then turn it on again.
But NOTHING prevents them from simply sitting there and listening if they want to. And in my experience (yes, I’ve actually done it a few times), the agents DO LISTEN to things they are not supposed to listen to.
Electronic monitoring of a server or network is different, but the same “integrity” barriers exist. If the monitoring agents are willing to breach the integrity barriers simply because they think its worth the risk in order to collect info they think is there, then they can do so.
So once the FBI had the FISA authorization in Oct to hook into the server they could monitor everything on that server, including any voice communications over the network and email content.
You also have Sen. Chris Coons telling Andrea Mitchell on Friday that he believes the FBI has transcripts of communications between Russian officials and members of the Trump Campaign. So when Sanchez says discounts the idea that “phones were tapped” because none of the earlier reports of the FBI activities mentioned phones being tapped, then I think he’s potentially wrong.
Then he states “Its not even entirely clear” that the FISA warrant issued if October is a full-blown electronic surveillance warrant “requiring a probable cause showing.”
Nothing wrong with that other than the fact that the “probable cause” showing only extends to the question of whether the target of the FISA warrant is an “agent of a foreign power.” 50 USC Sec. 1805(a)(2)(A). That’s a pretty low hurdle when you are talking about a server being used by Russian banks, and the reporting is that what was of interest was that money was being laundered through the banks by the Russian intelligence service to Trump campaign officials.
Also, the idea that the WH and President are walled-off from such intelligence monitoring efforts is BS. Let me make that clear — its BULLSHEET. Such insulation does exist with regard to domestic criminal investigations, but where the purpose of the intelligence gathering is monitoring agents of foreign powers, multiple aspects of the Executive Branch intelligence community are involved, and its simply IMPOSSIBLE — and it would be unwise — to exclude the WH and President.
It strains credulity to say no one in the IC community — in the Justice Department, the Defense Department, or the CIA — would have thought it necessary to let the WH know that they were in the process of seeking authorization to intercept communications that might involve officials of the Trump campaign THREE WEEKS BEFORE THE ELECTION.
So, when Sanchez writes “there’s nothing here to suggest the direct involvement of either President Obama nor any clear indication of a violation of the law”, my response would be there’s nothing to suggest Obama wasn’t aware of what the IC community was doing other than his self-serving denial.
Same response for when he writes: “[t]he attribution of whatever monitoring occurred to the “Obama administration” insinuates a degree of involvement by the White House or its political appointees for which there is no evidence.
When did the FBI, CIA, and Defense Department between 2008 and 2016 quit being part of the Obama Administration????
He draws the characterization about an “insinuation” without the same lack of support that he attributes to Breitbart — except for the minor detail that the FBI, CIA, and Defense Department WERE PART OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION when the monitoring started.
Finally his attempt to preemptively exonerate the Obama Administration from “eavesdropping” on the Trump Campaign — such characterizations are the order of the day — flies in the face of the FACT that the FBI sought a FISA warrant to EAVESDROP on 4 Trump campaign officials in June 2016, and was turned down. They then excised the names of the US subjects, sought only to monitor the banks, but KNOWING that what they were looking for were contacts between the banks and the 4 US subjects who had connections to the Trump campaign.
I think it a perfectly fair characterization to say that you cannot now divorce the goal of the June 2016 application from the fact of the Oct. 2016 warrant simply because the FBI whited-out the names of the 4 Trump campaign officials it was originally targeting.
Finally — “In the meantime, it might behoove the Commander in Chief to refrain from issuing serious and inflammatory accusations based wholly on “intelligence” gleaned from Breitbart News.”
Trump is now President. The CIA is run by his appointee. The Justice Department is run by his appointee. The Defense Department is run by his appointee.
The information that answers most of the questions that are lingering out there will be found in those 3 places.
I would not be so quick to conclude that the only source for Trump’s claim would be Breitbart or Fox News.
Unless, of course, you hate Trump and you think he’s a moron.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 3/5/2017 @ 12:36 pmSee you at The Jury, or not, as you choose.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/5/2017 @ 12:38 pmIts like Ronnie earl finding the ham sandwich in the delay case, after the third time.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 12:40 pmMr. crew, he adds value to my life and also yours
i am very thankful
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 12:46 pmWell, supposedly Trump has access to ALL the info, so I can show some patience and wait for this to unfold.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 1:01 pmMr. Trump will do the judicious and considered steps in response to these misdeeds by failmerica’s corrupt intelligence agancies
of that you can be sure
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 1:04 pm*agencies* i mean
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 1:04 pmwhere does jake tapper stand on all of this
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/5/2017 @ 1:25 pmHe thinks it’s as likely to be true as Trump’s assertion that Cruz’s father was involved in the Kennedy assassination.
Davethulhu (18ab69) — 3/5/2017 @ 1:54 pm“The Left, for the moment, cannot seriously compete in the theater of ideas. So rather than play the ball, it’s play the man. Socialism failed, but there is some juice to be had from convincing people who are not especially intellectually engaged and who are led by their emotions more than by their intellect — which is to say, most people — that the people pushing ideas contrary to yours are racists and anti-Semites, that they hate women and homosexuals and Muslims and foreigners, that they could not possibly be correct on the policy questions, because they are moral monsters. This is the ad hominem fallacy elevated, if not quite to a creed, then to a general conception of politics. Hence the hoaxes and lies and nonsense.
Phony hate crimes. Phony hate.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/445495/bogus-hate-crimes-trump-conservatives
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 1:59 pmjake tapper get paid top dollar to do cnn fake news all up in it
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 2:08 pmnevertrumpers are constantly accusing their opponents of hatred
because their own hearts are so poisoned by hatred
it takes one to know one
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/5/2017 @ 2:13 pmWhen never Trump attorneys don’t like your statements they call you racist.
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 2:32 pmgfy
so so poisoned
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 2:35 pmHoagie, you are correct. Democrats defended bigotry in America for a long time. In the mid 1960s LBJ made what I consider a cynical shift on this issue, but it materialized into redefining that party on this issue, much as the GOP changed from being antifederalist to being all about state’s rights.
This was a very long time ago. I don’t see how it helps the alt-right, but it explains how Trump pulls in a lot of former democrats I guess.
Another history lesson was how Trump wouldn’t rent to blacks and kept losing legal battles over it. Another is that Trump was a democrat for most of his life. Thinks W was the worst president in American history. He really only gave up on the democrats when they put a black man in the white house.
My real point, when the alt-right talks about insurrection and how they could win a civil war, … no they didn’t last time they tried. The names of the political parties doesn’t really change that, but if it helps your sense of fairness, I think the democrats are a terrible party too.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/5/2017 @ 2:41 pmTherein lies some of my problem with the entire labeling thing, Dustin. The term “alt-right” has taken on super human dimensions. It’s everything from new-neocon to out and out racist. Now I read a blog by a young lady named Bre Faucheux who uses Alt-right as part of her philosophy. I realize a cute girl can be a racist (I’ve seen the pictures) but she strikes me as not. She seems a level headed conservative chick that brings youth to the party. Everybody jumped on Milo and I saw nothing wrong with him either. Hell, haven’ you said something either stupid or you didn’t really mean in the heat of an argument? I know I have.
That’s why I throw “ctrl-left” around like water just to bust leftists balls (if they had any). See, ctrl-left is anything I want it to be just like alt-right is for them.
And I have to be completely up front by saying I believe that the democrat policies starting mostly with LBJ has done more harm to black Americans than anything the KKK or any white supremacist group has ever done. But I’ve had a load of leftists give me that cockamamie nonsense about republicans and democrats changing sides and conservatives and liberals changing sides and you know what? I never got that memo. My ancestors were Philly and Germantown Republican anti slavers who fought and killed rebels in the Civil War to “conserve” the Union. They never believed in abortion, gay marriage, men in girls rooms or any of the other nonsense of the left. They were and I am conservative. And they never tolerated slavery or people who practiced it (including moslems hence we are also all Masons).
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:11 pmopen thread, ok.
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:36 pmhttp://media.onsugar.com/files/2011/05/18/6/1632/16329924/85/liberal-hypocrite-michelle-obama-michelle-obama-liberals-dem-political-poster-1294358428.jpg
167. Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/5/2017 @ 2:41 pm
It wasn’t Donald Trump, it was his father, Fred Trump, although young Donald was involved in the business by the time they sued, around 1973.
Now I want to point out one thing: The group of people that Donald Trump (or his father – he wasn’t the boss) didn’t want to rent to were people whose ties to the United States, by and large, went back at least 165 years at the time, and even in some cases back to one year before the Mayflower.
Trump, as part of the defense, argued they were just trying to keep out welfare families, but that wasn’t quite true, and Roy Cohn became their lawyer, and countersued, and they later settled by agreeing to be educated on civil rights law.(The Fair Housing Act had bene passed in 1968) Donald Trump himself probably decided he could avoid all kinds of issues like that by getting involved only in very high income housing.
http://www.villagevoice.com/news/how-a-young-donald-trump-forced-his-way-from-avenue-z-to-manhattan-7380462
They only really wanted to rent to Jews and “executives” Fred Trump supported a synagogue near one of his buildings. It started in parking garage, and after he Rabbi contacted the landlord, arguing in part that synagogue would benefit his building(s) (Keep people there, maybe paying higher rent?)
Fred Trump donated a piece of real estate to the synagogue and made a very generous donation for the building, according to the Rabbi’s son, also now a Rabbi. Fred Trump got more generous with time, and would give large sums to Jewish families who were needy that the Rabbi asked him to help. He was very impressed by the fact that the Rabbi made his congregants more religious, and also with the Rabbi’s philosophy or something, and used to ask his opinion on many things. At that time Donald Trump and his older brother Fred used to be the ones collecting the coins from the machines in the laundry room(s). I don’t know if it of relevance that Fred Trump was of German origin. Fred Trump’s father was expelled from Bavaria for having evaded the draft, and forced to return to America.
He started out as a Republican and tried to interest GHWB in naming him as his vice president in 1988.
Then, he had to give up his political ambitions because of his affair with Marla Maples and the divorce and then usnsatidfactory second marriage. Beginning in 1999, he kept on switching parties, probably with the idea of never being the same party as the president of the United States. The only time he was a Democrat was from 2001 to 2009. He quit the Republican Party for no party in December 2011 (maybe thinking of a 3rd party race in 2012) but rejoined the Republican Party in April 2012. Around that time, for the first time, he began heavily tilting ihis political contributions to Republicans.
He always was genuinely closer to the Republican party. The issues he seems to have stuck to are opposition to imports (because he probably thinks there’s actual economic merit to protectionism) and support of the death penalty (which is not an issue that anyone talks about on the federal level)
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:36 pmOpen thread – I didn’t put in here anything about Obamacare or about the anti-semitic hoax bomb threats and he person who was caught bt is onl esponsible for a few of them, or about the new executive order, coming tomorrow, or about the New York Times (the Upshot actually is still there)
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:41 pm