NYT: Comey Trying to Get DoJ to Debunk Trump Wiretap Assertions
The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the tapping of Mr. Trump’s phones, senior American officials said on Sunday. Mr. Comey has argued that the highly charged claim is false and must be corrected, they said, but the department has not released any such statement.
Mr. Comey, who made the request on Saturday after Mr. Trump leveled his allegation on Twitter, has been working to get the Justice Department to knock down the claim because it falsely insinuates that the F.B.I. broke the law, the officials said.
A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment. Sarah Isgur Flores, the spokeswoman for the Justice Department, also declined to comment.
“Senior American officials.” I tend to believe Trump’s assertions are moronic misunderstandings of stuff he saw on the teevee, based on common sense, the lack of reporting to confirm any aspect of Trump’s claims, and a plausible narrative that involves an imbecile rushing to Twitter after seeing a Fox News report. But it’s also impossible to give any credence to stories in the New York Times based wholly on anonymous sources. So we’re back to square one, where we know nothing, meaning partisans on both sides will make confident pronouncements to fill the vacuum. Yay.
[Cross-posted at The Jury Talks Back.]
Ding.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/5/2017 @ 2:52 pmWe must not discount that Comey may simply be pretending, because he knows he too has been wiretappppped by the shadow government and he’s trying to navigate the complex issue. I was watching a film called Conspiracy Theory starring Mel Gibson and it basically confirmed this explanation.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/5/2017 @ 2:57 pmI don’t actually see a quote, but seeing how he behaved in tithe crowdstrike sourced dhs finding, the sham dodge dossier, how he flipped all over the server case, (the latest email dump included tantalizing references to the late Mr drumheller of the stovepipes Intel feed to blumenthal, uncovered by guccifer, I’m not impressed.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:02 pmif comey were more of a corrupt p.o.s. we’d have to slap his ass and call him Loretta
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:04 pmSo then–where is all the supposed proof of Trump supposedly being a Russian agent coming from?
Who are the leakers, what are they basing their claims on, is it even thinner than air?
What’s more dangerous to the Republic–and its national security–claiming that the current President is a Russian agent and delegitimizing him based on rumor mongering or a Tweet against the Liberal Idol ex-President? Remember the most dangerous time for any democracy is during the supposedly peaceful transfer of power? What action tempts our enemies more?
Also as an aside–this is a pretty interesting and well reasoned piece:
http://lawnewz.com/high-profile/yes-obama-could-be-prosecuted-if-involved-with-illegal-surveillance/
Interesting section here:
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:04 pmAnd redqueen was putting that beauchamp sourced report out there around the time of the second referral, as with the subtle hints that preceded targeting tea party organizations, no direct command was needed.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:11 pmYou can see how one negates the other.
If Trump is a “Russian agent” what is the proof?
If they don’t have evidence derived from “wire taps”–what is their evidence?
If they did do wire taps–who ordered it? Wouldn’t that be in then President Obama’s purview?
Also some Dems are running the defence in this as–Obama administrations would not have done this because they didn’t think that Trump would win. Well–sure the public opinion polls were claiming that Hillary had a 99% percent chance of winning and Nate Silver countered that with an 85% chance of winning which he was promptly slammed for because the guy claiming 99% chance went to Princeton.However, the Dems internal polling was probably showing them a completely different picture–the truth–Trump was winning.
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:14 pmWhen they accessed Mike Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador–how did they find out it was Mike Flynn talking with the ambassador? What was the legal process for that. I understand that the FBI regularly wire taps the Russians legally–but what about the revelation of Mike Flynn’s name?
Also–what about the revelation that we are listening in on the Russians and that if the Russians were taking counter measures to prevent that–what are the consequences of revealing that the Russians counter measures were ineffective? One argument could be that Mike Flynn was never the Russian operative that the Dems have seemed to successfully tar him as.
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:22 pm“The F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the tapping of Mr. Trump’s phones”
So Mr. Comey and myself are on the same page:
We both want the people involved to step up and deny the very serious accusations.
We both think that a responsible government agency should take this extremely seriously and deliver a serious, substantive response.
We both think that the failure of the people involved in the wiretapping to quickly deliver a serious, substantive response would make them look really bad and damage the credibility of American institutions.
But the Justice Department hasn’t stepped up to do that yet. Is that because there’s a massive conspiracy to commit the worst crime since Watergate? Is that because Trump’s tweets came out over the weekend and the Justice Department needs a couple work days to come up with a clear answer? We will know soon enough.
If there’s one thing I trust Trump to do, it’s to thoroughly investigate his enemies.
Daryl Herbert (7be116) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:22 pmBoth Mark Levin on Fox and Friends this morning, and Legal Insurrection yesterday on their site, have shown that Trump is probably accurate based on reports by the media, and not just the report by Breitart. Whether it was President Obama or a flunky, the order for the surveillance did come from the Obama Administration. It also would not have been the first time it happened – remember James Rosen?
David Crowley (e5c503) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:23 pmHas the ‘very, very real potential’ to look like chaff.
Has the ‘very, very real potential’ to smell like borscht- with a dab of sour cream.
Has the ‘very, very real potential’ to taste like… strawberries, with a dab of Cool Whip on top.
“Doctor. You have testified that the following symptoms exist in Lieutenant-Commander Queeg’s behavior. Rigidity of personality, feelings of persecution, unreasonable suspicion, a mania for perfection, and a neurotic certainty that he is always in the right. Doctor isn’t there one psychiatric term for this illness?” – Lt. Barney Greenwald [Jose Ferrer] ‘The Caine Mutiny’ 1954
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:24 pmThat obviously should have read Breitbart . . .
David Crowley (e5c503) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:27 pmThere’s always a fall guy, the IRS supervisor for lerner, the north African section chief in benghazi, some sac in Arizona fir fast and furious
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:34 pmJust one version
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2013/03/22/dhs-ig-report-fails-to-detail-communications-after-fast-and-furious
The dni in the underwear bomber plot was another.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:38 pmFWIW, ‘Senior American officials’ is somewhat peculiar phrasing for the NYT to use. Usually it would be ‘U.S. officials.’
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:39 pmProbably accurate about what? Be specific.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:40 pmThey should release a tape of Levin screaming,”Hang up the phone you big dope!”
Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:40 pmHere’s a posxibility
https://mobile.twitter.com/Doranimated/status/838519848346992640
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:43 pmi’m old enough to recollect four months ago when all the hillary voters who subscribe to the new york times said james comey was a scoundrel
now the new york times subscribers are going to quote him as if he’s moses or shakespeare
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:49 pmlet’s check the weather vane later this week, huh?
Otherwise itvreally is ‘where’s the beef’ but you see how the actual firing of five house staffers who worked for half of the entire democratic caucus at one time doesn’t matter.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:51 pmQuestion for the lawyers:
If the FBI is asking the DOJ to knock this down, who in the DOJ would make the final decision? Does this fall in the shadow of what Sessions recused himself from or would he be the one to make the call?
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:57 pmHow they don’t appear with a paper bag over there head is beyond me:
https://mobile.twitter.com/alimhaider/status/838517906459742210/photo/1
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:58 pmIts an entire figment, man of mystery, like paul banyan or the loch news monster.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:59 pmIt would be poetic justice if the new home of the Obama’s in DC turned out to be the Venezuelan Embassy.
Pinandpuller (16b0b5) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:59 pmcomey’s just spouting off like the corrupt fbi ass-pansy he is
he likes to spout
he likes it a lot
he’s a spouty spouter, that one
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:01 pmi think it’s sublimely gay how the nyt insists on putting periods after the f and the b and the i
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:02 pmWould they put more effort to track the next middle man candudate
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2017/03/zawahiris-deputy-sought-to-unify-syrian-rebels.php
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:05 pm@23. Ah. More Cool Whip, please.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:05 pmAmericans have concerns, so multiple investigations are in order.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:05 pmloch news monster ftw
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:06 pmIsn’t Comey saying it wasn’t an FBI investigation which instigated the DoJ affidavit supporting the application for a FISA warrant? IOW – FBI says INCLUDE US OUT. That puts the ball in the IC court wrt instigation.
Rick Ballard (a1c54c) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:12 pm“CLARICE FELDMAN: Trump: A Master Tactician Serves Filet After the Russian Soufflé Collapses.”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/258952/
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:13 pmwell done filet with ketchup call me whatever you want but don’t call me late for dinner boy-o
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:16 pmJust my two cents – I’m guessing there’s a plausible excuse for monitoring internet traffic in and out of Trump Towers regarding the allegation that Trump had a server tied to Russian banks and we’re going to find that’s what the intelligence people were looking into. (IIRC, there was another candidate in the Recent Unpleasantness who had server issues being looked into by those same agencies.) So was Trump’s phone tapped? Well, no, but maybe the feds were looking at his server traffic and that’s close enough to the truth for some people. Just like when you accuse somebody of being a bank robber and he denies he’s a thief and then you find a shopkeeper who’ll swear under oath the guy once filched a candy bar from his shop when he was 12 and there you go, you’ve caught the guy in a bare-faced lie. You’ve got proof he’s lying about not being a thief and if that don’t prove you were right to call him a bank robber I don’t know what does.
Jerryskids (3308c1) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:18 pmIt’s not fair to Trans women that sentences get petiods.
Pinandpuller (061e95) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:20 pm“There’s no “I” in FBI.”
Joe Biden.
Pinandpuller (061e95) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:25 pmThis was published a day before fiddler went boom
http://www.npr.org/2017/02/21/516441733/out-of-gitmo-released-guantanamo-detainee-struggles-in-his-new-home
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:26 pmYo’ president so fat his blood type ketchup positive.
Pinandpuller (061e95) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:27 pmi was just thinking the other day how gross trannies are
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:28 pmSo, the media seems confused about its own F-ing reporting. So… by all means, let’s have the investigations, get to the transcripts, find out who made the FISA request(s), and see where this takes us. The Democrats are frightened and are lashing out. Let’s have some justice.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:29 pmExcept every crook on the planet seemed to have the administration, Lebanese, Russian Indian Chinese and the bureau only investigated them, when it became too blatant
By contrast the administration was entirely too interested in adelson and Murdoch, its minions went after vanderslip through fusion gps
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:30 pmIt seems like Trump got tired of waiting for someone to say there’s nothing going on so he targeted Obama and low and behold Obama, Clapper and Comey say the story in the press didn’t happen. So was that so hard?
crazy (d3b449) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:33 pmClarice rocks
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:36 pmEnough of the police state tactics. Release the FISA applications, Congress needs to see the White House daily briefings for the last year or so, get them released to Congress and if the scaredy-cat Democrats don’t want to play, do it without them and then have public hearings. Recess appoint an Acting AG to run things.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:37 pmExcept they insist simultaneously something was going on, by magus interestingly at least one of the Russian oligarchs came through recently. Just like canceling the request to extradite Sabrina De Sosa from Portugal, she was part if the rendition team that went after the heart of the Milan network, Omar nasr (why does that place ring a bell?)
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:40 pm5. Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/5/2017 @ 3:04 pm
It came from Trump.
He was gratutiously pro-Putin, and, one time, even claimed to know him: (a lie now seemingly forgotten even by his enemies)
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/republican-debate-transcript-primetime-debate-on-economy/
Debate held by Fox Business Network for the top 2016 U.S. Republican presidential candidates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 10, 2015.
[A statement which, you can say, is so nonsensical, it is not even wrong. 60 Minutes is not a live interview show. Donald Trump never met Putin at all, as he later became fond of pointing out. His enemies now cite a claim Trump made in 2013 of having spoken directly and indirectly to Vladimir
Putin not the one here, because it is so obviously a lie – which somehow took in both arly Giorina and Marco Rubio. – SF]
[Trump actually hadn’t said that ISIS would take out Assad, as far as I know. Jeb Bush was trying to get Trump’s position to make more sense – SF]
[That wasn’t true either. She met him in what amounted to a green room at some comference in China. Later in that debate Marco Rubio said he had never met Putin. – SF]
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:44 pm* because the statement in the 2015 debate that he got to know Putin very well is so obviously a lie – which somehow took in both Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina (who proceeded to tell a lie, or half a truth, herself and claim her meeting with Putin was more of a meeting than Donald Trump’s meeting with Putin in the imaginary green room of 60 Minutes.)
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:48 pm@45 Then IF they’re being truthful and IF surveillance took place then it had to be conducted by the “other Title III, state or local entities” Clapper said he couldn’t speak for. I’m sure there are more than one of them operating ina and around Manhattan (NYPD, Secret Service(?), etc. The leakers are going to have to feed something more to the press if they’re going to continue pressing the Trump conspired with the Russians stuff going. We’ll know in a couple hours when tomorrow’s papers leak online.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:52 pmPer your earlier question sammeh, prietap is FBI counter Intel, Kaufman with intelligence and capitol hill experience is main justices
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:52 pmWhat I love about the new GOP is how wholesome and honest it is.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:13 pmAny bets on what gauge of tinfoil that yellow combover hides? Or that the “hair” itself is really copper alloy wire for the same effect?
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:19 pmWell the same fillings the Carlos slims, the BBC and the guardian have been tuning in.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:22 pmNSA Head Rogers probably warned Trump of the illegal activities of the govt. agencies- to cover his behind.
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:26 pmShe may end up like Mr creosote:
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:29 pmhttp://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/03/barbra-streisand-trump-making-gain-weight-gorging-pancakes
Maybe if they could get their stuff together
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:36 pmhttps://www.thelocal.de/20170303/german-president-very-worried-about-trump-and-us-eu-legacy :
Ha!
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/T6K5D53Y0Gyb2Pa_YfC36UbKYk3LJTyP5Jqm_jDUyRw.png
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:38 pmi can’t wait until president mr donald wishes everyone a happy st patrick’s day
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:42 pmthen the nevertrumpers will start rooting against notre dame and boycotting u2
Patterico at #16
David Crowley (e5c503) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:55 pmWhat subject are we talking about here but the Trump allegation of “wire tapping” and its aftermath with Comey? And why would Comey ask DOJ to refute the allegation unless he didn’t want something to see the light of day? Why not just refute it himself since it would be the FBI that made the two applications for the surveillance in the first place? DOJ/AG might have to sign off on it, but it’s still the FBI that applied for the ability to do this.
Reporter speaks with forked tongue, quelled surprise
ttps://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/03/05/fbi-director-james-comey-says-no-fbi-did-not-wire-tap-trump-tower/comment-page-3/#comment-3671194
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:57 pmYou can tell a Trans woman cause she can’t make up her mind.
Pinandpuller (061e95) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:59 pmThe thing that occurs to me would Comey want to violate protocol in an other case? He did to clear Hillary except this was a very narrowly targeted accusation) and then had to sort of unclear her because he’d promised Congress he;drevceal any new developments, and then clear her again.
Now he wants to clear the FBI of wrongdoing.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:29 pm
According to the BBC (Paul Wood on 12 January 2017) http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38589427
it was lawyers from the National Security Division in the Department of Justice whon drew up the first application. “They wanted permission to intercept the electronic records from two Russian banks.”
It was rejected by the FISA cout judge, and then a second attemot, with a more narrowly drawn order was rejected again. Then it (the second prder, unchanged?) was put put befoe a second judge and granted on October 15.
A lawyer outside the Department of Justice but (who said he was) familiar with the case told Paul Wood that three of Mr Trump’s associates were the subject of the inquiry. They were looking for ransfers of money. There probably wasn’t any because this all probably originated in Russian disinformation and Putin was not about to tell what he thought was MI-6 the truth about how it all worked or why Trump wold be so pro-Putin.
All three of the people named by Wood’s source emphatically denied any wrongdoing, as did one of he Russian banks. The other did not respond to a request by Paul Wood for comment.
Now this is when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wrote a public letter to the director of the FBI, accusing him of holding back “explosive information” about Donald Trump. He had gotten an intelligence briefing, without any staff present – just the chairs and ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, and the leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties in Congress, called sometimes the “gang of eight.”
Reid described Russia as “a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States, which Mr Trump praises at every opportunity.”
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 5:59 pmCruz Supporter
I’m old enough to remember Notre Dame throwing a sheet over Jesus.
Pinandpuller (061e95) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:01 pmI think they call it the Shroud of South Bend now.
Pinandpuller (061e95) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:03 pmSame reporter, telling ostensibly two different stories six weeks apart:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/03/05/fbi-director-james-comey-says-no-fbi-did-not-wire-tap-trump-tower/comment-page-3/#comment-3671194
Perhaps he was referring to other intrusion, but I tend to doubt it.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:04 pmNever been a notre dame fan – Ara Parseghian came recruiting to JHS and was a little full of himself. My teammate went to Texas.
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:09 pmSammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/5/2017 @ 4:44 pm
*********
Yes what he says is an unusual pivot for the republican party save some libertarian a la Rand Paul but that doesn’t give you proof that trump is a “Russian agent”. If what he says there in your bolded quotes–particularly–makes him a “Russian agent” then that is a very low bar indeed.
Trump’s naivety on Russia was the thing I disliked about him the most–and particularly his fan base but–the bar for calling someone a “Russian agent” should be held higher than what you are saying here. Perhaps we have different definitions of what it means to be a “Russian agent”.
For me– the fact that Trump has hired Mattis and now McMaster–that has helped on the charge that he is–or was–very naïve when it came to Russia–but not more so than any other Democrat.
Hell Obama let Russia invade the Ukraine and he gave a Russian ally–Iran–billions of dollars–that looks more like being pro-Russian to me than anything Trump has said. Action or inaction does speak louder than words. And–again–we are probably less than 30 days into Trump’s Presidency.
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:10 pmReid described Russia as “a foreign interest openly hostile to the United States, which Mr Trump praises at every
opportunity.”
Funny… I would describe Reid as an alleged pederast who’s openly hostile to a majority of the American people who managed to build a multi-million dollar fortune while “serving” the people working in government jobs.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:12 pmI looked it up. Aluminum is the best conductor per strength/weight and non-toxicity, with the added advantage that it can be anodized inexpensively to just about any color and would not tarnish as copper or silver would.
So it’s either aluminum foil under the hair or an anodized aluminum wire hairpiece. See how easy it is when you use scientific facts and logic?
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:13 pmI also forgot to add Obama allowing Russia to set up denial of air space in Syria which might have impeded our ability to gather INTEL on ISIS maneuvers there and elsewhere. Many in the military complained about not being able to pursue ISIS leaving Iraq and entering into areas of instability within Syria. Obama allowed for that.
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:13 pmBTW, Obama did not “let” Russia invade Ukraine unless by “let” you mean he did not push the button. He overthrew a Russian puppet and helped seat a pro-Western government, and Putin’s response now has Russia in a shooting war with the Ukraine on its border when before it had a buffer state. It’s rough on the people getting killed and maimed, but if giving Russia grief is what you’re after, Obama delivered as much as he could short of outright war between the U.S. and Russia. If the reason he did it is because Sochi does not have a gay scene, the result is still the same.
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:22 pmSame thing with Syria. Russia is in a Vietnam-lite situation there trying to prop up Assad’s regime against a multi-front insurgency. Not a good thing for Russia.
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:24 pmObama didn’t do anything significant about the ukraine, because it was the conduit to Syria, which is a party to the iran deal. The gulf states and turkey havd armed the rebels, which have an annoying habit of defecting to aq when they are not straight up al queda
narciso (36a055) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:29 pmWith your obsession of President Trump and his hair, nk, are you bald?
mg (31009b) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:31 pmThe Comey story is curious, because as I read the report – and I agree that nothing reported in the NYT from anonymous sources can be taken at face value – Comey is not asking DOJ to make a statement that nothing was done in the manner being reported. What’s he’s asking is for DOJ to state that Obama did not order wiretapping of Trump. If that were true, that would call into question the personal integrity of Comey — that as FBI Director he would take a directive from a President to conduct a surveillance operation on the political opposition. The NYT article doesnt say Comey wants DOJ to announce that there was no such surveillance. The NYT is very careful about how they write an opening paragraph, so in this instance words matter:
“The FBI Director, James B. Comey, asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s assertion that President Barack Obama ordered the tapping of Mr. Trump’s phones.”
The bolded words are important. They do not rule out the scenario whereby the FBI sought a FISA warrant to monitor data traffic over the server in the Trump Tower that was connected to Russian banks. Its not necessary that Obama have “ordered” it, or that the monitoring was not of a phone. But the server might have picked up voice traffic — such as Skype or similar video conferencing services.
I don’t think its inaccurate for Trump to refer to “Obama” when what he really is referring to is counter-intelligence operatives during the time of the Obama Administration.
After the Yemen raid, I thought it was pretty well established that the President is responsible for everything that happens in his administration, whether he had a hand in it or not?
As for the leak to the NYT about Comey’s request, remember that Comey’s #2 right now is the husband of a Democratic State Senate candidate in Virginia. In the FBI, only the Director is a political appointee. All the subordinates, which includes several “Assistant Directors” are all career folks in either DOJ or the FBI. I know for a FACT that the upper reaches of the FBI have many ideological liberals because over the last 15 years there has been a pronounced effort in the FBI to promote women and minorities into senior management positions to address the reality of 20 years ago when the FBI was about 90% male, and 80% white. So, there are plenty of unsympathetic officials in the upper management of the FBI would are happy to embarrassment Comey and Trump when given the opportunity.
shipwreckedcrew (56b591) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:38 pm“(W)e know nothing” is a hopeful way to look at if for a partisan of a certain persuasion. This is Andrew McCarthy’s beat. He’s been working this story for some time and quite persuasively. McCarthy, most definitely, is not at square one.
I’m hoping this sufficiently angers Trump so that he’ll give the green light to criminal investigations and prosecutions of the myriad lawbreakers who have been operating with impunity under Obama. A few good places to start would be with Lerner’s IRS, Clapper’s perjury and Hill’s server. The list is very long.
ThOR (c9324e) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:39 pmNow, looking just at Syria and Ukraine, why would Putin like Trump as POTUS? Because,
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:40 pm1. Trump has expressed support for dictators like Assad;
2. He has expressed skepticism about the rebels fighting Assad;
3. He wants to “partner” with Putin to fight “terrorists” which would include some of the Syrian rebel groups;
4. He appointed Putin’s good buddy Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State and Tillerson opposes Obama’s sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine because they cut into Exxon-Mobil’s profits.
No, mg. I have a full head of hair, like Mike Pence, and cut pretty much the same, but a darker gray.
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:44 pmThat last point was after 500 million (conservative estimate) was directed toward the rebels, where did that money go
Yes the Syrian regime is ruthless like the Algerian junta, they even coined a term eradicateur
narciso (36a055) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:45 pmIt’s hard to get worked up about James Comey twisting slowly, slowly in the wind.
ThOR (c9324e) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:46 pmI would say fire his punk (redacted), now the trick is finding a reliable deputy to hold dwn the fort that wasn’t part of this operation.
narciso (36a055) — 3/5/2017 @ 6:49 pmThe only FBI Director who could handle politicians trying to use him for their purposes was J. Edgar Hoover, and he was also fortunate to have died before the “equal employment opportunity” acts and court decisions degraded the caliber of its personnel overall. Check out this 1950s FBI training video, particularly the part at 1:30 and on showing some fast draw shooting with the standard issue revolver.
nk (dbc370) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:18 pmThat probably true, after all Hansen made it through four directors despite his money and other predilections,
narciso (36a055) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:26 pmOh, I believe that Obama did not wake up one morning and order the FBI to tap Trump’s phones. He also didn’t call up the IRS and tell them to deep six the South Succotash Tea Party tax-exempt application.
But his minions did, and did it legally, too, knowing that the boss was OK with it. Just like Hitler didn’t kill ANY Jews.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:31 pmEven before the events of November 8th unfolded, one conclusion that I had definitely come to is that Comey’s conflicted and compromised posterior needed to be booted out of his job by whoever was going to be President #45. Nothing that has taken place since then has caused me to change my mind; indeed, the urgency of doing so has only increased.
M. Scott Eiland (b16b32) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:32 pmThey use aluminum foil to frost tips and apply highlights but that lets some rays through.
Pinandpuller (31a3f6) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:32 pm@65 mg
Without intervention in a hundred years Notre Dame will be known as The Exploding Arabs.
Pinandpuller (31a3f6) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:36 pmLet’s consider one of sword of Damocles hanging over him, that consulting contract with hsbc, which happens to do a lot of business in Russia and other shady placed sort of like the mob bank the joker ripped ofc
narciso (36a055) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:37 pmI’m not a partisan. I used to be. I’m not any more. It changes how you look at things.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/5/2017 @ 7:57 pmI think we know quite a bit. McCarthy and others I respect think so too.
I’m not a rabid Trump supporter; I’m a grudging Trump supporter. But most importantly in this situation, for eight long years I’ve had my eyes wide open to the behavior of Obama – a man with a long history of using the tools of government against his enemies – which leaves me inclined to believe he’s capable of such lawbreaking. And I’ve also seen the news reports about private conversations Trump has had with our nation’s friends and allies, which has left me wondering how in the world such information has become publicly known. These dots are really not so difficult to connect.
ThOR (c9324e) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:21 pmThe way I’ve see it, we’ve had four month of pulp novel coverage and occasionally nuggets of truth, re the cabinet and his initiatives. The Congress is loath to do anything consequentialbor good, which isn’t surprising considering whoneads it.
narciso (36a055) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:34 pmYour Trump articles read like someone looking for a gig at cnn.
Jim (a9b7c7) — 3/5/2017 @ 8:56 pmWow, I didn’t know that CRTV just dropped Mark Steyn from his contract.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:12 pmWhat were they thinking!?
The contract runs through 2021, so it sounds like Mark will be taking them to court for breaching it.
Yes it’s no way to run a railroad
narciso (36a055) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:15 pmI’m surprised no one has thought about the possibility that the device used was a pen register, which only records the phone numbers being dialed. Think of it as a wiretap-lite. No listening in occurs so it is easier to get FISA approval. These are very common in narcotics investigations.
Trump.calls it a wiretap and Obama’s people deny it’s a wiretap.
AZ Bob (99e30f) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:24 pmIt is like being a little bit pregnant.
AZ Bob (99e30f) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:45 pmSo I call it a wiretap.
AZ Bob (99e30f) — 3/5/2017 @ 9:45 pmLt. Barney Greenwald: Well, well, well! The officers of the Caine in happy celebration! [YouTube]
Lt. Steve Maryk: What are you, Barney, kind of tight?
Lt. Barney Greenwald: Sure. I got a guilty conscience. I defended you, Steve, because I found the wrong man was on trial.
[pours himself a glass of wine]
Lt. Barney Greenwald: So, I torpedoed Queeg for you. I *had* to torpedo him. And I feel sick about it.
[drinks wine]
Lt. Steve Maryk: Okay, Barney, take it easy.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: You know something… When I was studying law, and Mr. Keefer here was writing his stories, and you, Willie, were tearing up the playing fields of dear old Princeton, who was standing guard over this fat, dumb, happy country of ours, eh? Not us. Oh, no, we knew you couldn’t make any money in the service. So who did the dirty work for us? Queeg did! And a lot of other guys. Tough, sharp guys who didn’t crack up like Queeg.
Ensign Willie Keith: But no matter what, Captain Queeg endangered the ship and the lives of the men.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: He didn’t endanger anybody’s life, you did, *all* of you! You’re a fine bunch of officers.
Lt. JG H. Paynter Jr.: You said yourself he cracked.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: I’m glad you brought that up, Mr. Paynter, because that’s a very pretty point. You know, I left out one detail in the court martial. It wouldn’t have helped our case any.
[to Maryk]
Lt. Barney Greenwald: Tell me, Steve, after the Yellowstain business, Queeg came to you guys for help and you turned him down, didn’t you?
Lt. Steve Maryk: [hesitant] Yes, we did.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: [to Paynter] You didn’t approve of his conduct as an officer. He wasn’t worthy of your loyalty. So you turned on him. You ragged him. You made up songs about him. If you’d given Queeg the loyalty he needed, do you suppose the whole issue would have come up in the typhoon?
[to Maryk]
Lt. Barney Greenwald: You’re an honest man, Steve, I’m asking you. You think it would’ve been necessary for you to take over?
Lt. Steve Maryk: [hesitant] It probably wouldn’t have been necessary.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: [muttering slightly] Yeah.
Ensign Willie Keith: If that’s true, then we *were* guilty.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: Ah, you’re learning, Willie! You’re learning that you don’t work with a captain because you like the way he parts his hair. You work with him because he’s got the job or you’re no good! Well, the case is over. You’re all safe. It was like shooting fish in a barrel.
[long pause; strides toward Keefer]
Lt. Barney Greenwald: And now we come to the man who *should’ve* stood trial. The Caine’s favorite author. The Shakespeare whose testimony nearly sunk us all. Tell ’em, Keefer!
Lieutenant Tom Keefer: [stiff and overcome with guilt] No, you go ahead. You’re telling it better.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: You ought to read his testimony. He never even heard of Captain Queeg!
Lt. Steve Maryk: Let’s forget it, Barney!
Lt. Barney Greenwald: Queeg was sick, he couldn’t help himself. But you, you’re *real* healthy. Only you didn’t have one tenth the guts that he had.
Lieutenant Tom Keefer: Except I never fooled myself, Mr. Greenwald.
Lt. Barney Greenwald: I’m gonna drink a toast to you, Mr. Keefer.
[pours wine in a glass]
Lt. Barney Greenwald: From the beginning you hated the Navy. And then you thought up this whole idea. And you managed to keep your skirts nice, and starched, and clean, even in the court martial. Steve Maryk will always be remembered as a mutineer. But you, you’ll publish your novel, you’ll make a million bucks, you’ll marry a big movie star, and for the rest of your life you’ll live with your conscience, if you have any. Now here’s to the *real* author of “The Caine Mutiny.” Here’s to you, Mr. Keefer.
[splashes wine in Keefer’s face]
Lt. Barney Greenwald: If you wanna do anything about it, I’ll be outside. I’m a lot drunker than you are, so it’ll be a fair fight.
– The germaine part of the Caine Mutiny 1954
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:13 pmWhat was it the Obama spokeshole said?
That the Obama administration never ordered the surveillance of an AMERICAN CITIZEN?
– James Rosen, Fox News contributor.
Blow it out your ass.
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/5/2017 @ 10:30 pmThe germaine part of ‘The Caine Mutiny’ 1954:
Strawberries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLUZ0Nv7UH4
papertiger gots him a case of the yellowstain blues
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:12 pmOnly in Trump’s America do politicians make charges of corruption and the press issues the denials.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/5/2017 @ 11:44 pmJust curious: has Trump raised this old chestnut before?
JP (f1742c) — 3/6/2017 @ 5:19 amPutting things in context:
http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2017/03/watergate-on-steroids.html#more
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 5:35 am“MATTHEW VADUM: Obama’s Wiretaps? Details of a Watergate-style conspiracy against Trump emerge. With Obama’s record of promiscuous spying and politicized bureaucracy, it’s entirely believable that he was spying on Trump. But just because it’s believable doesn’t prove that it happened. To determine that, we probably need a special prosecutor — whose brief, honestly, should be expanded to cover all political spying in the Obama Administration, not just spying on Trump.”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/259009/
Colonel Haiku (ac2a78) — 3/6/2017 @ 5:55 amWhat a clown. What a circus this presidency is.
Why do you guys waste your time bashing away at your keyboard defending this guy?
‘Oh, I’m not really a super Trump supporter, but russia’s our ally guys!’
‘Oh, I’m not really a rapid Trump fanboy, but boy he can’t be a dummy like his critics if he single handedly built a billion dollar empire with no family mob corrupt politician assistance! He beat Hillary so he’s super smart’
Guys, you’re only making yourselves miserable. The people nodding their heads were already so deep in tank you made no difference. Most Americans think this presidency and the GOP is a huge joke.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:01 amWe try to discern what is really going on, because the bureau is fricken useless, a walking to their anchorage office and they don’t follow him. They are plagiarizing the crowdstrike report, using tongs with the dirty dossier while all their attention seems to be in this project.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:06 amCertainly warrants an investigation coronello, but the bureaucrats responsible are likethe Japanese soldiers on those islands, and they havelenty of cover from the press. Take price and Ahmed, or ragsdale who leaked that memo to the ap
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:10 amHe’s still over macho grande, how does he conserve fuel like that
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:11 amTeam R all the way. It’s clear the GOP itself is the real cancer.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:13 amNo team r are the folks like mcturtle and Ryan, who don’t see the urgency in heats going on, something utterly different.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:15 amMatthew vadun is GOP, snorfle, maybe the way he pointedcout how Monica crowley was hung out to dry, without a fair hearing
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:20 amMccain has criticized the Republican President, and it is therefore incomprehensible that you would say he typifies “Team R”, which is a person who decides matters purely as a matter of partisanship.
This is a great example of the mentality of the Trump defense force. If he’s not in your team, he’s an unperson, any ugly concept is definitely true. If he is on your side, any idiotic thing we see with our own eyes is to be denied.
I have no idea if the nation will ultimately rebuke you guys. Trump is in the White House so that’s a great sign for y’all (and a terrible one for our nation). But it’s still a cancer.
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:20 ammccain’s a disgusting cowardly tool
he does what he’s told like a good little brainwashed p.o.s.
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:21 amPeter benchley who wrote about predators as a white house reporter before he focused on the marine ones tackled this issue of sources in q clearance
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4284974/Kellyanne-Conway-challenges-FBI-s-James-Comey-Trump.html
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:26 amIn reading Don Surber above, Trump can demand the information on the wiretaps from his own executive branch of government. He does not need a Congressional investigation. Surber points out the lying NY Times said Trump “offered no proof” that Obama tapped Trump despite having been fed transripts of said taps by the Obama shadow government.
AZ Bob (99e30f) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:30 amLord knows they don’t read their own paper diligently enough to realize when they contradicted themselves. So lynch probably was the authorizing official (thanks goose and maverick) but it want a rogue operation.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:30 amEven if he was the target, that not entirely clear. In addition, we know what happens when a republican official even partially declassifies a document, plamegate.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:33 amAre you detecting a rhyming pattern:
http://ww.libertarianleanings.com/2017/03/the-comey-fitzpatrick-playbook.html
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:46 amThe flak is increasing… investigations are called for. At stake is the administration of the duly elected POTUS. The government bureaucracy – politicized through and through – has dug in and will not be defeated unless their perfidy is exposed. Sunlight is a great disinfectant.
Colonel Haiku (ac2a78) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:51 am“CHANGE: Democratic Sen. Chris Coons backtracks on Trump campaign-Russia claim.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., on Sunday said he was not aware of any collusion between President Trump’s campaign and Russian officials to rig the election despite saying days earlier that there were “transcripts” of such activity.
“I have no hard evidence of collusion,” Coons told Fox News host Chris Wallace. “To the extent those comments that you just replayed might in some way be misinterpreted as leading to a hyperventilating attitude here in the Senate about this, I apologize for that.”
Hypothesis: The spying-on-Trump thing is worse than we even imagine, and once it was clear Hillary had lost and it would inevitably come out, the Trump/Russia collusion talking point was created as a distraction. Now it’s being rowed back because the talk of “transcripts” supports the spying-on-Trump storyline.
Will we ever know? Maybe, if there’s a proper investigation into Obama Administration political spying.
Meanwhile, the rumors being floated about Trump are being retracted, and once everyone from Comey to Clapper has denied that he was ever under investigation, future “leaks” will come pre-discredited.”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/258942/
Colonel Haiku (ac2a78) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:56 amBecause, God is just and shall return to us the years that the locust hath eaten.
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:57 amAh the ‘bearded Marxist’, he wasnt as big a risk as Christine right?
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 6:58 amI see Mika Brzezinksi isn’t the only tearful, worried tool.
Colonel Haiku (ac2a78) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:01 amThey are given one cue card coronello, they haven’t any understanding how it conflicts with other narratives
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:07 amNo shit. Why is Dusty so invested in Obama’s legacy?
The dude stole an extra four years. Hit his opposition over the head and rifled the presidency out of pocket.
Why defend that guy?
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:08 amNo [edit – synonym of crap]. Why is Dusty so invested in Obama’s legacy?
The dude stole an extra four years. Hit his opposition over the head and rifled the presidency out of pocket.
Why defend that guy?
papertiger (c8116c) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:10 amThis alternative universe – the one where Hillary Clinton is POTUS – is for fools and nebbishistas.
Colonel Haiku (ac2a78) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:14 amHere’s a piece as nearly poorly sourced:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:18 amYour comment reads like someone who has no factual points to make, so he whines instead.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:27 amNo a teal quote for attribution, piece conflicts with those who h were rewritten on inauguration eve.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:31 amThis is another piece, filed after the memory holing of mccaskill:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/05/u-s-warned-of-foreign-intel-operations-after-russian-met-with-team-trump-at-rnc.html?via=twitter_page
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:35 am“All the subordinates, which includes several “Assistant Directors” are all career folks in either DOJ or the FBI. I know for a FACT that the upper reaches of the FBI have many ideological liberals because over the last 15 years there has been a pronounced effort in the FBI to promote women and minorities into senior management positions to address the reality of 20 years ago when the FBI was about 90% male, and 80% white. So, there are plenty of unsympathetic officials in the upper management of the FBI would are happy to embarrassment Comey and Trump when given the opportunity.”
The really exciting fact is that if you could scrape away that layer of Gramscian affinity hiring crud another layer of Gramscian affinity hiring crud would be revealed. The rot on top is now supported by rot on the bottom as well as rot in the foundation.
The march through the institution is complete.
Rick Ballard (a1c54c) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:35 amAZ Bob,
As far as I can tell, literally nothing new has come out. It’s a rehashing of stuff from two months ago at least. If you believe in stories from Big Media based on anonymous sources (sound of record being scratched) then three Trump associates were being investigated for Russian connections. The only person to mention a warrant on a Trump server, as best as I can tell, is Louise “Putin Killed Breitbart” Mensch. The only person to mention a “tapp” of Trump’s actual phone is Trump himself.
Lost in the hysteria and mindless attempts to prove Donald Trump right is a rather nefarious possibility that is actually realistic: that Obama’s DoJ, knowing people in Trump’s orbit talked to Russians, deliberately used an investigation targeting the Russians to back into surveillance of people in Trump’s orbit. I suspect that, at worst, that’s what will be revealed.
But we can’t discuss such things, apparently, because everyone has to argue that Donald Trump is right that he himself is the subject of a “tapp” or that we suddenly learned something new because he misunderstood a teevee report (my best guess as to why he tweeted what he did).
Me, I’ll wait to see how things shake out before I reach any definite conclusions.
Someone said I seem to think Trump is a moron. Well, I do. I think Donald Trump is a moron. That informs a lot of what I think about everything he does. I do not equate cunning (which he has) with intelligence (which he clearly lacks), nor do I think that inheriting a pile of cash makes a person Albert Einstein.
Patterico (115b1f) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:36 amEx kept the last administration actually counted on Russia to secure the Iran deal, despite Snowden and the Chapman ring, now the latest wrinkle concerns Ross and veselberg, and the Deutsche bank, (veselberg was a party to red queen’s foundation and the founder of denton’s suit, so his judgment isn’t too swift of late)
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:42 amWhile Trump can always afford to be more precise, it would be good if Lawyers here tried to be also.
Trump is conflating “tapping” Trump Tower with tapping him personally. While he is imprecise, I suggest the Hate Trump Lawyerly set attempt to be so.
Fact is Obama did, as Patt wrote, back their way into Trump Spying. There is NO OTHER EXPLANATION for the current leaks. There is no other explanation for why facts are real but being distorted. E.g., OMG they met a Russian!!!!!, normal behavior, is being contorted to mean they are behaving treasonously.
Anyway … as always with Trump, he is directionally correct moreso than pin point accurate.
Blah Blah (44eaa0) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:45 amYes he talked to kisyak, the question is who in Washington. Hasn’t, just like this milai character who was the popper scooped of the dodgy dossier, everyone from jorge Perez to maverick has
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:46 ammoronic misunderstandings of stuff he saw on the teevee,
Well, I swung by today to see if sanity is creeping back yet but nope. See you in a month or so.
Mike K (f469ea) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:46 amAnd as always Trump turns the tables to get folks talking about things that benefit him.
Imprecise Voter Fraud Allegations = investigation into voter fraud which hurts Democrats, not Republicans.
Imprecise Russia Spying Allegations = investigation into Obama Admin using state apparatus doing politics to smear political adversaries.
Imprecise talk about Tax Returns and Corruption = Crooked Hillary took money from the Saudis, go ask her about that.
Guy is very smart regardless of how much you hate him. He simply turns the converstaion onto what suits him even if he takes the shots in the short term.
Blah Blah (44eaa0) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:50 amProblem the idiot Democrats and Media are having is they are 10X guilty of what they accuse others and are easily tripped up by facts and behavior patterns worse than anything Trumpsters didi.
Blah Blah (44eaa0) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:51 amAnd Patterico, he did more than inherit a pile of cash. Fact you say he is not bright while positing that thesis speaks volumes to bias.
Trump is not smart? LOL. Yeah. Many a rich kid getting more money did far less.
Blah Blah (44eaa0) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:54 amThey have been so maddening inprecise bordering on criminal negligence with the dhs finding and the dodgy dossier because they have next to nothing
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:56 am“Best and Brightest” for $1,000, Alex…
Colonel Haiku (f2f14e) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:58 am#139, As of today, THEY HAVE NO EVIDENCE OF ANY MALFEASANCE IN THE UNDERLYING BEHAVIOR.
Fact more “facts” keep getting leaked that run contra to the above is why Trump wrote what he wrote and why he is directionally correct in his accusation.
Obama, direct or tacit approval, spied on Trump folks for months. Obama knew about it b/c no way in hell he would not be told. Obama waved his finger and said “get rid of this meddlesome priest” and went about his business. All the while he and his direct reports saying “we have no evidence of anything improper.”
So if nothing improper then why keep investigating, leaking and not coming out and shutting down the minions who are “getting rid of the troublesome priest?”
Boy sand girls, If this is not using the Office of the Presidency to target political rivals not sure what is. At best, we have a lack of institutional controls in the Fed Bureaucracy and plenty of Fed-Employee/Criminals who need jail time.
Blah Blah (44eaa0) — 3/6/2017 @ 8:06 amshipwreckedcrew,
So you are saying Comey is trying to protect Obama by correcting the technical record but not dealing with the underlying assertion that Trump was spied on and it was ordered by the Obama Executive Branch.
“Can someone rid me of that meddlesome Priest” comes to mind here.
Obama at minimum KNEW ABOUT IT and let it roll.
A decent man says “if you have no proof, shut it down, because my Administration doesn’t do those types of things.”
But fact is, Obama Admin did/does/would use Feds to conduct politics.
Blah Blah (44eaa0) — 3/6/2017 @ 8:11 amThey arent facts they are just insinuations from the usual ‘dead enders’ in the bureaucracy, now they leaked to so many parties that one can spot the narrative, which They are now denying, mtraceys guide linked on another thread is significant but the goal is what is mentioned in 117.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 8:23 amWe have been taught here among other places not to take stories at face values , so now we do all of a sudden.
narciso (d1f714) — 3/6/2017 @ 8:27 amIf we take a stab at figuring out how Brennan, Clapper, Obama, Rhodes, etc could be deceptively truthful rather than reflexively labeling everybody a liar maybe it’s what was taken in the Russian hack of the DNC.
Tracking the story back before the Steele dossier was being shopped around leads to Russian government hackers penetrated DNC, stole opposition research on Trump in the WaPo on June 14, 2016 and to Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia? in Slate on Oct 31, 2016 the same day Hillary tweets a Statement from Jake Sullivan on New Report Exposing Trump’s Secret Line of Communication to Russia.
Connecting these dots perhaps explain what Trump’s trying to push the investigators to reveal. Once the Feds starting digging into the Russian’s snatching the DNC dirt on Trump together with multiple approaches by Kislyak and followed by the oppo-sponsored Steele dossier McCain walked-in to the FBI explains why anonymous officials were pushing the story Trump was compromised and subject to blackmail, why Hillary’s people believes she was robbed, why Congress and the Feds want to keep investigation Russian meddling and why Trump’s had enough of being the pinata.
Maybe that’s what the FBI Deputy was talking about when he told Priebus recently the news reports were all BS and what Trump’s trying to push out of them with his explosive tweets leading to the put up or shut up showdown in the oval office.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/6/2017 @ 8:35 am“#ObamaGate Is a Lot More than a Hashtag. If I were a Democrat, I’d be afraid. I’d be very afraid.”
https://pjmedia.com/rogerlsimon/2017/03/05/obamagate-is-a-lot-more-than-a-hashtag/
Colonel Haiku (f2f14e) — 3/6/2017 @ 8:52 amcrazy,
If Russia’s strategic objective was to weaken Clinton as the most probable next occupant of the WH, then the Russian tactical moves have greater clarity, as does the heightened interest of the IC and the deeper involvement of the DoJ wrt the FISA warrants. Russia’s motives for involvement did not have to be based upon any pro-Trump sentiment at all.
Rick Ballard (a1c54c) — 3/6/2017 @ 9:09 am“There’s nothing new here” is an infamous Clinton talking point, hauled out every time some Clintonian malfeasance was brought to public attention. It is simply a ruse. The presence or absence of something new makes absolutely no difference if rules were broken.
ThOR (c9324e) — 3/6/2017 @ 9:37 amnk
Yes I think Obama could have done more. Interesting that you bring up Sochi because that reminds me that at least Carter boycotted the Olympics. Yes that is sort of a joke.
As to your later comments–remember I did say that Trump’s positions on Russia are what I think was his worst stance. But–take a look at particularly General McMaster–again he is not naïve on Russia.
If you look at Trump during the campaign at the angle of he was trying to win over the Libertarian and white Democrat vote then that explains his strategy–possibly Machiavellian. Defensive interests are perhaps beyond the mental capability of Libertarians, Dems and some Republicans.
Obama never defended anything he did militarily all that well to his base–Yemen actions, Pakistan, the drone program, Libya…
So the template has been set for a politician to punt on those difficult positions.
“Wouldn’t it be great if Russia and America could get along?”–Sure who could disagree with that–or “make America great again.”
So again what Trump said during the election was wacky from our perspective–but seemed pretty rational to the Rand Paulians and Democrats. Remember they loved the Soviets up till they finally seemed to back the Democrats ultimate enemy–Republicans.
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/6/2017 @ 12:10 pmThere’s a report that the reason the FISA warrant didn’t find anything, is that the targeted server in the Trump Tower was shut down on September 23rd (the Daily Kos) while he warrant was only issued on October 15, and that Carter Page may have been one target.
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Zqjn7OxWO8QJ:https://www.palmerreport.com/opinion/trump-tower-shut-down-its-russia-email-server-just-before-fisa-warrant-was-allegedly-granted/1796/%2Bwarrant+trump+server&hl=en&gbv=2&ct=clnk
This “Palmer Report” website seems to be very much in line with the worst Democratic Party accusations against Trump and wants to blame Trump and now Sessions for anything, rather than Carter Page or anybody else.
The Trump campaign is in a big dispute with Carter Page, and the Palmer Report is trying t deny there is a dispute.
http://www.palmerreport.com/politics/donald-trump-campaign-disavows-russian-operative-carter-page-claims-its-been-threatening-to-sue-him/1764/
Not even the New York Times had the exact time of the meeting in relation to the platform, but the change was made two weeks before the convention, and he thing that happened in the convention was a possibility of agreeing to revise the proposed language. The most that Sessions would have done would have bene to try to get the Ambassador to accept the language.
No, we’re not.
We know, and always knew, that the Trump campaign insisted on the platform change but I don’t think it can have been in exchange for hacking (the hacking itself was over, although they continued to read John Podesta’s emals for another month) or for Vladimir Putin’s support in the election (or even for some business promises) nor was any of this arranged through Senator Jeff Sessions.
Rather, there may have been a Russian agent of influence – a 21st century non-Communist Alger Hiss somewhere. Someone oher than Jeff Sessions. He was against immigration long before Putin got into backing right-wing anti-immigrant parties, so Putin isn’t the reason.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/6/2017 @ 12:33 pm@Rae Sremmurd At one point, Donald Trump even repeated Russian propaganda that Obama and Hillary had created ISIS.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/6/2017 @ 12:35 pmThat was in anumber of places.
For instance Franklin Foer, posted on Oct. 31 2016 5:36 PM in Slate:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/cover_story/2016/10/was_a_server_registered_to_the_trump_organization_communicating_with_russia.html
On Nov. 2 2016 8:36 PM he posted the following follow-up:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/11/the_trump_server_evaluating_new_evidence_and_countertheories.html
It is still not established that the story of the warrant is actually true. The New York Times won’t guarantee it.
The server was shut down Sept. 23, two days after the New York Times made inquiries to Alfa Bank (The Palmer Report made it sound like the Russians or the Trump people has penetrated the FBI or the courts).
The server may not have been for anything Trump related, but if there was anything wrong, it was standard criminal spam activity, except that apparently is not right.
New York Times story posted Oct 31, 2016, printed on November 1, 2016, on Page A21 with the headline: Investigating Trump, F.B.I. Sees No Clear Link to Russian Government
Maybe they were trying to hack into the Trump campaign, I don’t know.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-election-donald-trump.html
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/6/2017 @ 1:05 pm@147. Totally agree. Didn’t mean to imply any differently. Media reports keep regurgitating the same basic story but the “theft of oppo research on Trump” from the DNC hack in the June WaPo story is the piece that conveniently gets left out of subsequent reports. The issue to me was how could the on the record denials by Brennan, Clapper and almost on the record denial by Comey all be truthful.
Trump can be a jackass and there is plenty of skullduggery in Washington but if we give them all the benefit of the doubt then what’s left is the FBI investigation of the records taken (including the oppo-Trump file) in the DNC hack plus the curious server activity at Trump Tower reported by the malware researchers. If that’s the real investigation then the rest makes sense. All this stuff ends up in the classified investigatory and intel community records making Trump angry when it leaks but it’s also readily available to anybody who has the DNC oppo-Trump file and the Steele oppo-Trump file that was widely shopped around. So which copy are they leaking from?
Meanwhile the investigation of the Russians, not Trump, continues while the jackals continue to undermine Trump with rumor and innuendo Trump’s convinced comes from classified sources but more likely from the semi-public oppo-Trump files. No matter how dramatically Trump chose to do it, his call for a full investigation by Congressional committees filled with more anti-Trumpers than supporters isn’t what you’d expect from a President with something to fear.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/6/2017 @ 1:21 pmHmmmmm… “OH, I WAS LOOKING: Andrew McCarthy: While You Weren’t Looking, the Democrat–Media Election-Hacking Narrative Just Collapsed.
But still, the media and Democrats have always had a serious vulnerability here — one they’ve never acknowledged because they’ve been too swept away by the political success of the fantasy narrative. It is this: At a certain point, if compelling evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia to steal the election did not materialize, the much more interesting question becomes “How did the government obtain all this information that has been leaked to the media to prop up the story?”
The most plausible answer to that question: The Obama administration, through the Justice Department and the FBI, was investigating the associates of the opposition party’s presidential nominee, and perhaps even the nominee himself, during the campaign. Otherwise, what explanation can there be for all of the investigative information — much of it classified, and thus illegal to disclose — that has been funneled to the press?
In short, the media and Democrats have been playing with fire for months. The use of law-enforcement and national-security assets to investigate one’s political opponents during a heated election campaign has always been a potentially explosive story. Let’s not kid ourselves: If the roles were reversed, and a Republican administration had investigated officials tied to the campaign of the Democrats’ nominee, we would be drowning in a sea of Watergate 2.0 coverage.
Well, this weekend, the potentially explosive story detonated. It happened in the now familiar way: jaw-dropping tweets by President Trump.
Every time this happens, the reaction is “Trump’s crazy tweets will sink him this time!” And yet, somehow. . . .
Plus:
Here’s the most interesting part: Now that they’ve been called on it, the media and Democrats are gradually retreating from the investigation they’ve been touting for months as the glue for their conspiracy theory. It’s actually quite amusing to watch: How dare you suggest President Obama would ever order surveillance! Who said anything about FISA orders? What evidence do you lunatic conservatives have — uh, other than what we media professionals been reporting — that there was any investigation of the Trump campaign? . . .
But have you noticed? While all this head-spinning legal jibber-jabber goes back and forth, the foundation of the false narrative we’ve been hearing since November 8 has vanished. Now that we’re supposed to believe there was no real investigation of Trump and his campaign, what else can we conclude but that there was no real evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia . . . which makes sense, since Russia did not actually hack the election, so the purported objective of the collusion never existed. Trick or tweet?”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/259055/
Colonel Haiku (f2f14e) — 3/6/2017 @ 1:52 pmCorrecton: Neither the Franklin Foer Slate piece nor the New York Times uses the word “warrant” to describe how the FBI investigated the server.
It might be that all reports trace back to former British Member of Parliament former British Member of Parliament who wrote for Heat Street in October, 2016.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/6/2017 @ 1:55 pmIn: Idiot Savants
Out: Morons
Colonel Haiku (f2f14e) — 3/6/2017 @ 1:56 pmI meant go vopy and paste the name Louise Mensch – she’s the former British Member of Parliament who wrote for Heat Street.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/6/2017 @ 1:57 pmWhoops, off to teh next bash…
Colonel Haiku (f2f14e) — 3/6/2017 @ 1:58 pm@Rae Sremmurd At one point, Donald Trump even repeated Russian propaganda that Obama and Hillary had created ISIS.
Sammy Finkelman (8dcc71) — 3/6/2017 @ 12:35 pm
************
Ugh–I think I tried to forget that. Still damn it–McMaster and Mattis, McMaster and Mattis.
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/6/2017 @ 2:01 pmMeanwhile the investigation of the Russians, not Trump, continues while the jackals continue to undermine Trump with rumor and innuendo Trump’s convinced comes from classified sources but more likely from the semi-public oppo-Trump files. No matter how dramatically Trump chose to do it, his call for a full investigation by Congressional committees filled with more anti-Trumpers than supporters isn’t what you’d expect from a President with something to fear.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/6/2017 @ 1:21 pm
********************
Damn good point. Also this gets it out of the Court of Public Opinion and into a more rational arena–hopefully. I never really got why Trump supporters were dumping on the Original GOP for wanting to do this.
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/6/2017 @ 2:04 pm159.
************
He said it only a few times. Yes, he appointed a number of people who were certainly not pro-Russia. Russian propaganda has actually toned down the praise of Trump they used to give, and I think also, when it looked like Trump was going to name Romney as Secretary of State, we had Jill Stein, who is closer to Putin than anybody accused Trump of being, was going all-out for a recount. What Putin gives, maybe Putin can take away I said.
https://patterico.com/2016/11/26/hillary-clinton-says-yes-to-vote-recount-trump-snaps-back-oh-no-you-dont/
Comment 36.
In part:
Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/6/2017 @ 2:35 pmMy own feeling is that there probably are up to four or six Alger Hiss type characters (except non-Communist – Putin’s ideology now anyway is white nationalism) who got involved in the Trump campaign, and, using whatever fallacious reasons they could think of, steered trump into a more pro-Putin position. It could even be that one or two are holding positions in the U.S. government now.
I don’t think Jeff Sessions is one of them.
Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/6/2017 @ 2:39 pmRae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/6/2017 @ 2:04 pm
I was thinking a 9/11 type commission would be good. Nobody at all connected to Hillary Clinton should be on it, nor anybody too political.
Merrick Garland would be a good Chairman. Democrats would have a hard time criticizing the idea. And Tom Brokaw might be a good member. Federal judges and experienced reporters sometimes deal with complex lies and many liars telling different lies. Maybe somebody from the military who got to the truth of something.
Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/6/2017 @ 2:42 pmThis version of the story had 3 warrant attempts. Louise Mensch has only two.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/10/fbi-chief-given-dossier-by-john-mccain-alleging-secret-trump-russia-contacts
Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/6/2017 @ 2:43 pmWhen will Obama’s interception of Sanders communications be divulged. If they did it to Trump, they would have done it to Sanders.
Davod (f3a711) — 3/6/2017 @ 3:01 pm“This version of the story had 3 warrant attempts. Louise Mensch has only two.”
What a Mensch.
Davod (f3a711) — 3/6/2017 @ 3:02 pmI don’t know if this has occurred to anybody else, but Trump is basically the President of the United States, and he could just tell the heads of the agencies that could surveil him to explain to him if they did, and why.
Instead The ‘President’ is using Breitbart for his information on the activities of the executive branch.
It’s no surprise the American people find this bizarre sourcing to be an indicator of shenanigans. If Obama was telling us he learned of a Bush program from reading Democratic Underground, but hadn’t actually looked into it directly, we would mock him (of course Obama didn’t operate like this because he wasn’t an idiot).
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/6/2017 @ 3:21 pmI was thinking a 9/11 type commission would be good. Nobody at all connected to Hillary Clinton should be on it, nor anybody too political.
Merrick Garland would be a good Chairman. Democrats would have a hard time criticizing the idea. And Tom Brokaw might be a good member. Federal judges and experienced reporters sometimes deal with complex lies and many liars telling different lies. Maybe somebody from the military who got to the truth of something.
Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/6/2017 @ 2:42 pm
****************
Good idea but I veto Tom Brokaw. Hell he revealed on national television that we lost that kid in the Yemen operation because our drones were hacked–on national television–right after Trump’s first nationally televised speech at the Capitol. And–again–without sources named. Pretty grossly irresponsible.
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/6/2017 @ 3:24 pmInstead The ‘President’ is using Breitbart for his information on the activities of the executive branch.
It’s no surprise the American people find this bizarre sourcing to be an indicator of shenanigans. If Obama was telling us he learned of a Bush program from reading Democratic Underground, but hadn’t actually looked into it directly, we would mock him (of course Obama didn’t operate like this because he wasn’t an idiot).
Dustin (ba94b2) — 3/6/2017 @ 3:21 pm
**************
Beitbart, Gateway Pundit, zerohedge, infowars—ugh.
Still–again let’s revisit the Leftist media–remember TANG and CBS? Remember CNN and their recent –proven activities with Donna Brazile? Then remember Candy Crowley of CNN for the block–against Romney during the debates? It’s easier for Obama he has many more options for corrupted media outlets.
Rae Sremmurd (2fd998) — 3/6/2017 @ 3:27 pmDustin – If Trump did as you suggest and just asked the Justice and Intel departments to hand over the information, what would be the next headline – Trump ruins integrity of agaencies.
Remember when Priebus ask the FBI to make public what they had already told the White House – there was no evidence of collusion between Trump campaign and Russia –
White House defends chief of staff’s contacts with FBI over Russia
FBI Denied White House Request To Downplay Russia Stories
White House Asked FBI To Publicly Refute Reports Trump Associates
Davod (f3a711) — 3/6/2017 @ 3:54 pmHmmm… who makes the most sense of this hash… Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, who usually has a very sober, thoughtful analysis of the issues of the day? Or anonymous innernetz posters with no background or experience in these matters?
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/6/2017 @ 4:53 pm‘Ya her the one about the brank new African-American Secretary of HUD who says immigrants came to America in the bottom of slave ships? Doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out the flaw in that assertion. Or does it.
And Chris Matthews finally mentions ‘Captain Queeg’ on ‘Hardball’ as our leader hides from the cameras. Yep, it’s gonna be a good week on the teevee!
“Captain, I’m sorry but you’re a sick man.” -Steve Maryk [Van Johnson] ‘The Caine Mutiny’ 1954
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/6/2017 @ 4:59 pmbrank=brand. Typo. Apologies.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/6/2017 @ 5:00 pmTrump better veto Ryan care, what a joke this coward is. Typical notrumper all mouth no guts.
mg (31009b) — 3/6/2017 @ 5:06 pm@171. You’re right. That is a most excellent explanation. Comey’s call for a list of everybody connected to related FISA requests is another interesting development. Perhaps the correction has begun.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/6/2017 @ 5:08 pmExon to invest 20 billion on new refineries in Texas and the Gulf coast. 15,000 permanent jobs and 25,000 construction jobs.
mg (31009b) — 3/6/2017 @ 5:47 pmClapper says there were no FISA requests. What Clapper said contradicts almost every piece of reporting by the MSM over the last 6 months. If there weren’t, let’s hear it. If there were, let’s see the proof.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:39 pmFront page above the fold story in the NYT on the morning of the inauguration laid out all of the government entities involved in the wiretap-aided investigations. So what’s the deal here?
F*ck the tweets, we need to get to the bottom of this.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:44 pmi remember all the times that president barack told everyone that he just learned about his administration’s latest scandal by reading the morning paper
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:57 pmClapper rings a bell but Trump has balls; little steel ones he rolls over and over in his tiny hands.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 3/6/2017 @ 8:00 pmClapper, the one who said the ikwan was mostly secular, who waz left in the dark on the nabbing of islamists in London,
narciso (a08d6b) — 3/6/2017 @ 8:06 pmDCSCA (797bc0) — 3/6/2017 @ 4:59 pm
Well, maybe he’s studied the words of the United States constitution a little bit too much in depth, to the exclusion of everything else that could tell him any histor. You know he wrote a book about the constitution.
And the constitution says:
http://constitutionus.com
Article I, Section 9, clause 1:
So, you see, slaves are immigrants. *
The United States constitution avoided all explicit mention of slavery until the 13th amendment, which abolished it. You won’t find that word or its derivatives in it until 1865.
———–
* In commenting on this clause, James Madison, in Federalist number 42, does refer to the people discussed here as slaves.
Now Ben Carson might be right if instead he had referred to the “Great Migration” which started around 1916 – and even some earlier movement of African Americans – from the south to the North – and also to some degree the West.
That’s been quite justifiably compared to immigration – exeot they were coming from places like North Carolina instead of Europe.
Sammy Finkelman (3bf6ea) — 3/6/2017 @ 10:32 pmCruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/6/2017 @ 7:57 pm
That was plagiarism; it was Bill Clinton who first said that.
Sammy Finkelman (3bf6ea) — 3/6/2017 @ 10:33 pmnk @76.
The bigger question is: Why did Trump express extreme skepticism about all of the rebels fighting Assad, and indicate that he wanted to “partner” with Putin to fight “terrorists” – but Putino wasn’t actually interested in fighting them, but merely claimed that he was – an idea that never seemed to be able to make it into Donald Trump’s head, although everybody else admitted it.
The first and fourth point aren’t anything and the appointment of Tillerson, of course, took place
after the election.
————————–
75. 154 re: Andrew McCarthy
So, the issue is not whether Obama or some member of his White House staff “ordered” surveillance of Trump and his associates.
But that’s the way, Mark Levin, and Donald Trump, put it.
an application to wiretap the presidential candidate of the opposition party,
Trump seems to be accusing Obama of that – it’s not entirely clear – but the underlying anonymous sources don’t support that.
and some of his associates,
Four people have been named as possible targets: Paul Manafort, Mike Flynn, Carter Page, and Roger
Stone.
FISA national-security investigations….are more like covert intelligence operations – which presidents personally sign off on.
I don’t think you can use that as a syllogism to prove that a president personally signs off on all FISA warrants. The Attorney General or a top, Senate-confirmed deputy has to.
It is entirely possible that the FBI and other investigative agencies are not pursuing, and have never pursued, a Trump-campaign angle on the hacking. I think they did, because that’s what is included in Christopher Steele’s reports and probably Fusion GPS did try to get an investigation going, and the FBI was probably further encouraged to do so by Harry Reid. And I think also they found nothing in that regard, because the Russians would have no reason to co-ordinate that with the Trump campaign.
And also most of the hacking was over by June. Only when it was over did Russia try to leak infrmation to affect the election. They didn’t know what hurt candidates, but they (that is Guccifer 2.0) consulted reporters, not people in the Trump campaign, and asked them what they were interested in. This was for Congressional races.
it is more likely that the feds got FISA surveillance authorization for some associates of Trump (the names of Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Carter Page are mentioned). But maybe the probable cause for any such surveillance involved those associates’ own business dealings with Russia — having nothing to do with Trump or the Trump campaign.
Could be they were trying to find out, as a first step, if Putin was trying to enrich them.
it was odd that the president chose to tweet the one allegation in the whole mess that appears insupportable — viz., that President Obama had had candidate Trump wiretapped.
Maybe there’s a double agent somewhere around Trump who wants him to make unsupported allegations.
Now that they’ve been called on it, the media and Democrats are gradually retreating from the investigation they’ve been touting for months as the glue for their conspiracy theory.
They may prefer a lot of smoke, so that people would believe ina bgger fire tahn exists.
Now that we’re supposed to believe there was no real investigation of Trump and his campaign, what else can we conclude but that there was no real evidence of collusion between the campaign and Russia
They may have the nature of the collusion and the parties who colluded all wrong. I think it’s clear they never got to the bottom of it.
Sammy Finkelman (3bf6ea) — 3/6/2017 @ 11:43 pmhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/us/politics/trump-russia-associates-investigation.html?_r=1
On Jan 19, 2017, the NY Times published a long story about “intercepts” of communications between Trump’s people and the Russians. The idea was to paint the president-elect as a corrupt stooge.
But:
and
This kind of makes the denials that any wiretaps were conducted a bit of a stretch.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/7/2017 @ 12:16 amTrump is a Red Herring, Drama King President. He doesn’t have anything else to offer, but knows how to knows how stir up Drama. He’s the opposite of our previous President: “No Drama Obama.”
Behind Trump’s mask of confidence and bravado, is a shaking, nervous, cowardly poodle.
Tillman (a95660) — 3/7/2017 @ 5:58 amMr. Trump is a lion, a fierce jungle cat what stalks the land
he do all the hakuna
he do all the matata
and then he deregulate the carcass
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:01 amWell Tillman, I don’t know…
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4gHaqzpBbKo/WLd3e8kqg5I/AAAAAAABGwk/K3kElXjnBqQiYcoPlSpT6DtA5ZymRwNmwCLcB/s640/1ninetymileswlmB01w0rc12o1_500.jpg
Rev. Hoagie® (785e38) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:04 am“After Trump secured the nomination, Obama’s people filed a wiretapping request. As he was on the verge of winning, they did it again. After he won, they are doing everything they can to bring him down.
It was always going to come down to this.
One is the elected President of the United States. The other is the Anti-President who commands a vast network that encompasses the organizers of OFA, the official infrastructure of the DNC and Obama Anonymous, a shadow government of loyalists embedded in key positions across the government.
A few weeks after the election, I warned that Obama was planning to run the country from outside the White House. And that the “Obama Anonymous” network of staffers embedded in the government was the real threat. Since then Obama’s Kalorama mansion has become a shadow White House. And the Obama Anonymous network is doing everything it can to bring down an elected government.
Valerie Jarrett has moved into the shadow White House to plot operations against Trump. Meanwhile Tom Perez has given him control of the corpse of the DNC after fending off a Sandernista bid from Keith Ellison. Obama had hollowed out the Democrat Party by diverting money to his own Organizing for America. Then Hillary Clinton had cannibalized it for her presidential bid through Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Donna Brazile. Now Obama owns the activist, OFA, and organizational, DNC, infrastructure.”
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/266022/obamagate-exposing-obama-deep-state-daniel-greenfield
Colonel Haiku (d40275) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:16 amMeanwhile Obama’s CIA is undressed today.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:28 amToo cryptic for me:
narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:31 amhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-and-russia-a-clash-of-conspiracy-theories-1488847115
185. Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/7/2017 @ 12:16 am
The New York Times does use the phrase “wiretapped communications” but it doesn’t link it to the Trump Tower or the Trump campaign, or to anyplace in the United States. It speaks about the National Security Agency doing survellance, and that is exclusively outside of the Unitwd States.
Within the orders of the United States, only the FBI (and state law enforcement) legally do eavesdropping, and either criminal or FISA warrants are needed, and a FISA warrant must be signed off by the United States Attorney General (or pssibly a designated deputy or deputies) and is only done by the FBI.
Sammy Finkelman (3bf6ea) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:33 amIn his first two tweets about this on Saturday morning, Donald Trump used the words “wires tapped” (in Trump Tower) and “wire tapping” in quotation marks. That could indicate it wasn’t what we would normally call wire-tapping.
On reflection, maybe Trump put in the quotation marks because of the word “wire” because so much current day communication is not via landline… That really makes sense. I think I was wrong before in saying Trump knew it was a computer server.
The third and fourth instances of Trump tweeting about this mention tapping my phones and tapp my phones
Now nobody said anything about voice comunications, at least not in connection with the unconfirmed but written about FISA court order – and that’s the story Trump is referring to because he says:
just before the victory. Nothing found
and
prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier.
and
in October, just prior to Election!
and
during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate.
By the way, it was the hack of the DC that had been compared to Watergate. This is Trump’s usual tu quo que.
Trump may be mixing up two different things – the warrant that may have included something in the Trump Tower – which was about a computer server, that we also read was shut down on Sept 23, three weeks before we are told the arrant was issued October 15 – except that they had some kind of prior information about the server anyway – and possible recording of phone conversations by some eoople with a connection to Donald Trump.
Sammy Finkelman (3bf6ea) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:38 amNow the Jan 19, 2017 New York Times story says intercepted communications and financial transactions
The financial transactions are definitely data, not voice.
Are the communications e-mail and text messages, or also voice?
And the intercepted communications are not necessarily connected to the Trump campaign, which probably at least means, that if any of them were voice, the devices buugged were not in the Trump Tower.
The New York Times says it is partially business dealings and then it says that some of Paul Manafort’s contacts (in Ukraine and maybe Russia) were under surveillance.
And then it says One official said intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications had been provided to the White House
Now who was wiretapped?? The antecedent would seem to be the Russian contacts.
And then the New York Times says:
If the eavesdroppers have to be described as Americans, the targets of the eavesdropping have to to be non-Americans! They are presumably people believed to connected to Russian intelligence or Vladimir Putin.
Now Manafort issued a statement saying he never had any relationship with the Russian government or any Russian officials nor directed anyone else to do so, but he also said, separately (?), that Russian intelligence agents don’t carry badges and identify themselves. The New York Times had previously reported a secret ledger.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/us/politics/paul-manafort-ukraine-donald-trump.html?_r=0
Then the New York Times says that this investigation – the one they are talking about – was not based on the dossier. It says it began last spring, (which is before Christopher Steele began making inquiries of his sources iin Russia, which was in June) and was an outgrowth of a criminal investigation into his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and for the country’s former president, Viktor F. Yanukovych.
Maybe the Russians knew about this surveillance and started spreading disinformation, connecting all of thsi directly to Donald Trump, to what they thought was MI6, to build distrust between the United States and Britain.
The New York Times also states that Carter Page was on the periphery of Mr. Trump’s campaign.
Sammy Finkelman (3bf6ea) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:44 amAnd there’s a mcgurn piece, that speaks to the folly of visa visa itself
narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:46 am190. Wikileaks makes it sound like someone penetrated Langley, but later Wikileaks explains the archive was (relatively recently?) circulated in an unauthorized manner. Or at least that’s what te source claimed. The source claimed it was opposed to the CIA having its own NSA.
What they got was everything the CIA had that concerned tecnical information about hacking and counteracting hacking.
Sammy Finkelman (3bf6ea) — 3/7/2017 @ 6:52 amYes. I read it too.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/7/2017 @ 7:03 amIt looks like they got the noc list(mission impossible reference)
narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2017 @ 7:04 amhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/robert-bork-and-the-fisa-follies-1488847359?tesla=y
I know is this the silliest thing this week:
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/03/06/moonbat-katy-tur-denies-media-ever-said-trump-officials-connected-to-russians-proves-trump-strategy-is-working/
narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2017 @ 7:06 amVDH writes… “If the progressive media and intelligence agencies were hand-in-glove leaking damaging rumors about Trump, and if none were yet substantiated, then the issue reversed and turned instead on a new question: How were they trafficking in confidential intelligence information if not from skullduggery of some sort? No wonder that some smarter observers backtracked from the Russian-Trump collusion charges of the past six months, given that the leaks were less likely to be credible than they were criminal. The accusers have become the accused. And who would police the police?
The media and the anti-Trump Republicans decried Trump’s reckless and juvenile antics as unbefitting a president. Perhaps, but they may have forgotten Trump’s animal cunning and instincts: Each time Trump impulsively raises controversial issues in sloppy fashion — some illegal aliens harm American citizens as they enjoy sanctuary-city status, NATO European partners welch on their promised defense contributions, Sweden is a powder-keg of unvetted and unassimilated immigrants from the war-torn Middle East — the news cycle follows and confirms the essence of Trump’s otherwise rash warnings. We are learning that Trump is inexact and clumsy but often prescient; his opponents, usually deliberate and precise but disingenuous.
Read the whole thing. Plus: “Obama officials have written contorted denials that by their very Byzantine wording suggest there is some truth to the thrust of Trump’s accusations. . . . At best, the public is learning that intelligence agencies and the Obama Justice Department deliberately monitored Trump’s campaign effort (and leaked its findings), acts that fit a larger pattern of seeking to oppose his 2016 campaign.”
https://pjmedia.com/instapundit/259133/
Colonel Haiku (d40275) — 3/7/2017 @ 7:43 am#186 tillman, we know you support barack because of his ties to people in the weather underground
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/7/2017 @ 7:56 am199. Just like Andy McCarthy predicted. Your WSJ piece A Clash of Conspiracy Theories (outside the paywall) is interesting.
Trump’s “crazy Donald” move has reset the public debate leading to reporting on what the heck is going on. Doran’s focus on Clapper’s “mounted against the President” statement makes sense but Clapper’s added qualifier “I can’t speak for other authorized entities in the government or a state or local entity” I bet was biggest clue to what Congressional investigators will ultimately find about how we got here.
The fall of the Gorelick Wall and the rise and spread of technical collection is pushing US into Orwell’s brave new world. Post 9/11 NYC is ground zero for that. If the powerful don’t police themselves and act with integrity, we’re screwed.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/7/2017 @ 7:59 amExhibit A: Former DIRNSA and DCI implies Drudge, Hannity, Breitbart, etc are tools of Russia propaganda
crazy (d3b449) — 3/7/2017 @ 8:27 amGOP Rep. Chaffetz: Americans may need to choose between “new iphone… they just love” and investing in health care
wtf is wrong with this insipid bozo from utah
i’m so over all these snotty idiot morons from utah
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 8:33 am“It speaks about the National Security Agency doing survellance, and that is exclusively outside of the Unitwd States.”
Except that time and again after 9/11 it hasn’t been limited to that.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 3/7/2017 @ 8:39 amSome more pieces of the puzzle
https://audioboom.com/posts/5680400-who-wiretapped-what-why-how-what-is-to-be-done-larrymjohnson-noquarter
narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2017 @ 8:49 am#204 mr happyfeet
i think mr jason is saying low-income people need to prioritize their spending
they should reach into their own pockets and pay toward their health care before they pay for a jumbo-sized hd-tv or a $250 pair of dr dre headphones or a $125 pair of sneakers
they can get a $50 pair of sneakers at kohl’s and watch the jerry springer show and the bachelor on a decent 22″ tv from walmart
life is about making choices
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/7/2017 @ 9:25 ami choose to abjure pervy Mitt Romney’s slicked-up boy toy Paul Ryan’s ridiculously sad and utterly unprincipled excuse for a health care plan
republicans are trash anymore
just pure disgusting statist trash
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 9:32 amTrump was sort of right about Sweden and Kellyanne can cash this check as well:
http://deadspin.com/police-are-investigating-if-several-western-kentucky-fo-1793023975
Now where exactly is WKU located?
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 3/7/2017 @ 9:32 amYes she conflated the Chattanooga incident (Kuwaiti) and the bowling green cell, (there was an ncis episode along those lines)
narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2017 @ 9:38 amTrump was sort of right about Sweden
but he lied like a pig about repealing obamacare
he lied like a filthy no-account little slut
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 9:38 amWhat’s the matter, happyfeet? Don’t anything suit you?
nk (dbc370) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:01 ami like the EPA stuff
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:02 amso far
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:02 amThis might explain it:
http://donsurber.blogspot.com/2017/03/obamacare-repeal-rocks.html
narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:02 amHe always just wanted to improve on it. He was merely politically savvy enough to use the more-decisive sounding “repeal” instead of wonkier verb like fine-tune or re-engineer.
Happy, if you think DairyWhoreTurtleCare is the same crap different wrapper, dont beeootch when Chaffetz makes cold but pithy pleas for the poor to prioritize their meagher dollars, because that how the real innovators in re health care have to think things through and break it down to you and me.
urbanleftbehind (5eecdb) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:03 ambut i don’t like how pervy Mitt Romney’s smarmy and promiscuos little rentboy Paul Ryan is lying about repealing obamacare
and President Trump is going along with it, after running on a promise to repeal obamacare
that’s disgusting
and you know what else?
it’s very very dishonest
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:04 amsmarmy and *promiscuous* little rentboy Paul Ryan i mean
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:05 amoh. nice link Mr. narciso
I knew I could count on Mr. Trump to reform healthcare like a champion stallion – just like he said he would!
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:07 amTrump could be lying about the “tapp”. Obama could be lying. Comey could be lying. Clapper could be lying Everybody in the whole world could be lying. Any reason to believe that Trump is not the person most likely to be lying?
I guess you ain’t been listenin’. Sure, other people know. That’s why we gotta go to this question of character… to determine just who, exactly, is chiselin’ in on my fix. And that’s how we know that it’s Bernie Bernbaum, the shmatte kid — ’cause ethically, he’s kinda shaky.
nk (dbc370) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:07 am— Miller’s Crossing, 1990
mr happyfeet
someone needs to tell low income people that they’re low income, so i applaud mr jason chaffetz
too many low income people want to spend as if they can afford a middle class lifestyle then they complain they don’t have money for groceries or to pay the clinic to take care of little johnny’s ear infection
well, don’t spend all your money on fun and games
you have to eat your vegetables before you get served dessert
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:08 amApparently you can’t remove the dead man’switch, by remote. This was put in through eo, your mileage may vary
narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:09 amIs this where I get to accuse you of wanting Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker?
nk (dbc370) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:09 amnonono
i hate her SO much i really do
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:11 ami agree about the vegetables but you have to forego dessert a LOT in this life
it’s terrible
i got a groupon for Sugar Factory though where you tie it to your Visa and get 25% off your first visit?
hello? that my friend is value
i’m a go on Saturday which is St. Patrick’s Day here in Chicago so I think I should probably make a reservation but I need to really think on what time
ugh so tired of being Julie your cruise director all the time
but I have a little friend coming with her mom and dad her name is K and she is awesome and she never been to Chicago her whole life so I put together a three-day tour focusing on fashion and marketing
happyfeet (28a91b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:15 am218. Rush Limbaugh is trying to explain what happened woh health care and said he had hoped there’s be some attempt to get a market back in. Prices are now not like airline tickets, where something is priced at a level people can afford.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:26 amRush Limbaugh: health insurance now covers band aids – which can cause about $10 a pack. It’s all out of whack.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:36 amMileage may vary:
narciso (d1f714) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:41 amhttp://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2017/03/are-republicans-blowing-it-on-health-care.php
I can’t stress enough the importance of having a doughnut hole – which might have to be as high as $30,000 per year with a lifetime maximum $100,000 – plus a way for everybody to fill that doughnut hole: savings, HSA, special medical low interest credit card, somebody else’s contribution – with conditions set up in such away so that it makes sense for people to donate money because it’ll otherwise be lost – federal government tax loan, federal government other loan, and finally, reduced future Social Security benefits or advancement of retirement date (but money could be repaid at no interest) The payment via Social Security should not completely pay for itself.
Sammy Finkelman (fe6a9b) — 3/7/2017 @ 10:56 amThe F.B.I. is leading the investigations, aided by the National Security Agency, the C.I.A. and the Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit. The investigators have accelerated their efforts in recent weeks but have found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, the officials said. One official said intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications had been provided to the White House.
Note the date … 19-Jan-2017 … the day before Trump became President
Neo (d1c681) — 3/7/2017 @ 12:44 pmhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/us/politics/trump-russia-associates-investigation.html?_r=0
Together with Obama’s recent decision to allow wide access of the previously tightly controlled crown jewels of collection to domestic and international partners I’d forgotten about his 2009 decision to ammend EO 12425 granting INTERPOL rights on American soil that place it beyond the reach of our own law enforcement agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and exempt from FOIA or other government accountability safeguards. Holy Moly…
Perhaps another piece of the puzzle to be unraveled by Congressional hearings.
crazy (d3b449) — 3/7/2017 @ 1:34 pmhttp://wksu.org/post/former-british-lawmaker-embroiled-trump-wiretap-allegations#stream/0
Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/9/2017 @ 4:37 pmhttp://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/08/is-conspiracy-queen-louise-mensch-right-about-donald-trump.html
Sammy Finkelman (6f9f42) — 3/9/2017 @ 4:40 pm