Thursday, March 23, 2017

Top Republicans on Intelligence Committee joining in Trump Team’s Attack on Former President Obama’s “Wiretapping” of Trump, Trump’s Businesses and Trump’s Team


Nunes and King seem to agree that Trump was basically correct in accusing Former President Obama of seriously abusing his office by allowing key parts of his administration to engage in electronic surveillance of Trump and/or members of his top team of advisors  ---  WITHOUT SIGNFICANT  NATIONAL SECURITY JUSTIFICATION(S)


Peter King >>> “Trump Surveillance Report Shows 'Shameful' Intel Violations”  ---  “99.5 Percent Accurate to Say Obama Admin Surveilled Trump Transition 


PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ABUSE OF POWER SCANDAL is growing as congressional Republicans give very visible credence to Trump’s very serious accusations against Obama and the Obama administration 


 Let’s start with Politico’s report about House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes bombshell remarks at the White House yesterday  ---  “…   Devin Nunes declared Wednesday that members of Donald Trump’s transition team, possibly including Trump himself, were under  [ ]  surveillance following November’s presidential election….  (See  “Nunes claims some Trump transition messages were intercepted”  by Austin Wright, 3/22/17,  Politico/ Magazine/ Trump Presidency/Policy    [http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/devin-nunes-donald-trump-surveillance-obama-236366]).   [NOTE:  THIS POLITICO ARTICLE DEVOTED ALMOST AS MUCH TIME, SPACE AND “INK” TO THE DEMOCRATS’  COMPLAINTS ABOUT CONGRESSMAN NUNES’  COMING FORWARD WITH THIS INFORMATION DURING A PRESS CONFERENCE AT THE WHITE HOUSE --- I WON”T DEAL WITH ANY OF THAT;  IF YOU CARE WHAT SOME DEMOCRATS WERE WHINING ABOUT, READ THE POLITICO ARTICLE YOURSELF].

Back to what Nunes had to say  ---  the Politico article also said this:   “….  The White House and Trump’s allies immediately seized on the statement as vindication of the president’s much-maligned claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower phones — even though Nunes himself said that’s not what his new information shows….”

POLITICO DESCRIBES NUNES’ NEW INFORMATION  

“….  Nunes set off the firestorm with a news conference earlier in the day [3/22] in which he described the surveillance of Trump aides through what’s called  ‘incidental collection,’  something he noted was routine and legal. Such collection can occur when a person inside the United State communicates with a foreign target of U.S. surveillance. In such cases, the identities of U.S. citizens are supposed to be shielded — but can be  ‘unmasked’ by intelligence officials under certain circumstances….   Nunes, himself a Trump transition member, said a ‘source’ had shown him evidence that members of the Trump transition team had been unmasked — and that their identities had been revealed in U.S. intelligence reports. Nunes had previously raised questions about the unmasking of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, whose communications with Russia’s ambassador were intercepted by the U.S. government and whose identity was leaked to the news media….”

WHAT THE NUNES DISCLUSURE MEANS  --  INTELLIGENCE ON TRUMP INCLUDED MATTERS THAT WEREN’T RUSSIA RELATED

According to Politico  ---  “….  Nunes suggested this unmasking might have been done for political reasons, saying the evidence he had seen had been widely disseminated across the intelligence community and had  ‘little or no apparent intelligence value.’   He added that he was trying to get more information by Friday from the FBI, CIA and NSA….   ‘I have seen intelligence reports that clearly show that the president-elect and his team were, I guess, at least monitored,’  the California Republican told reporters. ‘It looks to me like it was all legally collected, but it was essentially a lot of information on the president-elect and his transition team and what they were doing.’   He said the information he had seen was not related to the FBI’s Russia investigation.

POLITICO SAYS FUTURE CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS WILL GET INTO THE ISSUE OF  ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE OF TRUMP AND HIS TEAM

The Politico article ended with this:  “….  [Nunes’] committee is set to hold a public hearing next Tuesday with members of the Obama administration, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was fired by Trump in January after refusing to defend his first travel ban executive order in court….   They are almost certain to face questions on the matter….   FBI Director James Comey appeared before the panel on Monday and confirmed that the FBI launched a counterintelligence investigation in July into Russia’s election meddling, including possible coordination with the Trump campaign.”


CONGRESSMAN PETER KING SAYS THAT TRUMP WAS PROBABLY RIGHT WHEN HE SAID HE WAS “WIRETAPPED” BY OBAMA 

Wednesday,  Peter King,  the Republican Congress that sits on the House Intelligence Committee said  that the committee’s review of the president’s claim that his transition team was surveilled by the Obama administration was right on-target; meaning that, according to King, Trump was justified in to bringing it all up in his Tweets.

According to Congressman Rep. Peter King  ---  President Trump has “a legitimate case to make,” vis a vis Trump’s  assertion on Twitter that the Obama administration had wiretapped Trump Tower  (See  GOP Rep Peter King: 99.5 Percent Accurate to Say Obama Admin Surveilled Trump Transition”  by Jeff Poor,  3/22/17,  Breitbart News/ [ http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2017/03/22/gop-rep-peter-king-99-5-percent-accurate-say-obama-admin-surveilled-trump-transition/]).   
However, it should also be noted that King also indicated  that Trump might have “overstepped” or “overplayed his hand.”The Breitbart article went on to say that  ---  Host Bill O’Reilly pressed King on the seriousness of Trump being ‘surveilled,’ to which King said it was at least 99.5 percent correct [Trump] was surveilled….   ‘I would say, from all I know, you’re at least 99-and-a-half percent accurate, and probably 100 percent,’ he replied….”
Fox’s own report on the O’Reilly interview with Congressman gives all of this slightly different flavor.   According to Fox, when King said Trump "overplayed his hand" by flatly making his accusation that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower,  the Long Island Congressman clarified his statement by adding that information pertaining to Trump was used and leaked illegally in the process of conducting other surveillance….   He said authorities must find who gave the order to "unmask" Trump or his associates and who allowed the information to be leaked out.…  [B]ut what we do know is, to me, this is shameful….” (See  “Peter King: Trump Surveillance Report Shows 'Shameful' Intel Violations” by Staff Writer 3/22/17, Fox News/ Insider   [http://insider.foxnews.com/2017/03/22/trump-wiretapping-report-shows-shameful-intelligence-violations-peter-king-says]).
                                                                                          

19 comments:

  1. Nunes has the smoking gun but he wont show it to anyone. Yeah that happens a lot.

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  2. Even though Trump carried Staten Island Donovan jumped off this sinking ship as other moderate Republicans did. Smart move by Dan for Dan.

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  3. UPDATE: THE "SMOKING GUN" EDITION

    ONE OF FOX NEWS' TOP INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS SAYS THAT GOP IS EXPECTING TO FIND A "SMOKING GUN" CONNECTING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO SURVEILLANCE OF THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN AND EVEN TRUMP HIMSELF --- POSSIBLY THIS WEEK

    The print article by Fox News reporter James Rosen says that --- "Republican congressional investigators expect a potential “smoking gun” establishing that the Obama administration spied on the Trump transition team, and possibly the president-elect himself, will be produced to the House Intelligence Committee this week, a source told Fox News.... Classified intelligence showing incidental collection of Trump team communications, purportedly seen by committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and described by him in vague terms at a bombshell Wednesday afternoon news conference, came from multiple sources, Capitol Hill sources told Fox News. The intelligence corroborated information about surveillance of the Trump team that was known to Nunes, sources said, even before President Trump accused his predecessor of having wiretappedhim in a series of now-infamous tweets posted on March 4.... The intelligence is said to leave no doubt the Obama administration, in its closing days, was using the cover of legitimate surveillance on foreign targets to spy on President-elect Trump, according to sources...." (See "Potential 'smoking gun' showing Obama administration spied on Trump team, source says" by James Rosen, 3/23/17, Fox News/ White House [http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/23/potential-smoking-gun-showing-obama-administration-spied-on-trump-team-source-says.html]).

    Here are some other highlights from the Rosen-Fox article:
    ".... The FBI hasn’t been responsive to the House Intelligence Committee’s request for documents, but the National Security Agency is expected to produce documents to the committee by Friday. The NSA document production is expected to produce more intelligence than Nunes has so far seen or described – including what one source described as a potential “smoking gun” establishing the spying...."; and this:
    ".... CIA Director Mike Pompeo is also sympathetic to the effort to determine, with documentary evidence, the extent of any alleged Obama administration spying on the Trump team, sources said...."

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  4. James Rosen is solid.

    Andrew Napolitano fell through a trap door and has not been heard from.

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  5. Gail, why haven't you told your readers about Liam McCabe's posters around Bay Ridge?

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  6. Former Congressman Pete Hoekstra, who was also once Intelligence Committee Chairman, said surveillance information House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes disclosed Wednesday about intercepted communications between Trump campaign officials was "powerful." He said that "It's outrageous what appears to have gone on" in the Obama White House.

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  7. The problem now appears to be Nunes. He apologizes for violating protocol so the headlines are all about an apology.

    FISA violations for domestic political surveillance is a serious crime. Fuck protocol.

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  8. McCabe has posters?

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  9. To the Comment above. The posting concerns the obama White House spying on Trum. I think we can discuss those stupid campaign posters in the future

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  10. RESPONSE: THE "I COULDN'T HAVE SAID IT BETTER..." EDITION

    TO: "ANONYMOUS SAID... AT 12:53 PM"

    THANX.....

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  11. UPDATE: THE "DAILY PETER KING REPORT" EDITION

    LONG ISLAND REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN SAYS THAT HOUSE INTELLIGENCE CHAIRMAN DEVIN NUNES WAS 100% RIGHT GOING STRAIGHT TO THE PRESIDENT WITH THE "VINDICATION" NEWS ABOUT THE "OBAMA WIRETAP" TWEETS --- KING SAYS "... NUNES... HAD NO CHOICE..."

    Newsmax reports that in today's appearance on the Fox News "America's Newsroom" program, Congressman Peter King said that --- "House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes was correct to take his information concerning reports of electronic surveillance of Trump Tower to the president, as he had no other choice...." (See "Rep. Pete King: Nunes Right to Share Report With Trump" by Sandy Fitzgerald [with Fox video linkof King segment], 3/24/17, Newsmax/ Politics [http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Pete-King-Nunes-Trump-Surveillance/2017/03/24/id/780658/]).

    King specifically said that the improper activities going on inside the intelligence services and the prior administration in the White House, involving President-Elect Trump made it necessary to tell the President immediately and directly.

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  12. So hows that repeal of Obama care working out for ya?

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  13. Mid term elections next year will cost the GOP both houses.

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  14. After 8 years of Bill Clinton i had Clinton fatigue.

    After 2 months of Trump I have trump fatigue.

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  15. RESPONSE & UPDATE: THE "RELAX, GO TO A JONATHAN TURLEY LECTURE" EDITION

    TO: THE LAST FEW COMMENTERS ABOVE

    YOU KEEP FOCUSING ON THE BRIGHT SHINY THING THE NOW-COMPLETELY-DISCREDITED MAINSTREAM MEDIA ARE WAVING IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES --- "YOU ARE GETTING SLEEPY... YOU ARE GETTING SLEEPY..."

    ONE OF THE RENOWNED NATIONAL EXPERTS ON THE CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNMENT, JONATHAN TURLEY HAS WEIGHED IN ON THE "OBAMA WIRETAPPING" TWEETS --- HE PRETTY MUCH SAYS THAT THE MSM IS MISSING A BIG STORY ABOUT A BIG DEAL, "... AN ALARMING ABUSE OF [GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES'] SURVEILLANCE RULES..."

    Jonathan Turley, a professor of Con-Law and government at GW Law School and ubiquitous guest expert on various broadcast and cable networks, makes this key point in his opinion piece for "The Hill": ".... The media seemed so delighted by the quagmire created by Trump’s tweet [about the "Obama wiretapping"] that it refused to acknowledge reasonable interpretations of the tweet or the possibility that there might have been surveillance...." And, because of that, the large-scale press and network electronic media are failing to report on mounting evidence of a large-scale surveillance operation that gathered information on many Americans, improperly left their identities unmasked, and then disseminated all of that information throughout multiple government agencies resulting in leaks of that information to the media (See "Trump was right after all about the Obama administration wiretaps" by Jonathan Turley, 3/24/17, The Hill/ Opinion [http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/325648-trump-was-right-after-all-on-the-obama-wiretapping]).

    Although Professor Turley is extremely critical of the White House handling and explanations of Trump's original Tweets, he is quite clear that the emerging evidence is very supportive of the reasonably clear meaning of and/or easily explained versions of Trump's claims, as initiated in his problematic Tweets.

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  16. Even better: unlike Capano's posters, McCabe's campaign posters actually say what office he is running for.

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  17. UPDATE: THE "TURLEY PIECE MAKING THE ROUNDS" EDITION

    RIGHT-WING ESTABLISHMENT MEDIA GOING WITH THE TURLEY OPINION ABOUT THE OBAMA WIRETAPPING OF TRUMP --- NEWSMAX COMES ONBOARD WITH "THE HILL"

    I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE TO SEE THE PROFESSOR JONATHAN TURLEY ARTICLE IN "THE HILL" AND MAKE A POINT ABOUT WHAT HE HAD TO SAY --- THE FOLKS AT NEWSMAX DID THE SAME THING --- BUT I BEAT THEM TO THE PUNCH BY ABOUT EIGHT HOURS.....

    According to the Newsmax pick-up on the Turley item --- "President Donald Trump masked legitimate concerns with the wording in his March 4 tweets that President Barack Obama wiretapped his offices at Trump Tower, but the point remains that his campaign staff may have been subjected to surveillance under his predecessor's administration, constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley says in an opinion piece for The Hill Friday.... The [word] wiretap, especially among those of the Trump generation, generally means surveillance, said Turley, so there is 'no reason to assume that Trump meant solely the act of an actual wiretap when he put wiretap in quotations as opposed to surveillance.'... When House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes disclosed there was evidence that inadvertent interceptions had occurred, and intelligence officials attached names of parties to transcripts and circulated the documents within the intelligence community, that added weight to Trump's allegations, said Turley...." (See "Law Professor Turley: Trump May Have Been Right With Wiretap Tweets" by Sandy Fitzgerald, 3/25/17, Newsmax/ Politics [http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/turley-trump-wiretap-tweets/2017/03/25/id/780738/]).

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  18. UPDATE & BACKFILL: THE “SHOULDER TO SHOULDER & ‘ONCE MORE WITH FEELING’ ” EDITION

    TREY GOWDY REITERATES HIS SUPPORT FOR INTEL CHAIRMAN NUNES & DEFENDS NUNES’ WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING OF THE PRESIDENT --- REJECTS “INDEPENDENT COMMISSION” TALK BY DEMOCRATS AND A FEW REPUBLICANS

    Why has “The Hill” decided to cover a Sunday talk show appearance by Trey Gowdy, wherein he reiterated his previously stated defense of Devin Nunes’ visit to the White House to brief President Trump about new intelligence information probably leaked to Nunes ??? Maybe, it’s to show that most Republicans are circling their partisan wagons just like the Democrats already have, over the whole issue of the intelligence-security agencies’ >>> LEAKS <<< that fueled the Democrat onslaught over the thus-far-unproved Russia-Trump Campaign collusion story.....

    According to “The Hill” --- “Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) on Sunday defended House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) after Nunes bypassed his own committee to brief the president on information related to U.S. surveillance of his transition team…. ‘My understanding is Chairman Nunes briefed the commander in chief on matters unrelated to the Russian investigation,’ Gowdy said on CBS's "Face The Nation."… ‘So if that's a big deal in Washington, then we've sunk to a new low.’… When pressed, Gowdy reiterated that Nunes briefed the president on ‘something that has nothing to do with the Russia investigation.’… ‘So if the commander in chief cannot be briefed by the chairperson of the House Intel Committee on a matter that has nothing to do with the FBI investigation, then I don't know what they can talk about.’… ‘He's the commander in chief.’…" (See “Gowdy: Nunes briefed president on matters 'unrelated' to Russia probe” by Rebecca Savransky, 3/26/17, the Hill [http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/325835-gowdy-nunes-briefed-president-on-matters-unrelated-to-russia-probe]).

    Later in the Savransky-Hill article, they highlighted how Gowdy rejected the widespread Democrat clamor and few Republican calls for an “Independent Commission” as follows: “…. Gowdy, a former prosecutor, on Sunday also dismissed the idea of establishing an independent commission to investigate the Russian interference…. ‘Thank goodness we have one. It's called the FBI. The FBI has counterintelligence jurisdiction and they have criminal jurisdiction,’ he said…. ‘And what we learned on Monday, and it's about the only thing we learned on Monday, was that the FBI is investigating both.’… He added that he knows incidental collection in the country happens, but he hopes people will focus on the unmasking…. ‘The felonious dissemination of classified information is the only thing we know for sure is a crime, and it would be nice if we showed the same level of interest in that,’ he said.”

    So, one more time, since Mr. Gowdy had said most of this stuff in the past, why this feature by “The Hill” now ? --- It has to be something more than a “ONCE MORE WITH FEELING…” thing by the folks at "The Hill".....

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