Why? Because he's a narcissist. This stuff about Russia if paranoia plus the
NDC's way of explaining away why their candidate lost. However, there is
evidence of Trump's long term business dealings with Russian criminal
elements and some of those elements have also been involved with Putin in
business, and there's a connection with the Iranian National Guard. But
using innuendo and half assed explanations and increasing tensions with
Russia aren't going to solve the problem that we have a maniac in the White
House.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Frank Ventura
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2017 1:24 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: FBI Challenges Justice Department to Tell
Truth About Presidents
I heard an interesting theory this morning. Some people believe that Trump
was under investigation by the feds for espionage due to his dealings in
Russia and ran for President so that he can use "executive privilege" to
avoid prosecution. Maybe something there as why would a billionaire try to
get a job that pays less than a weekend at one of his resorts.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Miriam Vieni
Sent: Thursday, March 9, 2017 9:54 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] FBI Challenges Justice Department to Tell Truth
About Presidents
Donald Trump, James Comey. (photo: Getty Images)
FBI Challenges Justice Department to Tell Truth About Presidents
By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
07 March 17
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower
just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
- President Trump Tweet, March 4, 2017, @ 6:35 a.m.
First, let's look at the text and its inherent anomalies:
."Just found out" - shortly after 6 a.m., just before sunrise? Really? How?
."that Obama had" - it's unlikely Trump could know whether Obama did or
didn't do anything like this without Trump's learning about classified
information to which he has little or no legal access. As has been widely
reported, Obama (like Trump) has no such authority to "wire tap" private
citizens, any more than Nixon did.
."my 'wires tapped' [sic]" - perhaps the Trumpian quote marks around "wires
tapped" indicates his awareness that most if not all his communications are
wireless, but "wires tapped" is more understandable to his base. This phrase
is also useful for "my," which more or less limits the accusation to Trump
and his extensions - NOT most of the 58-story Trump Tower.
."in Trump Tower" - makes little sense, since "wire taps" in Trump Tower
would be of limited coverage and usefulness. Almost surely, any surveillance
secretly authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (the FISA
Court) would be based on evidence of criminal activity that would require a
much broader reach than just Trump Tower.
."just before the victory" - like days? Weeks? Relevance? If there were
"wire taps" then, is Trump suggesting Obama knew Hillary was going to lose?
Or is there some other obscure point to this alleged timing?
."Nothing found." - Trump apparently also learned this around 6 a.m. on
March 4, assuming it's a fact. If true, it could be evidence of innocence.
It could be evidence of good cyber-security. Whatever it might mean is
easily clarified by de-classifying whatever exists.
."This is McCarthyism!" By definition, it's NOT McCarthyism, certainly not
if this claim refers to the body of the Tweet that precedes it. In that
context, the claim of McCarthyism is as absurd as it is inflammatory.
On March 2, radio commentator Mark Levin ("Ameritopia: The Unmaking of
America") devoted part of his two-hour radio show to castigating Republicans
for not defending Attorney General Jeff Sessions against what he derided as
spurious attacks on Sessions for not revealing two meetings with the Russian
ambassador. Then Levin, an attorney and former chief of staff to Attorney
General Edwin Meese, said:
But there's a bigger scandal here, folks, and this is what I want to walk
you through again. There is a much bigger scandal here. We have a prior
administration - Barack Obama and his surrogates - who were supporting
Hillary Clinton and their party, the Democrat Party - who were using the
instrumentalities of the federal government - intelligence activities - to
surveil members of the Trump campaign! And to put that information out in
the public! Those are police state tactics! Nothing General Flynn did,
nothing General Sessions has done are even in the same category as that!
Levin went on to elaborate his perception of conspiracy: "This is a silent
coup - a silent, non-violent coup. That's what's going on here." The next
day, March 4, his analysis was reported and enlarged on Breitbart.com with a
timeline starting with a FISA court request by the FBI on June 16 that was
"uncharacteristically" denied. Breitbart also noted another "new, narrow"
FISA Court request that was granted. One unintended takeaway from
Breitbart's reporting is that the FBI thought it had enough evidence to
pursue a criminal investigation that included two Russian banks and the
Trump campaign, all lodged in Trump Tower.
Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for
president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
- President Trump Tweet, March 4, 2017 @ 6:49 a.m.
Shortly after sunrise in Palm Beach at 6:42 a.m., and with fourteen minutes
to consider his first Tweet, the President sent another misleading Tweet
accusing President Obama of exercising authority he lacked, still offering
no evidence. Saying "Turned down by a court earlier" he effectively lied by
omission of the second, approved FISA Court order. "A NEW LOW!" would be
accurate, applied to the Trump Tweets. Three minutes later, Trump tripled
down on his allegation, which he now characterizes as "fact" (although the
fact is that the fall surveillance was FISA Court-ordered):
I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President
Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!
- President Trump Tweet, March 4, 2017, @ 6:52 a.m.
Ten minutes later, President Trump has completed his investigation and
trial, reaching not only a verdict but a psychological conclusion about his
predecessor:
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred
election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
- President Trump Tweet, March 4, 2017, @ 7:02 a.m.
In response to inquiries as to what the President meant and what evidence he
had to support his escalating claims, the White House didn't respond for
more than 24 hours. Then the press secretary's office tried to shut the
story down with a brief written statement (here in its entirety) on March 5:
Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations
immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling.
President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation
into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise
their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch
investigative powers were abused in 2016.
Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such
oversight is conducted.
The statement is bizarre. The first sentence refers to President Trump's
Tweets, falsifies them (by using "potentially") and, with presumably
unintended irony, calls them "very troubling." Indeed, they are. Then the
statement mischaracterizes - or lies about - what President Trump said,
claiming he was calling for expanded Congressional investigations. That is
simply false. No wonder "neither the White House nor the President will
comment further.." When you're in a hole, stop digging.
Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, presidential candidate Mike
Huckabee's daughter, went on ABC talk shows Sunday and Monday, falsifying
the Trump Tweets in an effort to back the President away from his
accusations presented as fact. Both Martha Raddatz and George Stephanopoulos
challenged Huckabee's false assertions. On March 5, Martha Raddatz
accurately said of Trump's Tweets about the "wire tapping" that: "He said it
did happen." Huckabee responded evasively and falsely:
Everybody acts like President Trump is the one that came up with this idea
and just threw it out there. There are multiple news outlets that have
reported this. And all we're asking is that we get the same level of look
into the Obama administration and the potential that they had for a complete
abuse of power that they've been claiming that we have done over the last
six months..
After further circular discussion, and no showing of "multiple news outlets"
reporting the President's allegations as facts, Raddatz summed up her
frustration:
Well, what about these accusations? You keep saying, if, if, if. The
President of the United States said it was a fact. He didn't say I read a
story in Breitbart or "The New York Times" or wherever else. He said, "Just
found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower." That's not an
if.
At that point, the best Huckabee was able to say was: "I will let the
President speak for himself." That's what he did in the first place. And the
White House has yet to explain why the President made has series of sunrise
Tweets, or to offer any supporting evidence that they are true. All of this
leaves us with President Trump accusing the Obama administration of illegal
wire-tapping so late in the game it couldn't prevent Trump's election or,
among the alternatives, a Trump Tweet-attack designed to distract from the
ever-growing evidence of the Trump campaign's long and complex interactions
with Russian officials and non-officials.
Meanwhile, inside the Justice Department on March 4, FBI director James
Comey responded to the Trump Tweets by asking the Justice Department to
rebut them, according to the Monday New York Times. Reportedly, Comey
objected to the Trump Tweet storm "because it falsely insinuates that the
F.B.I. broke the law." Neither the FBI nor the Justice Department commented
publicly on the story. Similarly, the White House refused to comment on the
reported Comey request. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said, "I'm
not aware that that occurred." He also said the White House had not asked
either the Justice Department or the FBI for clarification.
This is classic cover-up behavior. The late Maurice Stans was a high-level
Nixon fundraiser and Commerce Secretary who was never convicted of crimes
but admitted violating campaign finance laws and paid fines. Early in the
Watergate cover-up, when his underling Hugh Sloan asked him about money
anomalies, Stans famously replied with this instruction in cover-up tactics:
"I don't want to know, and you don't want to know."
William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio, TV,
print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the Vermont
judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of America, Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine, and an Emmy Award nomination
from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
