Replies to post #86215 on Your Economy (No Politics) (YE1)

[Ayock]

A President can not order a wire tap...

but the security agencies can...NSA, FBI, Homeland Security, etc...BUT, it requires that they go before a FISA court judge to get a warrent for the wire tap. IF Trump Tower was wiretapped, then there is a FISA warrant out there that was issued on the evidence presented that there is probable cause to believe that there is illegal activity going on and needs to be monitored.

If Trump Was Wiretapped, It Means He's "In Deep Shit"


by john wright
March 04, 2017 11:03 AM

Experts Cast Doubt On President's Claim

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Ted Lieu ? @tedlieu
Mr. President: If there was a wiretap at Trump Tower, that means a fed judge found probable cause of crime which means you are in deep shit.

How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

…
7:14 AM - 4 Mar 2017
33,180 33,180 Retweets 57,481 57,481 likes

If President Donald Trump's phones were tapped during last year's campaign — which he alleged on Saturday — it means he's "in deep shit," according to one Democratic congressman.

"Mr. President: If there was a wiretap at Trump Tower, that means a fed judge found probable cause of crime which means you are in deep shit," California Rep. Ted Lieu (pictured) wrote on Twitter.

Trump and his campaign have been accused of communicating with Russian officials while the Kremlin was allegedly attempting to swing the election in his favor by hacking Democratic targets.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi responded to Trump's unhinged Saturday morning tweetstorm by repeating her call for an independent investigation.

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Nancy Pelosi ? @NancyPelosi
The Deflector-in-Chief is at it again. An investigation by an independent commission is the only answer.
7:21 AM - 4 Mar 2017
5,470 5,470 Retweets 14,548 14,548 likes

Lieu's tweet appeared to be based on a Washington Post report in which a former senior U.S. intelligence official said if Trump's phones were tapped, it means there was probable cause that the lines were being used by agents of a foreign power.

But the former official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump's claims about wiretapping — for which the White House has provided no evidence — seemed "highly unlikely."

"It seems unthinkable," the official said. "If that were the case by some chance, that means that a federal judge would have found that there was either probable cause that he had committed a crime or was an agent of a foreign power. ... You can't just go around and tap buildings."

Ben Rhodes, who served as foreign policy advisor for the Obama administration, also cast doubt on the validity of Trump's tweets, in which he accused Obama of ordering the wiretap.

"No President can order a wiretap," Rhodes wrote on Twitter in response to Trump. "Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you."

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Ben Rhodes ? @brhodes
No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you.

Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017

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6:25 AM - 4 Mar 2017
49,094 49,094 Retweets 87,376 87,376 likes

The Post's Robert Costa reports that Trump's tweets about wiretapping caught his advisers off guard. The tweets were sent from Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, where he is vacationing again this weekend:

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Robert Costa ? @costareports
Several Trump advisers woke up this morning surprised by the president's tweets. They weren't told of his plans, a 2nd official says.
5:53 AM - 4 Mar 2017
3,509 3,509 Retweets 6,201 6,201 likes

Trump's tweets came in the wake of Attorney General Jeff Sessions' decision to recuse himself from any investigation of contacts between Russian officials and Trump's campaign. Sessions' recused himself after it was revealed that he met twice with the Russian ambassador while serving as a surrogate for Trump's campaign last year. During his confirmation hearing, Sessions told senators he had no communications with the Russians during the campaign.

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Robert Costa ? @costareports
Trump left WH in a fury on Friday, fuming about Sessions's recusal and telling aides that Sessions shouldn't have recused himself...
6:30 AM - 4 Mar 2017
4,557 4,557 Retweets 7,777 7,777 likes

[Ayock]

Trump Accidentally Confirms FBI Has FISA Court Warrant Granting Examination Of His Campaign
March 4, 2017
by Samuel Warde No Comments


Trump inadvertently confirms that a federal warrant was issued allowing counter-intelligence officials to look at members of his campaign.


Earlier this morning, Trump launched a flurry of tweets lashing out at President Obama, accusing him of wire-tapping his phones in Trump Tower.

Nothing too outstanding, considering that he is known for his childish Twitter tirades. However, one tweet in particular caught my attention because he specified the month of October in it.

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Donald J. Trump ? @realDonaldTrump
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!
3:52 AM - 4 Mar 2017
32,188 32,188 Retweets 106,952 106,952 likes

Indeed, I called several friends telling them that something must have happened in October that has Trump concerned.

Lo and behold, his tweet caught the attention of Louise Mensch, a British journalist who self-describes herself on Twitter as being “conservative.”

As it turns out, Mensch launched a website called Heat Street last year that is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp which owns Fox News.

Mensch posted a series of tweets directed at Trump’s tweet referencing the month of October, starting with the following tweet stating: “Note that the Suspect Trump admits US tapped his phones ‘in October right before the victory’ -consistent with my #FISA warrant exclusive.”

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Louise Mensch ? @LouiseMensch
Note that the Suspect Trump admits US tapped his phones "in October right before the victory" -consistent with my #FISA warrant exclusive
7:08 AM - 4 Mar 2017
1,006 1,006 Retweets 1,885 1,885 likes

As we learn from subsequent tweets, she is referring to an article she published for Heat Street last November alleging that the FBI was granted a FISA warrant covering his campaign’s ties to Russia.

As her article explains:

Two separate sources with links to the counter-intelligence community have confirmed to Heat Street that the FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of ‘U.S. persons’ in Donald Trump’s campaign with ties to Russia.

For those unfamiliar with the term FISA court, Wikipedia defines it as follows:

The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC, also called the FISA Court) is a U.S. federal court established and authorized under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests for surveillance warrants against foreign spies inside the United States by federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies. Such requests are made most often by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Congress created FISA and its court as a result of the recommendations by the U.S. Senate’s Church Committee.[1] Its powers have evolved to the point that it has been called “almost a parallel Supreme Court.”
Mensch goes on to explain in her article that: “The fact that the alleged warrant was a FISA warrant is itself significant. The court exists to grant warrants to examine cases concerned with Foreign Intelligence.”

Pursuant to FISA, the Court entertains applications submitted by the United States Government for approval of electronic surveillance, physical search, and other investigative actions for foreign intelligence purposes. Most of the Court’s work is conducted ex parte as required by statute, and due to the need to protect classified national security information.

She goes on to quote Bradley P. Moss, a national security lawyer, who told her that:

If a FISA warrant was issued, it does not necessarily mean that the court considered any U.S. persons as literal ‘spies.’ I can imagine an argument having been made that there was probable cause to believe they were “agents of influence” who were unwittingly being influenced by a foreign power.

If the operation concerns suspected money laundering involving a foreign government, the FISA warrant could theoretically encompass U.S. persons in that limited context. A FISA warrant is authorization to collect evidence, not to arrest.

This is huge; and, if it proves to be true, Trump may have just committed a near-fatal error by making that admission.

And there seems to be every reason to believe her article. As she tweeted later today – both The Guardian confirmed her article and the BBC independently confirmed her allegations about the issuance of a FISA warrant.

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Louise Mensch ? @LouiseMensch
And @guardianUS, @bbc, but months (two months) after I broke the #FISA warrant story on Nov 7th. @guardian @bbc confirmed independently. https://twitter.com/jbaird02/status/838072159503253504 …
9:04 AM - 4 Mar 2017
157 157 Retweets 339 339 likes

Additionally, The Guardian reported today on the connection between Trump’s tweet and Mensch’s article.

The Guardian went on to explain that Trump’s claim that Obama ordered the wire taps was baseless:

Obama’s former deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, tweeted back at Trump: “No president can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you.”

Later an Obama spokesman, Kevin Lewis, issued a statement that did not deny there was a wiretapping but did deny that Obama ordered one.
“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” the statement said.

“As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
On a lighter note, Mensch’s latest tweet at the time of publication of this article mocks Trump’s likely impeachment.

Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I’ve got a beautiful fee-ling,
Donald is going away
#impeachment