[bitt]

ping

[Tenacious 1]

Wasn’t it CNN that repeatedly called Trump a liar and mocked him after he commented on being “wiretapped” after the NYT reported that his property had been “wiretapped”?

I thought so. Where is the CNN announcement and apology for getting it wrong the first time? (I won’t hold my breath)

[OttawaFreeper]

I stopped by CNN briefly last night and saw a woman there breathlessly making assertions that Manafort and Trump must be guilty of collusion with Russia based on the wiretapping that was done. What mindless bunk and it was peppered with the usual media catchphrases like “Russian collusion” and “hacking”.

[joshua c]

The wiretapping was a while ago if they had anything we would have heard by now.

Mueller is on a fishing expedition. They have bupkiss.

[Liz]

MSM news anchors were happy as clams speculating that the court-authorized FISA wiretap MUST mean that political operative Paul Manafort was probably guilty. The newsboys happily speculated that perhaps Trump, himself, was implicated.

Now that's very interesting. B/c not only is it a no-no to LIE to a FISA court.....it is a felony to WITHHOLD info from the FISA court.

<><>Did Obama's request for a FISA warrant stipulate that Obama and Susan Rice wire-tapped Trump Tower......while Trump was a candidate?

<><> Did Obama's request for a FISA warrant stipulate that Obama's CIA director Brennan used phony foreign intel as a pretext for a multi-agency investigation into candidate Trump?

<><> Did the request for a FISA warrant stipulate that phony foreign intel led the FBI to probe a computer server connected to candidate Trump residing and conducting business in Trump Tower?

<><> Did the request for a FISA warrant stipulate that foreign intel gave cover to Susan Rice's sifting/unmasking operations?

==============================================

I didn't think so.

[Alberta's Child]

But McCarthy said the purpose of a FISA warrant is not to build a criminal prosecution but to conduct a counterintelligence or counterterrorism operation. The reason for conducting surveillance on an American citizen in such an operation is to find out more about the activities of a foreign power or terrorist organization.

I've seen some comments from lawyers who point out that collecting information in this manner actually makes it harder to pursue criminal charges against the U.S. citizen because the evidence gathered may be thrown out in court on the grounds that there was never a real probably cause to collect it.

This is probably why the FBI agents raided Manafort's house in the last few weeks. They may be futilely trying to build a criminal case, knowing full well that the evidence they already had in hand will be inadmissible in court.

[Truth29]

Mueller is working his way toward indicting those close to Trump in the hopes of indicting or otherwise bringing down Trump. It doesn’t matter if there is real evidence or not.
With an unlimited budget and staff, Mueller can manufacture whatever evidence he wants and with a DC grand jury, he can indict the proverbial ham sandwich. It was a crucial error to appoint Sessions and to allow Mueller to continue his frame up of the Administration. It may take steps outside the existing legal system to stop this madness.

[DoughtyOne]

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President Donald J. Trump and the Free Republic of the United States of America
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[editor-surveyor]

.
Meuller and Comey belong in a cell.

Fortunately Manafort is a strong willed individual, and their malevolence and malfeasance will catch up to them as this circus plays out.

Too bad we have a pussy for an attorney general.

Trump should pardon Sessions for his hidden crimes, so that he can do his job without fear.

.

[monkeyshine]

It may have been ostensibly legitimate to tap Manafort in 2014, if they thought Russians were using his services illegally or if Manafort was not reporting his services appropriately (I leave Constitutional questions about his freedom to associate for a different debate). Where it gets really troubling is that they stopped the tap, and then restarted it around the time he signed on to the Trump campaign. This smacks of political espionage - using the instruments of state against the political opposition. Because of this, I am certain Mueller will come up with some charge against Manafort no matter how specious it may be. They have to cover for the establishment and try to give legitimacy to what appears to be yet another of the many abuses of power people the Obama administration in which have been involved. This issue cannot truly be isolated since it is just one of many allegations of abuse of power.

Another interesting twist is how this feeds into the Russia hysteria. How far in advance did the Democrats plan this Trump+Russia canard? I think it was probably just a happy coincidence for Hillary and the DNC. They knew they had this tap on Manafort, and after the DNC emails were leaked they concocted this Russia hacking story knowing they had this weak investigation to point to. If they won, would they have come down on Trump like a ton of bricks? I guess yes, because he flat campaigned on “crooked Hillary” issue and this would have been payback. They lost and found it a useful distraction and political tool to try to weaken the Trump admin.

A great irony here is how Hillary and the DNC were able to use the instruments of state as a political weapon while accusing Trump of using the instruments of a foreign nation. Both would be technically illegal. The use of wiretaps against political opposition is, imo, a far worse crime against the Republic. Besides the ability to tap the Trump campaign, Hillary had access to endless ream of foreign intelligence thanks to her tenure as Sec of State and connections in the executive branch. But none of that, not even the open collusion with Ukraine and the massive financial contributions she received from Russia and the rest of the world, is even a topic of discussion. The abuse of power in the mere existence of the Clinton Foundation alone should have been disqualifying. Ignoring the issue of financial contributions, the fact that she as the presumptive nominee and next POTUS was using the CF to peddle influence gave her a huge advantage - in money, in media influence, in institutional support and so on. Disgraceful. And I cannot imagine any other candidate at any other time being able to pull that off without reproach. Yet she did, which is very scary in what it implies about corruption in the USA.

[Sir Napsalot]

save for later