Was Surveillance of Trump and His Colleagues “Incidental” or Intentional? - P&E

[bsteadman]

Was Surveillance of Trump and His Colleagues “Incidental” or Intentional?

AND WHO “ORDERED” IT?

The Post & Email
by Sharon Rondeau
4/3/2017

Excerpt:

(Apr. 3, 2017) — In an amplification of several earlier internet and broadcast reports from Fox News, on Monday Adam Housley revealed that former Obama national security adviser Susan Rice was said by intelligence sources to have played a role in “unmasking” the names of U.S. citizens, and specifically, Trump and those associated with his presidential campaign, in intelligence reports to which she was privy.

Housley described the “surveillance” of Trump and his campaign colleagues as “incidental,” meaning that phone calls in which they participated or discussed were aimed at a foreign citizen or citizens.

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View the complete article including image, links and comments at:

http://www.thepostemail.com/2017/04/...l-intentional/

[bsteadman]

It Starts With Rice: What did Obama know and when did he know it?

The tentacles of this could lead straight to Obama... (color and font size emphasis added)

Canada Free Press
by Chip McLean
4/4/2017

Excerpt:

Now that Susan Rice has been exposed as the Obama official who authorized the unmasking of Trump transition team members, it is time to find out what other Obama officials - including Obama himself - knew about this highly unethical, and possibly illegal action by the former national security adviser.

This is the same Susan Rice who told bald faced lies for days about the Benghazi attack that killed ambassador Chris Stevens and three others. Rice kept repeating the demonstrable lie that the attack was prompted by a video.

"“I see nothing, I know nothing"”

This is the same Susan Rice who also claimed in 2014 that Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl “"served the United States with honor and distinction”" and that he "“wasn't simply a hostage; he was an American prisoner of war captured on the battlefield".” Bergdahl is currently awaiting court martial for desertion and other charges.

Rice claimed as recently as last month when questioned about the unmasking reports that she knew “nothing about this”. She might as well have been Hogan’s Heroes’ Sgt. Schultz saying "“I see nothing, I know nothing"”.

This is serious business. Americans who are caught up in incidental surveillance in foreign intelligence gatherings are not supposed to have their names revealed, unless this would be relevant to the actual foreign intelligence. That Susan Rice authorized this before and after the election leads to question of motive, and that motive could easily be to harm the Trump campaign and then later, undermine the Trump presidency.

It has now been revealed by former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova that Rice ordered “detailed spreadsheets”of Donald Trump and his aides -while he was running for president.

It is difficult to imagine that Susan Rice authorized all of this this on her own

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View the complete article including image and comments at:

http://canadafreepress.com/article/i...did-he-know-it

[bsteadman]

Rand Paul Calls For Susan Rice To Testify On Unmasking Trump Officials

The Daily Caller
by Juliegrace Brufke, Capitol Hill Reporter
4/3/2017

Excerpt:

GOP Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said he believes former National Security Advisor Susan Rice should testify before Congress on her request to unmask the names of Trump transition officials collected during routine intelligence-gathering operations.

Paul argued the situation should not be downplayed, saying reforms need to be made to prevent individuals from being blackmailed on personal aspects of their lives through unmasking. He noted there was nothing stopping the former administration from looking through Trump officials and national security advisors’ conversations during the transition window.

“If it is allowed, we shouldn’t be allowing it, but I don’t think should just discount how big a deal it is that Susan Rice was looking at these,” he told reporters Monday. “And she needs to be asked, ‘Did President Obama ask her to do this? Was this a directive from President Obama? I think she should testify under oath on this.”

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View the complete article including links at:

http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/03/ra...ump-officials/

[bsteadman]

"But I thought Obama had a scandal-free administration?"
Obama vs Nixon, tweet, wiretap.jpg


Twitter Image credit: Brittany Pettibone @BrittiPettibone

https://twitter.com/BrittPettibone/s...21532648194050

[bsteadman]

Susan Rice'’s White House Unmasking: A Watergate-style Scandal

National Review
by Andrew C. McCarthy
4/4/2017

Excerpt:

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Because we’ve been told for weeks that any unmasking of people in Trump’s circle that may have occurred had two innocent explanations: (1) the FBI’s investigation of Russian meddling in the election and (2) the need to know, for purposes of understanding the communications of foreign intelligence targets, the identities of Americans incidentally intercepted or mentioned. The unmasking, Obama apologists insist, had nothing to do with targeting Trump or his people.

That won’t wash.

In general, it is the FBI that conducts investigations that bear on American citizens suspected of committing crimes or of acting as agents of foreign powers. In the matter of alleged Russian meddling, the investigative camp also includes the CIA and the NSA. All three agencies conducted a probe and issued a joint report in January. That was after Obama, despite having previously acknowledged that the Russian activity was inconsequential, suddenly made a great show of ordering an inquiry and issuing sanctions.

Consequently, if unmasking was relevant to the Russia investigation, it would have been done by those three agencies. And if it had been critical to know the identities of Americans caught up in other foreign intelligence efforts, the agencies that collect the information and conduct investigations would have unmasked it. Because they are the agencies that collect and refine intelligence “products” for the rest of the “intelligence community,” they are responsible for any unmasking; and they do it under “minimization” standards that FBI Director James Comey, in recent congressional testimony, described as “obsessive” in their determination to protect the identities and privacy of Americans.

Understand: There would have been no intelligence need for Susan Rice to ask for identities to be unmasked. If there had been a real need to reveal the identities — an intelligence need based on American interests — the unmasking would have been done by the investigating agencies.

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View the complete article including image and links at:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...on-fbi-cia-nsa