Unmasking Of Trump People Is Illegal

4 Reasons Susan Rice Should Be Investigated

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

BY:

 ELLIOTT HAMILTON

APRIL 10, 2017

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A bombshell report last week revealed that Susan Rice, Barack Obama's
 national security advisor, asked the intelligence community for information
on and subsequently unmasked members of Trump's transition team and
campaign. As a result of this revelation, pressure has been mounting for an
investigation into Rice over these reports. Here are the reasons why
 this is a good idea:

1. We need to know if the unmasking of members of Trump's team was 
politically motivated.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R - GA) said the following to The Hill's Molly K. Hooper:

When you’re in position like that and you have responsibility,

constitutional responsibility, legal responsibility, you do not take

things upon yourself to drive national security in a political direction.

Rep. Loudermilk is correct. The national security advisor works with the
president on issues surrounding the protection of the homeland, a power
 that is enumerated to the executive branch in Article II of the Constitution,
 and should not be influenced by partisan politics. If Rice acted extrajudicially in pushing her political agenda through her position, that raises serious concerns.

2. We need to know who initiated the unmasking of Trump's team.

When Rep. Devin Nunes (R - CA) announced information about the
 "incidental collection" of surveillance intel on Trump's team, it was unclear
 who was responsible for ordering the wiretaps in the first place and whether
 it was actually intended to keep tabs on Trump's team. Having been outed
 as involved in the unmasking, Rice needs to be upfront about the intent of the
 wiretaps that "incidentally" bugged members of then-President-elect Trump's
 transition team.

Rep. Loudermilk likewise addresses this question in his statement to The Hill.
 "Somewhere, somebody in the intelligence community had the idea to make
this political to unmask those people so that it can be used for political
purposes," he said. "The question is, we know where the order came from,
what it sounds like from Susan Rice, was it her intention or was she just
 parroting something that someone said?"

Indeed, Rice needs to answer that question.

3. We need to know if Rice's actions violated the law. 

While it is not illegal to unmask Americans incidentally wiretapped in a
 surveillance operation, it is illegal to leak those names to the press, as
Trey Gowdy (R - SC) implied while questioning FBI Director James Comey
 a few weeks ago.

Watch his line of questioning from March 20:

4. We need closure to this story.

This story has been front and center of the news cycle for over a
month, ever since President Trump tweeted his accusation
 that President Obama "wire tapped" Trump Tower. We need
 answers to all the questions surrounding this possible
 "political weaponizing" of the intelligence agencies.atch
his line of questioning from March 20:

4. We need closure to this story.

This story has been front and center of the news cycle for over a month, ever
 since President Trump tweeted his accusation that President Obama "wire
 tapped" Trump Tower. We need answers to all the questions surrounding
 this possible "political weaponizing" of the intelligence agencies.

Mike Lee On Quixote Mission

A new concept in Congress; constitutional governance

Posted on February 5, 2016 by Bob Livingston

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“All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.” — U.S. Constitution, Article I, Section 1.

A small group of congresscritters have realized what many of us have been saying for years — that congress has ceded its powers to the president, the myriad alphabet soup government agencies and the bureaucratic class — and are now undertaking an effort at “congressional rehabilitation.”

Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Wednesday announced he’s launched an initiative he’s describing as a “network of House and Senate conservatives working together on a new agenda of government reform” that “focuses on congressional rehabilitation,” based on the original powers vested in Congress by Article I of the Constitution.

Constitutional governance; what a concept.

Joining Lee in the initiative to govern the country the way the Founders intended is Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and Representatives Jeb Hensarling and John Ratcliffe of Texas, Mia Love of Utah, Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, Mark Walker of North Carolina, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Gary Palmer of Alabama and Dave Brat of Virginia; Republicans all. But note the significant absence of any in congressional leadership.

In his announcement yesterday, Lee at least hit on one of the main problems plaguing the country:

“Congress has recast itself as the back seat driver in American politics. Today the vast majority of federal laws, upwards of 95 percent, are passed not by the House and Senate and signed by the president but instead they’re imposed unilaterally by unelected executive branch bureaucrats.”

I would add that Congress has also shirked its responsibility in allowing the executive branch to conduct unconstitutional wars (any wars not declared by Congress) and issue unconstitutional executive orders (EOs) and by not employing the power of impeachment against the unlawful executive carrying out said wars and writing said EOs, and against the federal judiciary which has likewise exceeded its constitutional authority and is also writing laws left and right under the guise of “interpreting” them. (Civics quiz: Find the concept of judicial review in the Constitution and show it to me. Hint: It’s not Article III, Section 2.)

Of course, no new “initiative” is necessary. Congress can and should just immediately defund the unconstitutional wars and the EOs and all the unconstitutional government agencies created during the last 100 years.

But that would mean actually governing; something “public servants” are loath to do if it endangers their invites to the big parties and upsets their masters who line their pockets and fund their reelection campaigns.

While a member of Congress in 1792, James Madison — who knew a thing or two about the words written in the Constitution and what they actually meant —  said, “It would be absurd to say, first, that Congress may do what they please and then that they may do this or that particular thing. After giving Congress power to raise money, and apply it to all purposes which they may pronounce necessary to the “general welfare”, it would be absurd, to say the least, to supersede a power to raise armies, to provide fleets, etc. In fact, the meaning of the general terms in question must either be sought in the subsequent enumerations which limits and details them, or they convert the Government from one limited as heretofore supposed, to the enumerated powers, into a Government without any limits at all.”

The enumerated powers he’s talking about are few and defined in the Constitution. (Civics lesson: The Constitution is designed to limit what the federal government can do, not limit what the people and the states can do.)

Doubtless, Lee and his group will face significant headwinds if they really begin to threaten the federal leviathan. And this may just be a feint by them to head off any possibility of an Article V convention – an endeavor that has about as much chance of successfully reforming government in any good way as Jim Gilmore has of winning the Republican nomination.

Those inhabiting the District of Criminals will be loathe to relinquish their power.

H/T: CNSNews.com