Obama's Wiretap Story Falling Apart

03/06/2017
Source: American Action News
by: Remington Strelivo

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After Donald Trump’s bombshell tweet this weekend, accusing the Obama

Administration of bugging Trump Tower, former Obama officials have been

quick to downplay the story. But now, their story seems to be unraveling.

So far, three Obama Administration have refused to outright deny that Trump

was wiretapped—instead answering allegations with ultra-specific, legally-

sanitized language.

Kevin Lewis, Obama’s spokesman, released a statement over the weekend

saying that "neither President Obama nor any White House official ever

ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen.” But he refused to confirm or

deny whether the Department of Justice—which reports to the President,

and would be responsible for conducting wiretaps—did.

Similarly, Obama’s former press secretary, Josh Earnest, refused to deny

that Trump was wiretapped.

In an interview with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, Earnest repeated Lewis’s

statement: that the White House had not ordered a wiretap on Trump,

“categorically” denying that "the White House was at all involved in

directing or interfering or influencing an FBI investigation of any sort.”

But Raddatz continued to push, telling Earnest: “That’s not what I’m asking.

What I’m asking is, can you deny that the Obama Justice Department did
not seek and obtain a FISA court-ordered wiretap of the Trump campaign?”

Apparently unwilling to lie on national TV, Earnest was backed into a corner—

admitting to Raddatz: "Here’s the simple answer to that question, is,

Martha, I don’t know."

The Obama Administration’s deflection and half-truths didn’t go unnoticed.

Even Obama’s former speechwriter, Jon Favreau, pointed out to the media

on Twitter: "I'd be careful about reporting that Obama said there was no

wiretapping. Statement just said that neither he nor the [White House]

ordered it.”

Jim Hanson, a national security expert on Fox News, said the evidence

that wiretapping did occur was overwhelming—due to the Obama

Administration’s legal maneuvering before the election.

“[The Obama Administration] asked for that warrant [to bug Trump Tower]

and were denied, went back again [and] got the warrant, found out nothing

was happening and went ahead and continued monitoring it,” he said.

"They did get a FISA warrant, so [Trump] doesn’t have to prove that they

wiretapped him. They did wiretap him.”

Read more at http://americanactionnews.com/articles/obama-s-wiretap-story-falling-apart#uhz97ItiETxLLv05.99

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Obama's People Lie But Forget Their History

Obama spox says Obama never wiretapped a US citizen — immediately receives harsh history lesson

Chris Enloe Mar 4, 2017 3:59 pm

Former President Barack Obama. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

A spokesman of former President Barack Obama said Saturday that the Obama administration never “ordered surveillance” on any United States citizen during Obama’s eight years in office — despite facts that say otherwise.

“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,” Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement.

“As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen,” he added. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”

The statement came after President Donald Trump accused Obama on Saturday of wiretapping Trump Tower during the final weeks of last year’s presidential campaign.

Lewis’ comments, however, struck a cord on Twitter — and many were quick to fact check his claim that the Obama administration never targeted a U.S. citizen with surveillance.

In fact, it’s widely known that Obama’s Justice Department targeted journalists with wiretaps in 2013, most famous Fox News’ James Rosen and his family. The wiretaps were part of an investigation into government officials anonymously leaking information to journalists. The Associated Press was also a target of the surveillance.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: