Tag Archives: FISA court

House Intelligence chair Devin Nunes: President Trump may be correct about surveillance

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First, from Politico.com:

Nunes claims some Trump transition messages were intercepted

by Austin Wright

The move gave cover to the White House but was rebuked by top Democrats.

House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes declared Wednesday that members of Donald Trump’s transition team, possibly including Trump himself, were under inadvertent surveillance following November’s presidential election.

The White House and Trump’s allies immediately seized on the statement as vindication of the president’s much-maligned claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower phones — even though Nunes himself said that’s not what his new information shows.

Democrats, meanwhile, cried foul.

Why did the Demorats “cry foul”? Not necessarily because they vehemently disbelieve the information but because Demorat Adam Schiff, the top Dem on the House Intelligence Committee, became butt-hurt due to the order in which persons were notified. In other words, Schiff determined he wasn’t advised soon enough and others, such as President Trump, acquired the information before he did.

Nunes set off the firestorm with a news conference earlier in the day in which he described the surveillance of Trump aides through what’s called “incidental collection,” something he noted was routine and legal. Such collection can occur when a person inside the United State communicates with a foreign target of U.S. surveillance. In such cases, the identities of U.S. citizens are supposed to be shielded — but can be “unmasked” by intelligence officials under certain circumstances.

Nunes, himself a Trump transition member, said a “source” had shown him evidence that members of the Trump transition team had been unmasked — and that their identities had been revealed in U.S. intelligence reports. Nunes had previously raised questions about the unmasking of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, whose communications with Russia’s ambassador were intercepted by the U.S. government and whose identity was leaked to the news media.

Is there a price to be paid for this “unmasking” of American citizens? Oh quite so. From the WashingtonExaminer.com:

Bob Woodward: Obama officials possibly facing criminal charges for unmasking scheme

by Daniel Chaitin

The Washington Post’s Bob Woodward warned on Wednesday that there are people from the Obama administration who could be facing criminal charges for unmasking the names of Trump transition team members from surveillance of foreign officials.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said earlier that he had briefed Trump on new information, unrelated to an investigation into Russian activities, that suggested that several members of Trump’s transition team and perhaps Trump himself had their identities “unmasked” after their communications were intercepted by U.S. intelligence officials.

He said it isn’t Trump’s assertion, without proof, that his predecessor wiretapped Trump Tower that is of concern, but rather that intelligence officials named the Americans being discussed in intercepted communications.

The next logical question should be: who in the American government or intelligence community has the authority or ability to “unmask” a US citizen?

He noted that there are about 20 people in the intelligence community who, for intelligence reasons, can order this “minimization” be removed.

Who specifically may have ordered this? The House Intelligence Committee wants to know.

Nunes and Schiff asked the intelligence community leaders to disclose any “unmasked” identities that were disseminated throughout the intelligence community, law enforcement, or among senior Obama administration officials from June 2016 until January 2017 that relate to Trump or Hillary Clinton and their associates.

An informed source told CNN that if Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was being surveilled, Flynn’s name should not necessarily have been included on the intelligence report. Rather, “American Citizen 1” or a similar anonymous term should have been used.

“However, as recent news stories, seem to illustrate, individuals talking to the media would appear to have wantonly disregarded these procedures,” Nunes and Schiff wrote. The congressmen also asked the names of individuals or agencies who “requested and/or authorized the unmasking and dissemination” of these identities.

The letter was addressed to Admiral Michael Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency; FBI Director James Comey; and CIA Director Mike Pompeo. The acting Director of National Intelligence Michael Dempsey was also included.

FBI Director James Comey said on Monday in a House hearing that:

Several top officials would have access to the information or could request it. That includes top Obama appointees at the Justice Department, former National Security Adviser Susan Rice, and others. Adm. Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, testified that 20 people in his agency have the authority to “unmask” a U.S. citizen whose identity normally would be disguised.

Speaking of the FBI, Chairman Devin Nunes says that agency is not cooperating with the House’s investigation. From Grabien.com:

NUNES: FBI IS NOT COOPERATING WITH OUR INVESTIGATION INTO TRUMP CAMP SURVEILLANCE

“We don’t actually know yet officially what happened to General Flynn,” Nunes said of how communications from Gen. Flynn’s calls were leaked to the press. “We just know that his name leaked out but we don’t know how it was picked up yet. That was one of the things that we asked for in the March 15th letter, was for the NSA, CIA, and FBI to get us all the unmasking that was done.”

“And I’ll tell you, NSA is being cooperative,” Nunes continued, “but so far the FBI has not told us whether or not they’re going to respond to our March 15th letter, which is now a couple of weeks old.”

Nunes also reported that as of now, he “cannot rule out” President Obama ordering the surveillance. 

Continuing from Politico.com:

During his press briefing, Nunes said he did not know yet whether the Trump transition officials who were “unmasked” were communicating from Trump Tower.

Nunes said he briefed House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on the information on Wednesday morning before heading to the White House to brief the president.

His committee is set to hold a public hearing next Tuesday with members of the Obama administration, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former CIA Director John Brennan and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was fired by Trump in January after refusing to defend his first travel ban executive order in court.

They are almost certain to face questions on the matter.

FBI Director James Comey appeared before the panel on Monday and confirmed that the FBI launched a counterintelligence investigation in July into Russia’s election meddling, including possible coordination with the Trump campaign.

One primary question: will be ever actually find those responsible for unmasking American citizens?

First you have to ask: do certain government agencies and deep-staters even want to?

BZ

 

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Sources: Obama went outside US to surveil Trump

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From FoxNewsInsider.com:

The Justice Department on Monday asked lawmakers for more time to gather evidence related to President Trump’s claim that former President Obama ordered wiretaps on Trump Tower’s phones during last year’s presidential campaign.

The House Intelligence Committee said it would give the Justice Department until March 20 to comply.

Current and former administration officials have been unable to provide any evidence of the Obama administration wiretapping Trump Tower, yet the president’s aides have been reluctant to publicly contradict their boss.

I wrote at length about the situation here, on March 6th. Other sources have confirmed the allegation.

Continuing, there are additional sources tending to lend credence to the wiretapping, as revealed by Judge Andrew Napolitano.

Napolitano said, “[T]hree intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command. He didn’t use the NSA. He didn’t use the CIA. He didn’t use the FBI, and he didn’t use Department of Justice. He used GCHQ. What the heck is GCHQ? That’s the initials for the British spying agency. They have 24/7 access to the NSA database. So by simply having two people go to them saying, ‘President Obama needs transcripts of conversations involving candidate Trump, conversations involving president-elect Trump,’ he’s able to get it, and there’s no American fingerprints on this.”

One video I was told to watch was this, wherein Mark Levin sets an argument for the wiretapping of Trump.

Senator Rand Paul also happens to think it would have been relatively easy to wiretap Donald Trump.

I’d like to make this point obvious for those who may not know. The days of trying to access some kind of big closet or room with lots of copper connectors are over. You no longer have to physically access that room covertly and then attach any number of alligator clips and check your buttset. Most phone systems in business and agencies run VOIP, which is Voice Over Internet Protocol. Right. The internet. Go figure.

Folks, this is not yet done, not by a long shot.

BZ

 

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Source: Obama White House did have Trump campaign wiretapped

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So Mr Obama, while a sitting president, had Trump Tower bugged and surveilled whilst he still sat in the Oval Office?

Impossible, the Demorats and American Media Maggots bleat.

I say: show me the proof that Mr Obama did not do that. Tables turned. Just like “the Russians.”

After all, Mr Obama has an historic pattern of bugging and surveilling the offices and technology of sitting presidents. Why not an individual running for US president? Too far fetched?

What about Mr Obama attempting to undermine and influence the elections in Israel, because he didn’t want to see Benjamin Netanyahu elected? It seems to me the Obama administration was playing politics with a presidential election.

What about Jason Chaffetz who, during the Obama administration, had Secret Service agents combing through his personal records in a politically-driven revenge attack?

What about James Rosen, an American journalist, who had his emails and calls on roughly 20 phones exposed as a result of Obama’s minion, Eric Holder? Obama claimed he never ordered surveillance on any American citizen — but Holder wouldn’t have conducted something of this import without keeping his melanin-related BFF updated.

We know, via Wikileaks, that Obama did in fact surveil and violate the rights and privacy of American journalists. Here is a copy of a search warrant indicating so.

Wait. How about this set of Obama wiretaps?

WikiLeaks released the following list on February 23rd of Obama Administration wire taps:

* The US National Security Agency bugged a private climate change strategy meeting; between UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin;
* Obama bugged Chief of Staff of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for long term interception targetting his Swiss phone;
* Obama singled out the Director of the Rules Division of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Johann Human, and targetted his Swiss phone for long term interception;
* Obama stole sensitive Italian diplomatic cables detailing how Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implored Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to help patch up his relationship with US President Barack Obama, who was refusing to talk to Netanyahu;
* Obama intercepted top EU and Japanese trade ministers discussing their secret strategy and red lines to stop the US “extort[ing]” them at the WTO Doha arounds (the talks subsequently collapsed);
* Obama explicitly targeted five other top EU economic officials for long term interception, including their French, Austrian and Belgium phone numbers;
* Obama explicitly targetted the phones of Italy’s ambassador to NATO and other top Italian officials for long term interception; and
* Obama intercepted details of a critical private meeting between then French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Merkel and Berluscon, where the latter was told the Italian banking system was ready to “pop like a cork”.

In addition to the above list we also know now that Obama wire tapped various individuals in the US media that were reporting information not flattering to the Obama Administration.  It is widely known that Obama’s Justice Department targeted journalists with wiretaps in 2013:

* In 2013 the liberal Washington Post expressed outrage after the revelation that the Justice Department had investigated the newsgathering activities of a Fox News reporter as a potential crime in a probe of classified leaks.  The reporter, Fox News’ James Rosen and his family, were part of an investigation into government officials anonymously leaking information to journalists. Rosen was not charged but his movements and actions were tracked.
* Also in 2013, members of the Associated Press were also a target of the surveillance.  The ultra liberal New Yorker even noted that “In moderate and liberal circles, at least, the phone-records scandal, partly because it involves the dear old A.P. and partly because it raises anew the specter of Big Brother, may well present the most serious threat to Obama’s reputation.”
* Reporter Sharyl Attkisson said in 2014 that her personal computer and CBS laptop were hacked after she began filing stories about Benghazi that were unflattering to the Obama administration.  A source who checked her laptop said the hacker used spyware “proprietary to a government agency,” according to an article in the New York Post.

Hell, the CIA spied on the United States SENATE under Barack Hussein Obama:

All Obama’s oppressive actions seem to be forgiven. Yet, now all the Demorats and American Media Maggots require to elevate an allegation to a fact, if it concerns President Trump, conservatives or the GOP is.  .  .

The slightest of suppositions.

The official response of Obama, by former spokesman Kevin Lewis?

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

What Lewis doesn’t do, however, is offer that same level of denial regarding the FBI or the DOJ. What Lewis specifically didn’t do is unequivocally state that Obama did not have Donald Trump tapped. It’s a proverbial non-denial denial. Gorgeous. Further, do you think Obama was so laissez-faire about his administration that he was unaware of what was occurring around him at all times? I do not.

On Sunday during Meet The Press, Obama’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI, a position above the CIA Director) James Clapper stated no agency operating under him — including the FBI — wiretapped the Trump concerns. Clapper added: “to my knowledge.” Equivocation.

Let us not forget this is the same James Clapper who lied nakedly to all of America when he testified under oath that the NSA never collected phone data on millions of Americans — when in fact the NSA Hoovered personal data like a baleen whale with krill. Clapper massages his pate and says “not wittingly.” Edward Snowden proved that Clapper was lying his political ass off.

But are these mere suppositions of wiretapping?

NO. THEY ARE NOT.

Fox’s Kimberly Guilfoyle spoke to a left-leaning journalist named Cathy Areu on Saturday the 4th, who told Guilfoyle that a source inside the White House said, about the tap:

There were concerns that Trump and his surrogates may have been colluding with the Russians as a possible bargaining chip to influence the election. Therefore a wiretap was conducted.

Areu’s female source said she was unsure who secured the warrant, but that it was granted. Areu said her female Obama administration source stated:

“The intelligence community did its due diligence given the threat of the Russian influence. The (Obama) White House was aware of it.”

Meaning two critically important thingies:

  • 1. The wiretap occurred, and
  • 2. The president had to know.

Let me repeat that at the risk of becoming a member of the Department of Redundancy Dept:

“The (Obama) White House was aware of it.”

Says the source.

Because, after all, we don’t need anything more to substantiate an allegation of corruption or abuse against President Trump other than an “unnamed source,” do we? Of course not. Turnabout is fair play.

Also: there was in fact a FISA request by the Obama Administration in June of 2016 and then in October of 2016, to monitor communications involving Donald Trump, not yet president-elect.

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton remarks to Fox’s Eric Shawn that James Comey should have been removed as FBI Director. I stated that myself back on February 17th: Trump should have ripped James Comey out of the FBI by his roots because Comey would do nothing but provide heartache. James Comey is a prevaricating hack whose opinions fluctuate with the prevailing political prairie winds. Let’s listen.

This is the same James Comey who didn’t wish to assist Sean Spicer in knocking down the Trump/Russia stories, but now wants the DOJ to bail his own ass out and dispute Trump’s claims of wiretapping. Comey wants what’s convenient for him when it’s convenient for him yet, when pressed with the job of simply moving a case over to the DOJ — with regard to the recommendation of an indictment for Hillary Clinton — Comey made a flawed, politically-based and self-serving decision. James Comey has no fidelity, no bravery, no integrity.

Who to replace the bereft-of-courage James Comey? Might I suggest John Bolton? Rudy Giuliani? Perhaps even Sheriff David Clarke? One does not have to be an attorney to be director. One must only have a keen managerial skill, fortitude and reverence for the law as opposed to naked politics.

Judge Andrew Napolitano reveals an important aspect of Obama’s presidential power.

“Because of the unique interpretation of a Ronald Reagan executive order, 13222, and because of the language in the USA Freedom Act, the successor to much of the FISA law, NSA now has the ability to capture in real time the digital copies of everybody’s phone calls. Everybody, cell and landline, everybody’s keystroke, mobile device and desktop.”

“All digital information going over fiber optics, into the US, out of the US or within the US. NSA works for the President. If the President asks for a transcribed copy of any of that, they’ll give it to him. As well, the FISA statute says in it, ‘not withstanding all of the rules above and below.’ The President of the United States can order surveillance on any person in the United States in conjunction with a certificate or a certification filed by the Attorney General.”

Napolitano admits that it’s legal but not constitutional from his point of view, describing it as “profoundly unconstitutional but it is legal because the statute says it. So think about this, if you’re Barack Obama and you have the ability by making a phone call to hear what Donald Trump is saying, are you going to bother with trying to get a warrant? Why would you get the warrant?”

National security expert Jim Hanson stated:

“The bottom line is, they did wiretap Trump Tower. They tapped a server they thought was communicating somehow with Russia. This is a legitimate charge and we need a serious investigation.”

Former Bush AG Mike Mukasey believes Trump is correct about the tapping, as does former NSA employee/whistleblower William Binney, who stated:

Asked whether he believes the NSA is tapping Trump, Binney replied: “Absolutely. How did they get the phone call between the president and the president of Australia? Or the one that he made with Mexico? Those are not targeted foreigners.”

Corey Lewandowski asserts the Obama administration wiretapped then-sitting Senator Jeff Sessions in 2016.

Please consider: how did anyone know the context of Michael Flynn’s phone calls from the Trump tower absent a wiretap? How did anyone know the context of President Trump’s phone calls to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull absent a wiretap?

How?

The shoe is now on the other foot with regard to the Demorats, Leftists, American Media Maggots and, more pointedly, on Barack Hussein Obama.

All of this is occurring predominantly because President Trump fundamentally threatens the sinecure of all the DC bureaucrats making bank on jobs that produce nothing but yield financial splendor and fiscal independence for life. Mel Brooks, from the film Blazing Saddles, sums it up best.

In the midst of an incredibly-serious election, to wiretap the communications of the leading Republican candidate for President of the United States?

Remember, Captain Kirk’s last words on film were: “Oh my.”

BZ

P.S.

Who says the actors responsible for the wiretapping went through a FISA court anyway?

 

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FBI pressures Internet providers to install surveillance software

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Obama Destroying US ConstitutionFrom CNet.com:

CNET has learned the FBI has developed custom “port reader” software to intercept Internet metadata in real time. And, in some cases, it wants to force Internet providers to use the software.

The U.S. government is quietly pressuring telecommunications providers to install eavesdropping technology deep inside companies’ internal networks to facilitate surveillance efforts.

FBI officials have been sparring with carriers, a process that has on occasion included threats of contempt of court, in a bid to deploy government-provided software capable of intercepting and analyzing entire communications streams. The FBI’s legal position during these discussions is that the software’s real-time interception of metadata is authorized under the Patriot Act.

Attempts by the FBI to install what it internally refers to as “port reader” software, which have not been previously disclosed, were described to CNET in interviews over the last few weeks. One former government official said the software used to be known internally as the “harvesting program.”

Carriers are “extra-cautious” and are resisting installation of the FBI’s port reader software, an industry participant in the discussions said, in part because of the privacy and security risks of unknown surveillance technology operating on an sensitive internal network.

It’s “an interception device by definition,” said the industry participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because court proceedings are sealed. “If magistrates knew more, they would approve less.” It’s unclear whether any carriers have installed port readers, and at least one is actively opposing the installation.

Use your heads, Americans.  Any source of privacy you thought you had is, essentially, gone forever — because you cannot put that genie back in the bottle.

Your cellular phone calls are monitored and stored.  Your e-mails are monitored and stored.  Your terrestrial calls are monitored and stored.  Your movements are tracked and traced via OnStar, Sirius and other subscriptive elements in your vehicle.  Newer vehicles have “black boxes” similar to those of aircraft (though not yet quite as sophisticated).  Insurance companies want you to have a device similar to that of Progressive’s Snapshot installed in your car; now it’s voluntary.  Soon it will be mandatory.

You are captured, thousands of times daily, on video and cameras if you live in an urban or suburban territory.  Bank on it.  In Russia, most vehicles themselves have dashcams.  Police agencies have LPR and face recognition systems — I know that because — obviously, to those who read me — I’m a cop.

Every store, every theater, every retail outlet wants you to subscribe to and utilize “their own cards,” so that they can sift you and sort you for your information, then direct-sell you.  Every keystroke on your computer can be logged, your phone can be made to listen to you and the RFID chip in your credit card can be stolen.

The more you embrace the digital world, the less privacy you have.  Plain and simple.  It’s why Russian intelligence agencies are going back to manual typewriters.  I hope you don’t think that’s something I made up; it is not.

Disarm Americans, remove their freedoms — and in some cases sell those freedoms back to them — then disable the rest of their tawdry and outdated little niggling Bill of Rights.  There’s your Utopian Leftist/Demorat Master Plan.  Think: Cloward-Piven.

Some day, this is all going to explode.

This nation is on the cusp of losing itself and its Bill of Rights forever.

And when that explosion comes — well, it won’t be pretty.

BZ

 

 

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