{"id":456,"date":"2017-03-22T19:00:17","date_gmt":"2017-03-23T00:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/?p=456"},"modified":"2017-03-22T19:35:54","modified_gmt":"2017-03-23T00:35:54","slug":"__trashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/456","title":{"rendered":"Trump Exonerated?…"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trump’s allegations that his phones were wiretapped on orders by Obama have been widely considered\u00a0 bogus by knowledgeable intelligence\u00a0officials as well as congressional Republicans.\u00a0This afternoon\u00a0Representative Devin Nunes, the chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,\u00a0made public\u00a0new information\u00a0from an unnamed source <\/strong>that,\u00a0on numerous occasions the Intelligence Community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Nunes decision to immediately announce this new information publicly and then\u00a0visit the White House, without first\u00a0sharing this new revelation with Democrats, spreads the dark shadow of Republican politics over the issue.<\/p>\n

With every knowledgeable source essentially saying Trump’s allegations\u00a0are lies for a mysterious\u00a0unnamed source to suddenly surface with new information which deals with legal collection of information\u00a0is <\/em>suspicious in the very least. Especially given the information was channeled to a Nunes, a Trump ally.<\/p>\n

The Atlantic <\/a>– Coming into Wednesday, the Trump administration faced a crisis: Every knowledgeable source, from congressional Republicans to intelligence officials, has said that President Trump\u2019s claim that his predecessor \u201cwiretapped\u201d him was bogus. In the midst of this crisis, a mysterious and unnamed \u201csource\u201d apparently delivered new information to Nunes, a Trump ally, which deals with legal collection of information. Nunes, in turn, quickly went public with the information, despite offering no proof of wrongdoing, in an apparent effort to shift the story in a direction favorable to the administration.<\/p>\n

For example, Nunes said that all of the information that was collected legally, as part of \u201cincidental collection\u201d that occurs when U.S. citizens are captured speaking with lawful non-U.S. targets of surveillance under FISA orders. Nunes also reiterated that there had been no \u201cwiretap\u201d on Trump Tower, as the president has alleged and continued to assert, despite disavowals by top Republicans in Congress and the intelligence community.Yet Nunes\u2019s announcement offered Trump a lifeline, presenting him\u2014intentionally or not\u2014with a way to claim he really had been surveilled. Trump quickly seized it, saying he felt \u201csomewhat\u201d vindicated<\/span><\/u><\/a> during a brief pool spray at the White House.Nunes charged that while the collection was entirely legal, the fact that Trump team staffers\u2019 names were unmasked and information was shared is \u201cinappropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like it was legal, incidental collection that then made its way into intelligence report,\u201d Nunes said. \u201cNothing criminal at all involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The problem is that there\u2019s no way to assess the truth of Nunes\u2019s claims. He says he has full faith in his source, suggesting it\u2019s someone within the intelligence community, but it\u2019s not clear that anyone besides Nunes has seen the \u201creports\u201d to which he referred: Adam Schiff, the Democratic ranking member on the committee, has not, and while Nunes briefed both Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan, there\u2019s no indication he showed them the report.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n

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This is troubling because, as my colleague Conor Friedersdorf reported Wednesday morning<\/span><\/u><\/a>, Nunes\u2019s statements so far in the investigation make it difficult to give him the benefit of the doubt on truthfulness. The Washington Post <\/em>also previously reported<\/span><\/u><\/a> that the White House had asked Nunes to help tamp down stories about Trump team ties to Russia.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Nunes repeatedly said he did not have all the information he needed, raising the question of why he felt it was worthwhile to go public immediately. As Republicans including Nunes complain about unauthorized leaks of classified information to the press, he has come forward to publicize anonymously obtained intelligence community materials.<\/p>\n

His choice to take it to the White House is even more perplexing, especially without having discussed the matter with Schiff. Trump accused Obama of having surveilled him despite offering no evidence for the claim. No evidence has appeared since. Pressed to explain why it can\u2019t simply provide the proof, the White House\u2014rather than admit, as appears indisputable, that it has no evidence\u2014has claimed that because of \u201cseparation of powers,\u201d Congress should investigate without executive-branch interference. By taking his information to Trump on Wednesday, Nunes has driven a bulldozer through that wall of separation.<\/p>\n

In leaving Schiff out of the process, meanwhile, he has blithely poisoned his cooperation with the Democratic member on the committee. Monday\u2019s committee hearings with FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers showed that there were already effectively two separate House intelligence committees, a Democratic one worried about Russian meddling in the election and a Republican one worried about leaks about Michael Flynn. Nunes\u2019s sidestepping of Schiff, though, could doom any remaining prospects for cooperation on the committee.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n

Schiff angrily responded during a press conference late Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chairman will need to decide whether he is the chairman of an independent investigation into conduct which includes allegations of potential coordination between the Trump campaign and the Russians, or he is going to act as a surrogate of the White House, because he cannot do both,\u201d Schiff said. \u201cUnfortunately I think the actions of today throw great doubt in the ability of the both the chairman and the committee to conduct the investigation the way it ought to be conducted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first hundred days of the Trump administration has not yet passed. Yet his administration is\u00a0mired in questions about its legitimacy and possible scandal. Largely due to its problems with truth and ethical behavior. It’s only going to et more bizarre and unnerving.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Simply unbelievable<\/strong> is the only way Trump’s ineptitude and that of his administration can be described. As well as that of\u00a0many republicans in congress.<\/p>\n

Story continues HERE<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trump’s allegations that his phones were wiretapped on orders by Obama have been widely considered\u00a0 bogus by knowledgeable intelligence\u00a0officials as well as congressional Republicans.\u00a0This afternoon\u00a0Representative Devin Nunes, the chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,\u00a0made public\u00a0new information\u00a0from an unnamed source that,\u00a0on numerous occasions the Intelligence Community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved … Continue reading Trump Exonerated?…<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8ovtF-7m","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":489,"url":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/489","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":0},"title":"Peter King Says Trump Wiretap A 99.5% Certainty…","author":"Les","date":"March 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Rep. Peter King (R-NY), another Trump surrogate, told Bill O'Reilly on FOX's O'Reilly Factor that it is 99.5% certain, and likely 100% certain, that Trump was surveilled. King did say Trump overstated it when he accused President Obama of ordering wiretapping his phones. King was obviously referencing the information Representative\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Politics","link":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/politics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":534,"url":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/534","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":1},"title":"Trey Gowdy All In For Nunes (and Trump)…","author":"Les","date":"March 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Rep. Trey Gowdy, another Trump surrogate, has jumped up and on board in support of Chairman Devin Nunes' refusal to name his sources. \u00a0Sources he claims informed him the Obama administration spied on Trump's campaign. Allegations for which no credible evidence has yet surfaced. New Jersey's Republican Governor Christie has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ethics"","block_context":{"text":"Ethics","link":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/ethics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":532,"url":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/532","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":2},"title":"And, The Gullible Believe…","author":"Les","date":"March 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said on Tuesday he will not divulge - even to other members of his panel - who gave him intelligence reports that indicated President Donald Trump and his associates may have been ensnared in incidental intelligence collection. Asked by an ABC News reporter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ethics"","block_context":{"text":"Ethics","link":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/ethics"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":313,"url":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/313","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":3},"title":"The President Of The United States Is A Conspiracy Theorist…","author":"Les","date":"March 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Trump is, in essence, a conspiracy theory nut job. He bought into the birther movement of the far right. Now he has made wild accusations that President Obama had his phones wiretapped. This folks is something you would expect from Alex Jones, Stephen Banning, Joseph Farrah, Rush Limbaugh, INFOWARS, Breitbart,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Government"","block_context":{"text":"Government","link":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/government"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":464,"url":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/464","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":4},"title":"Comey Confirms Trump’s Allegations Obama Had His Phones Wiretapped Are False…","author":"Les","date":"March 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"So, Trump was wrong. And, for folks like me we suspect he knew he was wrong all the while. He willfully spouted lies to mislead the American people and he should be held to account for it. Most likely\u00a0Trump will pass it off that he was given misinformation, pick a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Government"","block_context":{"text":"Government","link":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/government"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":110,"url":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/110","url_meta":{"origin":456,"position":5},"title":"Where There Is Smoke, There Is Usually Fire…","author":"Les","date":"February 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"CNN is reporting the Trump campaign was involved in extensive communications with the Russians during the 2016 presidential election campaign. Communications between Russian operatives and the Trump campaign certainly is cause to raise owns eyebrows. If true it lends credibility to the argument the presidential election was influenced by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Foreign Relations"","block_context":{"text":"Foreign Relations","link":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/archives\/category\/foreign-relations"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":478,"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456\/revisions\/478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rationalnationusa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}