About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

13 Replies to “Today’s crop of Trump-tap videos”

  1. zero hedge – Trump Says Susan Rice Likely Committed A Crime In “Unmasking” Scandal

    Update 1: When Trump goes low, Susan Rice apparently goes silent:

    SUSAN RICE SPOKESWOMAN: WON’T COMMENT ON ‘LUDICROUS’ CHARGE

    * * *

    As new details surrounding the Susan Rice “unmasking” scandal continue to slowly leak out, President Trump told a group of reporters at the White House earlier today that he is convinced that the former national security adviser to President Obama may have committed a crime by seeking the identities of his associates who were ‘incidentally surveilled.”

    Per the New York Times, while Trump refused to offer any additional details pending an ongoing investigation, he described the scandal as “one of the big stories of our time” and vowed to follow-up “at the right time.”

    “I think it’s going to be the biggest story,” Mr. Trump said in an interview in the Oval Office, declining repeated requests for evidence for his allegations or the names of other Obama administration officials. “It’s such an important story for our country and the world. It is one of the big stories of our time.”

    He declined to say if he had personally reviewed new intelligence to bolster his claim but pledged to explain himself “at the right time.”

    When asked if Ms. Rice, who has denied leaking the names of Trump associates under surveillance by United States intelligence agencies, had committed a crime, the president said, “Do I think? Yes, I think.”

    Of course, as we noted earlier, if anyone expects former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, the same Susan Rice who “stretched the truth” repeatedly about Benghazi, to unilaterally admit she did something wrong they will be severly disappointed. Instead, just yesterday she took an interview on the always Obama-friendly Andrea Mitchell show on MSNBC to categorically deny that the Obama administration inappropriately spied on members of the Trump transition team.

    “The allegation is that somehow, Obama administration officials utilized intelligence for political purposes…That’s absolutely false…. My job is to protect the American people and the security of our country.”

    “There was no such collection or surveillance on Trump Tower or Trump individuals, it is important to understand, directed by the White House or targeted at Trump individuals.”

    EXCLUSIVE: Susan Rice says the claim that intelligence was used for political purposes is “absolutely false” Watch:
    — MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 4, 2017

    Rice also flatly denied exposing President Trump’s former national security advisor Michael Flynn, who was forced to resign in February after media reports revealed that he misled Vice President Pence about the contents of a phone call with the Russian ambassador.

    Asked by Mitchell if she sought to unmask the names of people involved in the Trump campaign in order to spy on them, Rice says: “absolutely not, for any political purpose, to spy, expose, anything.” And yet, that is what happened. She was then asked if she leaked the name of Mike Flynn: “I leaked nothing to nobody.”

    WATCH: Susan Rice insists “I leaked nothing to nobody”
    — MSNBC (@MSNBC) April 4, 2017

    Of course, only time will tell which version of the truth proves to be accurate and/or whether this is just another attempt by Republicans to “criminalize behavior that is normal.”

    http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-04-05/trump-says-susan-rice-likely-committed-crime-unmasking-scandal

    CNN – Trump says Susan Rice may have committed a crime, but he cited no evidence

  2. This scandal isn’t going to go away anytime soon, for this reason pay close attention to the people who are either trying to defend Rice and Company or are bending over backwards to avoid saying crimes were committed, they are not friends of freedom.

    • This doesn’t include the people like the Seal/Contractor who was struggling to remain calm, there is a big difference in remaining calm and defending the criminals who are also probably traitors.

  3. FOX NEWS – Susan Rice’s alleged unmasking requests not so routine, ex-officials say

    While Susan Rice is defending as routine her requests for the identities of Americans caught up in surveillance of foreign targets, others who’ve served in the intelligence community and at high levels of government say the former national security adviser’s requests were quite unusual.

    Rice, who served in the Obama administration, is at the heart of allegations of improper surveillance of the Trump team prior to Inauguration Day.

    Fox News reported Monday that Rice asked for Trump associates to be identified – or “unmasked” – in intelligence reports and those names were then widely disseminated at the top levels of the government. In an interview Tuesday on MSNBC, Rice largely skirted talking specifically about those allegations, however, she said it was “absolutely false” that Obama officials utilized intelligence “for political purposes.”

    Rice’s defenders also have said unmasking requests would be a typical part of her job — and her authority to make such requests generally is not being questioned. Rice said Tuesday the process helped provide context “in order to understand the importance of the report and understand the significance.”

    “It is hard to fathom how the demasking of multiple Trump campaign and transition officials was not politically motivated.”

    – Fred Fleitz, ex-CIA analyst

    Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau tweeted his coarsely-worded case: “It was her f—— job to know this information! This is utter bulls—.”

    Her detractors, however, say that’s not the case.

    “From my direct experience dealing at this level, that is never done,” retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Fox News. Shaffer has experience in intelligence operations focused on foreign actors in which U.S. citizens’ involvement could surface.

    “The national security adviser person is a manager position, not an analyst position,” he said. “You have analysts in the intelligence community whose job is to sort through who is doing what with what. Susan Rice is a senior manager looking over the entire intelligence community. She should not have time to be unmasking individuals having conversations. It’s insane. It’s never done.”

    Ex-CIA analyst Fred Fleitz agreed in a Fox News op-ed.

    “Rice’s denials don’t add up,” Fleitz wrote. “It is hard to fathom how the demasking of multiple Trump campaign and transition officials was not politically motivated.”

    Trump hasn’t commented extensively since Rice’s Tuesday interview, however, asked by The New York Times if he thought Rice committed a crime Trump said: “Do I think? Yes, I think.”

    Former Ambassador to the United Nations and Fox News contributor John Bolton told “America’s Newsroom” that Rice’s requests may have been improper depending on what reason she gave for wanting the information.

    “Now I’m not naïve, a national security adviser’s gonna get her request approved. But she still has to give some reason,” said Bolton, who served under former President George W. Bush. “If she doesn’t even have to give a reason than NSA is really quite negligent. Susan Rice is obviously not gonna say, ‘I want these names unmasked so I can surveil my political opponents.’ And if she said she wanted the names unmasked for national security reasons, that’s a fraud on the intelligence system.”

    Shaffer said a U.S. citizen’s interaction with a foreign target is not typically reason enough to unmask an American.

    “These techniques, technology and procedures are reserved for potential violations of U.S. laws,” he said, adding of Rice’s alleged actions: “It’s not only legally insufficient, it’s politically insane.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/05/susan-rices-alleged-unmasking-requests-not-so-routine-ex-officials-say.html

  4. Could Susan Rice’s actions be considered espionage?

    Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano on whether Susan Rice may have committed the act of espionage.

  5. Lawmakers say intel agencies stonewalling on surveillance probe

    Lawmakers probing the surveillance of key officials in the Trump campaign and administration say the intelligence agencies now nominally under the president’s control are stonewalling efforts to get to the bottom of who revealed names and leaked protected information to the press.

    The House and Senate Intelligence Committees are currently investigating allegations the Obama administration spied on Trump associates – and possibly Trump himself – for as long as the year preceding his inauguration. And while former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice has been implicated as at least one of the officials who sought redacted names from surveillance transcripts, multiple lawmakers and investigators for the panel told Fox News the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency – all agencies in position to aid the probe – are not cooperating.

    “Our requests are simply not being answered,” said one House Intelligence committee source about the lack of responsiveness. “The agencies are not really helping at all and there is truly a massive web for us to try and wade through.”

    A Senate Intelligence Committee source said the upper chamber had the same experience.

    “Any information that will help find the wide extent on the unmasking and surveillance is purposely not being provided,” said the Senate source.

    An FBI spokesperson said the bureau is working in good faith.

    “The FBI will continue to work with the congressional oversight committees on their requests,” the spokesperson said.

    A CIA spokesperson told Fox News the NSA was the lead agency on the matter and referred questions to it.

    In a statement to Fox News, the NSA called the allegations “categorically untrue.”

    “Allegations that the National Security Agency is ‘withholding information’ from congressional intelligence committees investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election are categorically untrue,” the statement said. “NSA fully supports the committees’ work. We have already made available significant information in response to their requests, and we look forward to continuing to work with them in the execution of their important responsibilities.”

    Sources within the NSA said they are watching the investigation closely, with one telling Fox News, “A number of people saw a lot of very questionable stuff. [The Obama administration was] using national assets and intelligence for politics.”

    It was not clear if the alleged lack of cooperation was from top brass or agency holdovers resisting the new administration.

    The CIA is now headed by former Rep. Mike Pompeo, who himself served on the House Intelligence Committee prior to his nomination. The FBI and NSA are run by James Comey and Mike Rogers, respectively. Both are holdovers from the Obama administration. Last month, both men declined to appear at a private closed door House Intelligence Committee briefing and have not met with the committee members since.

    The meeting was supposed to be a follow-up to public testimony by Comey and Rogers to the committee in late March on the topic of Russian meddling in the presidential election and the alleged mishandling of intelligence related to the Trump transition team.

    During the public hearing, the pair had declined to answer more than 100 questions, and Comey has been completely unavailable since.

    House Intelligence Chair Devin Nunes, R-Calif., told Fox News he had hoped that behind closed doors, Comey and Rogers would be more forthcoming.

    Nunes also wanted to ask them about intelligence reports he’d viewed that showed incidental electronic intercepts of Trump team communications. The intelligence reports, which included surveillance of foreign targets, revealed that the names of Trump’s team had been “unmasked” or revealed, and their identities widely disseminated throughout the government and to the media.

    Nunes said during a March 22 press conference that he was “troubled” because the reports he’d seen were not connected to Russia or any foreign intelligence.

    U.S. intelligence sources have told Fox News that Rice, President Obama’s national security adviser, is responsible for unmasking at least some of Trump team named in surveillance reports.

    Rice said Tuesday on MSNBC, “It was not uncommon, it was necessary at times to make those requests…..” to understand the information. But Rice maintained she is not the leaker, didn’t send the information to the press and did not use the information for political purposes.

    And while U.S. intelligence sources told Fox News that unmasking requests escalated after Trump was elected, Rice claimed she didn’t remember. “I don’t have a particular recollection of doing that more frequently after the election.”

    President Trump on Wednesday claimed that he believes Rice may have committed a crime by requesting the identities of Trump associates who were mentioned in U.S. surveillance, though he did not provide proof.

    Asked by the New York Times if Rice committed a crime, Trump said, “Do I think? Yes, I think.”

    Rice isn’t the only Obama official implicated in the Trump team surveillance scandal. Multiple sources insist she was part of a group involved at the highest levels and was not calling the shots.

    “A lot of us are upset. We believe this group of people were using national assets for politics and misappropriating them,” said one NSA source. “Don’t forget as the national security advisor, Susan Rice is supposed to ingest and digest. Despite what you are hearing, it is not normal to investigate especially in the broad manner that was being done. She [was] a White House staffer, not a member of an intelligence agency.”

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/04/05/lawmakers-say-intel-agencies-stonewalling-on-surveillance-probe.html

  6. Political purposes at play in Susan Rice unmasking?

    Sen. Lindsey Graham joins ‘The O’Reilly Factor’ to discuss the latest surveillance revelations

  7. BREITBART – Ann Coulter: The Russian Emperor’s New Clothes

    The Susan Rice bombshell at least explains why the Democrats won’t stop babbling about Russia. They need a false flag to justify using national intelligence agencies to snoop on the Trump team.

    Every serious person who has tried to locate any evidence that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 election — even Trump-haters at the New York Review of Books and Rolling Stone magazine — has come away empty-handed and angry. We keep getting bald assertions, unadorned with anything resembling a fact.

    But for now, let’s just consider the raw plausibility of the story. […]

    on this page :

    http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/05/ann-coulter-russian-emperors-new-clothes/