Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category

Obama entangled in brand-new ‘political espionage’ scandal – WND.com

Former CIA Director John Brennan

While the claims of collusion between Donald Trumps 2016 campaign and Russia seem to have dropped abruptly off the media radar, there is a new report of collaboration between a U.S. political campaign and foreign powers.

Butthe campaign was that of Hillary Clinton, and the chief architect was Barack Obamas CIA director, John Brennan, the report says.

One side did collude with foreign powers to tip the election Hillarys, writes George Neumayr in the American Spectator.

Seeking to retain his position as CIA director under Hillary, Brennan teamed up with British spies and Estonian spies to cripple Trumps candidacy, Newmayr wrote.

He used their phone intelligence as a pretext for a multi-agency investigation into Trump, which led the FBI to probe a computer server connected to Trump Tower and gave cover to Susan Rice, among other Hillary supporters, to spy on Trump and his people.

The Spectator saidBrennans CIA operated like a branch office of the Hillary campaign, leaking out mentions of this bogus investigation to the press in the hopes of inflicting maximum political damage on Trump.

An official in the intelligence community told the Spectatorthat Brennans retinue of political radicals didnt even bother to hide their activism, decorating offices with Hillary for president cups and other campaign paraphernalia.

The Spectator cited a London Guardian report that the criminal leaks against Trump originated in the British press, including claims from Estonia that the Kremlin was funneling cash to the Trump campaign.

Any other CIA director would have disregarded such a flaky tip, recognizing that Estonia was eager to see Trump lose (its officials had bought into Hillarys propaganda that Trump was going to pull out of NATO).

The Guardian saidit was Britains spy agencies who alerted their counterparts in Washington to contacts between members of Donald Trumps campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives.

Britains intel network, the paper said, played an early, prominent role in kickstarting the FBIs Trump-Russia investigation.

The Spectator report documents that Brennan, to ensure that these flaky tips leaked out, then disseminated them on Capitol Hill.

All of this took place at the very moment Brennan was auditioning for Hillary. He desperately wanted to keep his job and despised Trump for his alleged Muslim ban, a matter near and dear to Brennans heart. Not only was he an apologist for the Muslim Brotherhood, but Brennans Islamophilia dates to his days in college, when he spent a year in Cairo learning Arabic and taking courses in Middle Eastern studies.

Said the Spectator: Were the media not so completely in the tank for Obama and Hillary, all of this political mischief would make for a compelling 2016 versions of All the Presidents Men. Instead, the public gets a steady stream of Orwellian propaganda about the sudden propriety of political espionage.

FrontPageMagazine pointed outthat onMarch 16, Fox News contributor Andrew Napolitano accused GCHQ of working with the Obama administration to spy on Trump, citing unnamed sources.

The United States and United Kingdom are in fact parties to a multilateral intelligence cooperation pact. This five-way intelligence alliance among the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada is called Five Eyes (FVEY). It obligates the countries to work together in the area of signals intelligence (SIGINT). SIGINT is the gathering of intelligence related to communications between individuals (COMINT) and or from electronic signals not directly used in communication (ELINT).

FrontPageMagazine also cited the raft of subversives that Brennan brought into the CIA when he took over.

Not surprisingly, Brennan is one of the key reasons the Obama administration did so little to combat jihadists domestically. After Muslim lobbies supposedly put pressure on him, in 2011 Brennan purged all mentions of Islam and jihad from law enforcement counter-terror training materials. He assured those groups that the Obama administrations worse-than-useless Countering Violent Extremism program had been ideologically purified and pretended the miniscule white-supremacist movement was just as big a threat as head-cutting Muslim savages.

FrontPage Magazine continued: Former Marine John Guandolo, who worked in the FBIs Counterterrorism Division, identified Brennan as an enemy operative who converted to Islam. Brennan admitted he supported the Kremlin-funded Communist Party USA at the height of the Cold War, even voting for CPUSA presidential candidate Gus Hall in 1976. That fact alone should have instantly and permanently disqualified Brennan from all national security-related government posts.

Unmasking

Meanwhile, Trumpscontroversial claim that the Obama administration spied on his campaign and transition team has gained steam over the past two months.

House of War: Islams Jihad Against the World conveys what the West needs to know about Islam and the violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the subjugation and destruction of other faiths, cultures and systems of government

As WND reported, speaking on MSNBC on March 2, former deputy assistant Secretary of Defense Evelyn Farkas inadvertently confirmed the former presidents administration spied on Trumps transition team for political purposes and that she helped leak the information.

I became very worried because not enough was coming out into the open, and I knew that there was more, she said. We have very good intelligence on Russia. So then I had talked to some of my former colleagues, and I knew they were trying to also get information to the Hill.

Thats why you have the leaking.

However, intelligence chiefs who have seen the classified information in question, including Obamas own former director of national intelligence, James Clapperand former acting CIA Director Michael Morell, said days later they had seen no evidence of collusion between the Trump team and the Russian government.

That meant Farkas objectivecould only have been to damage Trump politically.

Later, former Obama National Security Adviser Susan Rice who infamously was all over network television claiming the Benghazi terror attack was a response to anobscure video admitted she unmasked the identities of Donald Trump associates collected in foreign surveillance.

But two weeks earlier, she had denied any knowledge of such unmasking after it was revealed by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif.

The political use of intelligence assets apparently was in full operation during the waning days of the Obama presidency when Obama changed the rules to let intelligence agencies share with 16 other agenciespersonal information that was intercepted.

House of War: Islams Jihad Against the World conveys what the West needs to know about Islam and the violent, expansionary ideology that seeks the subjugation and destruction of other faiths, cultures and systems of government

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Obama entangled in brand-new 'political espionage' scandal - WND.com

Fact Check: Are President Trump’s trips to Mar-a-Lago similar to Obama’s travels? – Chicago Tribune

Question: "President Obama, when he was in office, he spent $33,000 a day for his expenses. . . . Our president now, at this time, his average is $3 million a day."

Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla.: "It's costing him $60,000 a day when he comes down for extra care, but Palm Beach said they're going to put an extra tax for that. President Obama spent, what was it, $97 million in his eight years. . . . He went to Hawaii a lot. He went to Africa quite a bit. He went around the world. . . . He went to Africa, and he took their kids and friends and all that. Ninety-seven-million dollars in eight years, man."- Exchange during a town hall in Palatka, Fla., April 11, 2017

Question: "I heard you say earlier that you didn't care what Donald Trump did on the weekend and, frankly, neither do I. Except, he wants me to pay for it. . . . Does this concern you at all?"

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.: "I wasn't critical of the last president or the president before that, for what they do in their off time. . . . I'm not going to tell the president where he can or cannot spend his weekends."- Exchange during a town hall in Mesa, Ariz., April 13, 2017

"I do wish that he would spend more time in Washington, D.C. That's what we have the White House for."- Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, answer at town hall in Wall Lake, Iowa, April 18, 2017

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President Donald Trump's travels to his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida are a frequent topic at town halls hosted by members of Congress during the April recess. We've been asking readers to send us fact-checkable claims from their town halls, and some readers flagged claims about the cost of Trump's trips.

Flake and Ernst shared their opinions in response to constituents' questions. But Yoho's response involved claims that merit a fact check. Did Obama go to Africa "quite a bit" with his family and friends? How does the $97 million figure for Obama's travels compare with the $60,000-a-day figure for Trump's travels to Mar-a-Lago?

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Presidential travel costs are not readily made public, so at the moment we just have snapshots of the total price tag. As you can imagine, presidential trips require elaborate planning and security measures, and the main costs involve transportation and Secret Service detail.

There were a lot of numbers in the exchange between the constituent and Yoho, so we'll explain each of them.

Obama's $97 million over eight years: This is an estimate by the conservative group Judicial Watch, which tallied Secret Service and Air Force costs incurred during the former first family's personal travels. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said the group tracked trips that were "political, leisurely or otherwise unnecessary," including vacations to Martha's Vineyard and travels during the 2016 campaign as Hillary Clinton's surrogates.

Obama's $33,000 per day: This is $97 million, divided by eight years, divided by 365 days.

Trump's $3 million per day: The constituent appears to be referring to a number floating on the Internet for Trump's cost per trip to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. The figure, $3.6 million to be exact, comes from an October 2016 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report about Obama's February 2013 golf weekend to Palm Beach.

But as the Associated Press found, the trips are not directly comparable. Obama's February 2013 trip included a stop in Chicago, where he gave a speech before going to Florida for his golf weekend. That stop added costs to the total estimate.

Judicial Watch estimates Trump's Mar-a-Lago visits at closer to $1 million, when calculated just with the estimated costs for Air Force One and Secret Service. But there is no documented figure.

Trump's $60,000 per day: Yoho is describing how much it costs Palm Beach County every day to pay for local law enforcement to work overtime when Trump visits Mar-a-Lago. As Yoho says, the county wants to levy a special tax on the resort to pay for the overtime security costs.

That is only one piece of the total price of Trump's Mar-a-Lago visits, and it excludes Secret Service or Air Force costs. Moreover, some of Trump's trips to Mar-a-Lago are "working" trips, where he conducts some official business, such as hosting foreign dignitaries at his golf club. That means they're not directly comparable to the purely leisurely trips tallied under Obama's $97 million.

Fitton said some Mar-a-Lago trips can be justified and wouldn't necessarily indicate a misuse or abuse of presidential travel.

"His [Obama's] vacations to Hawaii cost millions of dollars," Fitton said. "The political problem with President Trump, and the accountability problem, is after a period of time, the cost will be difficult for him to be able to defend. It doesn't help that we don't know what the [total] costs are because the Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security [which oversees the Secret Service] haven't gotten their act together to turn them over to us."

The Washington Post reported that the unusually lavish lifestyle of Trump and his family is pushing the rate of his travel costs beyond his predecessors', and "could balloon into the hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a four-year term."

Did Obama go to Africa "quite a bit" with his friends and family? Not really.

Obama took three trips to seven African countries. That's seven out of 58 countries he visited as president through both terms. President Bill Clinton visited 10 African countries, and George W. Bush visited 11. Bush visited once with his wife and two daughters, and another time just with his wife.

Obama took his wife and daughters on his 2013 trip to three African countries, at an estimated price tag of tens of millions of dollars - possibly the most expensive of his tenure. The federal government provided all the resources, because the options in developing areas did not meet White House standards, The Post reported. That made the trip particularly costly. Clinton and Bush made similarly resource-intensive trips.

Yoho's staff did not provide a response or comment, but we will update this fact check if we receive one.

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There was a lot of interest at recent town halls about Trump's travels to Mar-a-Lago, and how much they are costing taxpayers. Yoho, responding to a constituent with some inaccurate information, did not make an apples-to-apples comparison of Trump's and Obama's travels in the town hall. Yoho noted the daily cost of $60,000 for Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips, vs. Obama's $97 million in travel costs over eight years. But the $60,000 represents a fraction of the costs per trip; it's just the cost to the Palm Beach County government.

Some of Trump's Mar-a-Lago trips involve official work, whereas the Obama family trips counted in the $97 million figure are ones that a conservative group deemed "political, leisurely or otherwise unnecessary" to taxpayers. So the two figures are not directly comparable.

And while Obama's trips to Africa were costly (as were the Africa trips of Bush and Clinton), he didn't go "quite a bit" when you look at his Africa trips compared with the rest of his travels as president. We award Two Pinocchios to Yoho.

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Fact Check: Are President Trump's trips to Mar-a-Lago similar to Obama's travels? - Chicago Tribune

When it comes to Iran, Trump and Obama aren’t yet looking much different – CNN

Now his secretary of state is, for the time being, certifying it.

"I've been doing deals for a long time, I've been making lots of wonderful deals -- great deals -- that's what I do. Never, ever, ever in my life have I seen any transaction so incompetently negotiated as our deal with Iran. And I mean, never."

That much has remained the same. But when it comes to the Iran deal, Trump has, for the moment, changed. Blaring skepticism has given way to (yet another) pragmatic adjustment. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday delivered a letter to Congress confirming that Iran has kept up its end of the controversial bargain.

The letter pads what will be an unpopular conclusion among GOP hawks with word that Trump has ordered a review of plans to lift sanctions in accordance with the deal, citing the Iranian government's ties to assorted terror groups. To follow through on the implicit threat would, ironically, put the US in defiance of the terms of the agreement.

Which is to say, it's not happening. At least not yet. By fate or fancy, the Trump administration has effectively taken on the foreign policy of its predecessor. The missile attack on Syria -- a one-off tactical jab -- was initially celebrated (or denounced) as a departure from Obama's caution, but the reality is that American strategic positions in multiple foreign theaters remain essentially indistinguishable from a year ago.

Democrats will, of course, use this as another example of Trump betraying his campaign promises. That's fair enough. Candidates make outlandish claims at their own political peril. But the reality here is that reality, more than any president, rules. Who saw it coming? Former Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson, kidnapped by Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, in 1985 and held for nearly seven years, offered a pretty good preview.

If he hasn't yet learned that, then Trump has surely experienced it. Though largely true to his campaign pledges as a matter of effort, he has been repeatedly turned back by the same forces he vowed to tame. Obamacare remains, thanks to in the intransigence of his own party. NATO? "Obsolete" no more. Tax reform? That could be the most difficult feat of all.

President Trump's reversals

before becoming president

NATO

China

Attacking the Syrian government

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen

Executive orders

The unemployment rate

Presidential golf

The Export-Import Bank

Federal hiring freeze

His explanation was simple. Pyongyang and its nukes were the priority.

"What, am I going to start trade war with China in the middle of (Chinese President Xi Jinping) working on a bigger problem with North Korea?" Trump said during an interview with Fox News. "I'm dealing with China with great respect. I have great respect for him. We'll see what he can do. Maybe he won't be able to help. That's possible. I think he is trying. Maybe he won't be able to help. That's a whole different story."

And so it goes for the Iran deal. Is Trump going to begin unraveling the dense, multinational accord in the middle of a ramped-up war on ISIS and escalating tensions with Syria (plus Russia and Iran by proxy)?

Not yet. His tactical unpredictability, for now, only stretches so far. Through nearly 100 days in office, Trump's foreign policy has a familiar ring.

Excerpt from:
When it comes to Iran, Trump and Obama aren't yet looking much different - CNN

These photos show the Patriots’ White House turnout for Trump vs. Obama – The Boston Globe

By Brian J. White and Jaclyn Reiss Globe Staff April 19, 2017

If President Trump didnt like those inauguration photos, just wait until he sees the ones from Wednesdays New England Patriots visit.

There were a lot of no-shows from the Patriots as the team met with Trump at the White House to honor their Super Bowl victory. Photos taken on Wednesday and in 2015, when the team visited President Obama after their previous championship, clearly show the impact of the absentees.

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The number of people standing behind the president is noticeably smaller in the 2017 photo about 50, compared with about 120 in 2015.

The New York Times first pointed out the comparison.

This year, several Patriots players said they would not be attending, some specifically citing Trumps comments and behavior as the reason why.

Tom Brady did not attend, saying in a statement Wednesday that he is attending to personal family matters. Trump did not mention Brady in his remarks.

On Wednesday, 34 Patriots players were in Washington for the ceremony Jabaal Sheard, James Develin, Julian Edelman, Jimmy Garoppolo, David Andrews, Marcus Cannon, Cameron Fleming, Stephen Gostkowski, Rob Gronkowski, Jacoby Brissett, Sebastian Vollmer, Chris Hogan, Nate Ebner, Malcolm Mitchell, Matt Lengel, Nate Solder, Glenn Gronkowski, Darius Kilgo, Justin Coleman, Rob Ninkovich, Joe Cardona, Trey Flowers, Brandon King, Kyle Van Noy, Jordan Richards, Matthew Slater, Eric Rowe, Geneo Grissom, Elandon Roberts, D.J. Foster, Shea McClellin, Joe Thuney, Ted Karras, and Jonathan Jones.

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Martellus Bennett, Chris Long, Devin McCourty, Donta Hightower, Alan Branch, and LeGarrette Blount were not at the ceremony,saying previouslythat they do not agree with either Trumps behavior or his policies.

Also not in the photo above are Brandon Bolden, Dion Lewis, James White, Danny Amendola, Michael Floyd, Vincent Valentine, Barkevious Mingo, Malcolm Butler, Patrick Chung, Duron Harmon, Logan Ryan, Cyrus Jones, Ryan Allen, Jonathan Freeny, Tre Jackson, Greg Scruggs, Chris Barker, Tyler Gaffney, Woodrow Hamilton, and Devin Lucien, according toa countby the Providence Journals Mark Daniels.

During the ceremony, Trump said seven wounded warriors had also joined in for the event.

No word yet on if White House press secretary Sean Spicer will arrange a news conference to dispute the number of Patriots at the ceremony.

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP/File 2015

A look at the Patriots who visited the White House in 2015, when President Obama was in office.

Al Drago/New York Times

A look at the members of the New England Patriots who visited the White House and President Trump today.

Get Ground Game in your inbox:

Daily updates and analysis on national politics from James Pindell.

Rachel G. Bowers of the Globe staff contributed to this report.

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These photos show the Patriots' White House turnout for Trump vs. Obama - The Boston Globe

Trump’s Wiretap Tweets Bring Lawsuit Seeking Proof – NPR

American Oversight, a group of Democratic lawyers, is suing the Justice Department and FBI over President Trump's tweeted allegation that he was wiretapped by then-President Barack Obama. Eric Thayer/Getty Images hide caption

American Oversight, a group of Democratic lawyers, is suing the Justice Department and FBI over President Trump's tweeted allegation that he was wiretapped by then-President Barack Obama.

Updated at 6:30 p.m. ET

A group of Democratic lawyers is suing the Justice Department and FBI over President Trump's tweeted allegation of wiretapping ordered by then-President Barack Obama.

American Oversight is demanding records that support or disprove Trump's March 4 tweet, "Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower."

Austin Evers, the group's director, told NPR, "We can get a straight, factual answer in the courts, by asking an unspinnable question: Do you have records to support the president's tweets?"

Besides the tweet, Trump has talked about the wiretap claim, while FBI Director James Comey told the House Intelligence Committee in open session that his agency had "no information" about such alleged wiretaps. The lawsuit cites those public discussions to argue that the records are no longer classified.

American Oversight sued after the Justice Department rejected, and the FBI ignored, its Freedom of Information Act requests.

In a second case also filed Wednesday, American Oversight demands records in the evolving story of Russian interference in the presidential campaign. It seeks records on White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus' communications with the FBI regarding Russian contacts with Trump associates and the campaign.

And it seeks Attorney General Jeff Sessions' list of foreign contacts, which he would have filed before his Senate confirmation hearing. That was the hearing where Sessions failed to recall meetings with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. The lawsuit says the list "would address a significant question regarding the integrity of a senior government official."

Asked for comment about either lawsuit, the White House referred NPR to the Justice Department.

Organized this winter, American Oversight is a group of former Obama administration lawyers that is using FOIA to monitor the performance and conduct of Trump administration agencies. Wednesday's lawsuits are the first, but Evers said more than 100 FOIA requests have been submitted.

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Trump's Wiretap Tweets Bring Lawsuit Seeking Proof - NPR