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Obama's European Legacy Wall Street Journal (subscription) For a faraway television viewer, this thought came to mind: Could Mr. Obama (or the beatific crowd, or Angela Merkel, his beaming co-star) have read what Joschka Fischer, with remarkable fierceness, said about the failure of the Obama presidency? Not. Barack Obama: Still a rock starThe Hindu all 1,067 news articles »

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Obama's European Legacy - Wall Street Journal (subscription)

What caused the Barack Obama administration to begin investigating the Donald Trump campaign last summer has come into clearer focus following a string of congressional hearings on Russian interference in the presidential election.

It was then-CIA Director John O. Brennan, a close confidant of Mr. Obamas, who provided the information what he termed the basis for the FBI to start the counterintelligence investigation last summer. Mr. Brennan served on the former presidents 2008 presidential campaign and in his White House.

Mr. Brennan told the House Intelligence Committee on May 23 that the intelligence community was picking up tidbits on Trump associates making contacts with Russians. Mr. Brennan did not name either the Russians or the Trump people. He indicated he did not know what was said.

But he said he believed the contacts were numerous enough to alert the FBI, which began its probe into Trump associates that same July, according to previous congressional testimony from then-FBI director James B. Comey.

The FBI probe of contacts came the same month the intelligence community fingered Russian agents as orchestrating hacks into Democratic Party computers and providing stolen emails to WikiLeaks.

Mr. Brennan, who has not hidden his dislike for Mr. Trump, testified he briefed the investigations progress to Mr. Obama, who at the time was trying to aid Hillary Clinton in her campaign against the Republican nominee.

As Mr. Brennan described his actions to the House committee: I wanted to make sure that every information and bit of intelligence that we had was shared with the bureau [FBI] so that they could take it. It was well beyond my mandate as director of CIA to follow on any of those leads that involved U.S. persons. But I made sure that anything that was involving U.S. persons, including anything involving the individuals involved in the Trump campaign, was shared with the bureau.

I was aware of intelligence and information about contacts between Russian officials and U.S. persons that raised concerns in my mind about whether or not those individuals were cooperating with the Russians, either in a witting or unwitting fashion, and it served as the basis for the FBI investigation to determine whether such collusion [or] cooperation occurred, Mr. Brennan added.

Eleven months later, there is no official public confirmation that Trump people colluded with the Russians on hacking.

When Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, the Republican point man in questioning Mr. Brennan, asked what the Russians and Trump people were talking about, the former top spy said he did not know.

I saw interaction and [was] aware of interaction that, again, raised questions in my mind about what was the true nature of it. But I dont know. I dont have sufficient information to make a determination whether or not such cooperation or complicity or collusion was taking place. But I know that there was a basis to have individuals pull those threads, Mr. Brennan said.

It is known that some Trump people had contact with Russians during the campaign, when the hacking occurred, and some during the transition.

Jared Kushner, a White House aide and Mr. Trumps son-in-law, is known to have communicated with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak during the transition, as did retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn.

The State Department sponsored a trip by diplomats to the Republican National Convention in July. Mr. Kislyak was among those who attended.

One Trump person known to have public Russian contacts in July was Carter Page. Mr. Page signed on as a low-level volunteer who made TV appearances on Mr. Trumps behalf and offered advice on foreign policy.

Mr. Page, who has done business with Russians for years and lived in Moscow in the 2000s as a Merrill Lynch investment banker, returned last summer to give two talks that were covered by the news media.

Mr. Page has told The Washington Times he played no role in any Russian conspiracy to hack or otherwise interfere in the election.

He believes the Trump campaign severed ties with him because of sensational charges in an unverified anti-Trump dossier that surfaced in a smattering of news stories before Nov. 8.

The dossier was one of the forces influencing the FBI that summer. Some press reports said it was the reason the bureau began investigating Trump associates and acquired a warrant to wiretap Mr. Page as a possible foreign agent.

But Mr. Brennans May 23 testimony shows that it was his actions that drove the FBI probe.

The dossier was financed by a Clinton backer and written by British ex-spy Christopher Steele. He was hired by Democratic-tied Fusion GPS in Washington.

Mr. Steeles 35 pages of memos were first circulated in late June. In mid-July Fusion passed around another memo that made the most sensational charges. Further Indications of Extensive Conspiracy Between Trumps Campaign and the Kremlin was the headline.

Mr. Steele said that Mr. Carter and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort formed a team to work with the Russians to hack the Democrats.

Mr. Page calls the charge preposterous. He told The Times he has never met Mr. Manafort.

Also denying the charges was Mr. Manafort, whom the Trump organization fired after reports he received questionable payments from a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician. Mr. Manafort said he did not knowingly talk to any Russians.

After Mr. Brennans May 23 appearance, Mr. Page sent a letter to the House committee.

His testimony followed closely in line with the highly defamatory and baseless accusations offered during their regimes final year in office as well as the months since, Mr. Page wrote to Rep. K. Michael Conaway, the Texas Republican who is leading the panels investigation, and Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, the committees top Democrat.

Throughout my interactions with the Russians in 2016, I consistently made it crystal clear that all of my benign statements and harmless actions in Moscow as well as elsewhere overseas were solely made as a scholar and a business person speaking only on behalf of myself. In other words, in no way connected to then-candidate Trump, Mr. Page wrote.

The Steele dossier said he met with two Kremlin-connected Russians in Moscow that July. Mr. Page said he has never met the two men.

Mr. Brennan has been a harsh critic of Mr. Trump, especially since the election. He took umbrage at Mr. Trump blaming the intelligence community for leaks and his likening it to how the Nazis did business. Mr. Brennan said Mr. Trump does not understand the threat posed by Russia.

While Mr. Brennan was at the White House, the Obama administration launched a six-year reset approach to Moscow, with then-Secretary of State Clinton standing next to Russian President Vladimir Putin and urging Americans to do business with Russia.

Relations soured after Mr. Putins forces invaded Ukraine.

To this day, nearly a year after Mr. Brennan alerted the FBI, there has been no public official confirmation that Trump people coordinated with the Russians on hacking. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and Senate Intelligence Committee member, said earlier this month she has seen no evidence of collusion.

The Senate and House Intelligence committees are both investigating that charge.

Last week, the Senate panel asked the Trump presidential campaign for all records related to Russia.

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John Brennan, Obama loyalist and CIA director, drove FBI to investigate Trump associates - Washington Times

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The secretive court also notes a change for the better under President Trumps team.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorizes two courts to provide judicial review for U.S. intelligence agencies when their activities require them to monitor people on U.S. soil. One is FISC, and the other is the court that hears appeals from FISC decisions, the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review (FISCR). The benches of FISC are comprised of federal judges from regular federal trial courts throughout the nation, and three appellate judges from around the nation comprise the bench of FISCR.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) recently declassified an April 26, 2017, ruling from FISC, detailing violations of Fourth Amendment rights during the final year of the Obama administration.

The problems dealt specifically with Section 702 of FISA. This provision of federal law, found at 50 U.S.C. 1881a, contains minimization procedures for U.S. citizens whose information is scooped up by the intelligence community while those agencies are conducting FISA surveillance. These safeguards minimize the burden on civil rights caused by the intrusion of the federal government into citizens lives.

The Fourth Amendment commands:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Writing the 99-page opinion for FISC, Judge Rosemary Collyer castigated the Obama administration for failing to follow the Section 702 procedures designed to ensure that the government does not violate Americans civil rights as it is performing work that is vitally important to national security. Collyer declared that the previous administrations cavalier violations of Section 702s requirements created a very serious Fourth Amendment issue.

Collyer sharply criticized the National Security Agencys inspector general and the NSAs Office of Compliance for Operations for their institutional lack of candor, signaling that in addition to ignoring legal constraints, the Obama administration was not being honest with the court about its violations of federal law.

Under President Trump, the NSA decided on March 30 that it would stop certain collection activities that FISC was then reviewing. Collyer noted this change for the better in her opinion, and adding that the court granted approval of the amended certifications and accompanying targeting and minimization procedures.

The court also criticized the FBI, faulting the domestic agency with distributing raw FISA information to a wide array of individuals associated with the bureau, including private contractors who did not need access to the information.Collyer noted that this unwarranted practice had also ceased under the Trump administration, with the FBI curtailing its dissemination of raw intelligence on April 18.

Parts of the opinion were redacted to safeguard other relevant facts.

Ken Klukowski is senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.

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Court Criticizes Obama Admin for Illegal Spying on US Citizens - Breitbart News

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has a tough task when he visits the White House this week: Convince President Donald Trump to advance trade ties that blossomed under the Obama administration.

To do so, Phuc plans to highlight all the U.S. jobs his nation supports through imports of American goods like airplanes, engine turbines and maize. Vietnam respects Trumps exit from a Pacific trade pact agreed to under Barack Obama, and the two sides are working on new mechanisms to boost bilateral trade, Phuc said in an interviewwith Bloomberg Televisions Haslinda Amin.

Vietnamese imports from the United States have increased significantly, Phuc said during the May 27 meeting at his office in Hanoi. We will sign billions of dollars worth of deals with American firms and import lots of meaningful high-value products from the United States that will help create American jobs."

Vietnamese Prime Minster Nguyen Xuan Phuc discusses the Vietnamese economy. He speaks with Bloombergs Haslinda Amin.

Source: Bloomberg)

Vietnamwants its former enemy more engaged in the region to balance relations with China -- its neighbor, main trading partner and top geopolitical threat. Phuc is betting that promises of American jobs -- Trumps primary campaign pledge -- will persuade him to focus more on the strategic benefits of closer trade and security ties.

Relations between the U.S. and Vietnam have strengthened in the four decades since a war that killed almost 60,000 American servicemen and probably more than 1 million Vietnamese. Trade between the nations reached $47 billion last year from almost nothing in 1994, when former President Bill Clinton lifted a trade embargo.

In recent years the U.S. and Vietnam have found common ground over worries about China, which has used its increased military muscle to assert control over disputed reefs in the South China Sea. Vietnam fought a border war with China in 1979 and remains suspicious of its neighbor, despite its similar Communist political system and growing trade ties.

The role of the U.S. in the region is important -- that is indisputable, said Tran Viet Thai, a deputy director general at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam in Hanoi, where the countrys diplomats are trained. We want to be more than friends. We want to be partners with the U.S.

Hanois leaders want to reduce Vietnams economic dependence on China while further integrating with global markets, including the U.S. China accounted for 21 percent of Vietnams total international commerce in 2016, nearly double from a decade earlier, while the U.S. accounted for about 14 percent.

The Obama administration made the Trans-Pacific Partnership a priority in part to counter Chinas economic leverage in Asia. He also expanded security ties: The U.S. lifted a ban on lethal arms sales, started joint naval drills and sent two warships to the Cam Ranh Bay naval base for the first time in decades.

Trump signaled this month that hell continue to press China on its territorial claims. His administration handed over six Coast Guard patrol boats to Vietnam and drew a rebuke from Beijing for conducting a so-called freedom of navigation operation near a China-claimed reef in disputed waters.

Those moves will help ease concerns within Vietnam that Trump will seek to placate China in the South China Sea for cooperation in pressuring North Korea over its nuclear program, according to Alexander Vuving, a Vietnam political analyst at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.

The Trump administration is very interested in advancing the relationship with Vietnam because it sees the strategic role Vietnam places in Asia, he said.

In the interview, Phuc deflected a question on whether Vietnam seeks a stronger U.S. presence in the South China Sea. The Philippines, a country that had previously aligned with Vietnam in opposing Chinas claims, has recently sought direct talks with China over disputed territory in the waters.

We would need to discuss together with the stakeholders to make sure that all parties will benefit from whatever action that we decide to take to ensure peace in this area, Phuc said of the South China Sea.

Phuc was more expressive on the need to form a consensus with the U.S. on trade. Vietnam had stood to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the TPP until Trump pulled out, and suddenly found itself on a list of 16 nations that he called cheaters" for contributing to the bulk of Americas trade deficit.

Phuc, who will be the first Southeast Asian leader to visit Trumps White House, pushed back against that categorization. He said that Vietnam doesnt artificially lower the prices of catfish and shrimp -- important commodities in southern U.S. states that formed part of Trumps base.

We dont cheat. Theres no cheating of any kind of products that we export to the United States, Phuc said. And we have all the proof to prove it.

Phuc sought to emphasize the positive aspects of trade, and touted the merits of globalization and huge opportunities for the two sides to cooperate in sectors like energy, infrastructure, finance and the digital economy. He declined to say directly if Vietnam planned to enter bilateral trade talks with the U.S., even as he expressed optimism over Trumps commitment to economic liberalization.

I hope that the U.S. will continue to step up its cooperation agendas, especially in trade, thus contributing to prosperity in the region and the world, he said. There remains enormous untapped potential for economic cooperation.

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Vietnam's PM Wants to Convince Trump to Keep Obama-Era Trade Ties - Bloomberg

(CNN)Today, I admire Donald Trump. His remarks made in the aftermath of the terror attack in Manchester captured the mood in Britain perfectly. Terrorists are not soldiers, not even murderers -- they are "losers." And this tragic event validates Trump's initiative of uniting the world against terrorism. Suddenly, he feels like a serious international leader.

Trump to Meet the Pope at Vatican 06:40

That's why Trump's appearance at the Western Wall in Jerusalem was important too -- and quite emotional. Trump has made a commitment to Israel that clears up any doubt left by Obama. Critics will sniff that this shows his own lack of imagination, or the influence of neoconservatives.

But what is the alternative? To isolate the only properly functioning democracy in the region -- a friend to the West struggling to survive against the odds?

Moreover, Israel's experience and intelligence is critical to the defeat of ihadist terrorism. Which brings us to the final strand of Trump's Middle East tour.

Trump on ISIS: Obliterate this evil ideology 01:07

The greatest fear I had of Trump's foreign policy was that he might bleed popular American dislike of Islam into an all-out conflict with it. But, as he observed in his speech, the greatest victims of Muslim violence are Muslims -- so there are plenty of Muslims for America to ally with.

Trump's warmest reception has been among Muslims and Jews. He may find the Christians are a harder audience. When he visits Pope Francis on Wednesday, he meets a seasoned diplomat with his own sense of strategic priorities: tackle global warming, compel Europeans to take more refugees, defend Christian's overseas.

Yet any tensions between Francis and Trump will surely be overshadowed by the terror attack in Manchester. Israelis and Saudis speak bluntly about the threat posed to civilization by radical jihadists; Europeans retreat behind platitudes. It's good for all three to be rallied by a president who wants to emphasize what everyone has in common, which is a vulnerability to terror.

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On tour abroad, Trump does what Obama should have