Archive for the ‘Obama’ Category

What we know about Trump’s unsubstantiated wiretapping …

President Trump has sparked a firestorm by accusing then-President Obama of wiretapping communications in Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign, without providing any evidence for his claim.

But former Obama administration officials are hitting back, saying Obama did not order any wiretap. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said he was not aware of any foreign-intelligence court order authorizing a wiretap.

The White House hasn't given any more details about what Trump was referring to.

Here's what we know (and what we don't) about Trump's unsubstantiated wiretapping allegations:

In a series of tweets early Saturday morning, Trump alleged that Obama had the phones in Trump Tower in New York wiretapped before Election Day.

Trump hasn't provided any more detailed information about his allegations, so it's unclear if he's referring to a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court order; a criminal case wiretapping warrant; some kind of rogue extragovernmental action; something he read, saw on television or heard on the radio; or none of the above.

What Trump is saying: Trump's tweets say he "just found out" about "the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October" not adding any qualifiers. Trump hasn't offered any evidence to support his claim.

What the White House is saying: White House communications staffers have struggled to defend Trump's allegations in television appearances over the last 48 hours. Press secretary Sean Spicer tweeted that Trump "is requesting ... the congressional Intelligence committees ... determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016" and wouldn't comment further. But on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, ABC News' Martha Raddatz asked White House deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about the claim. "All we're saying is let's take a closer look. Let's look into this. If this happened, if this is accurate, this is the biggest overreach and the biggest scandal," Sanders said. "If, if, if, if," Raddatz replied, pointing out Trump asserted it as a fact. "I will let the president speak for himself," Sanders continued. "He's talking about could this have happened? Did this happen?" On "Good Morning America" today, Sanders told ABC's George Stephanopoulos that Obama's administration "could have done this" and Trump is asking only "that we allow the House Intelligence Committee to do its job."

What other officials are saying: The most pointed refutation of this claim came from Clapper on Sunday. Asked whether he would be aware of any wiretapping of Trump's phones or any FISA Court order authorizing it, Clapper told NBC's "Meet the Press" he "absolutely" would "know that." Then asked whether he could confirm or deny that Trump's phones were wiretapped, Clapper said, "I can deny it." He continued that "not to my knowledge" was there any FISA Court order of anything at Trump Tower. A statement from Obama did not deny any wiretapping of Trump's phones denying only that the White House "ordered" it or "interfered" with any Justice Department investigation. Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau highlighted that distinction, tweeting, "I'd be careful about reporting that Obama said there was no wiretapping. Statement just said that neither he nor the WH ordered it."

What we don't know: Clapper has denied any "wiretap activity" against Trump from "the part of the national security apparatus that I oversaw" but admitted he "can't speak for other Title III authorized entities in the government or a state or local entity." Neither Obama nor any current Department of Justice official has unequivocally denied that there was any wiretapping. And because any wiretap would be protected under the highest levels of classification, it's not clear how many officials would be in a position to know about it. However, multiple former senior intelligence officials told ABC that in almost every circumstance, Trump would have the authority to ask and find out if he had been wiretapped. The only real circumstance in which he might not be privy to that info is if a warrant was focused on him.

What Trump is saying: In four tweets, Trump directly ties Obama to the alleged wiretapping, saying "Obama had my 'wires tapped'" and "Obama was tapping my phones." Trump hasn't offered any evidence to back those claims.

What the White House is saying: On "Good Morning America" on Monday, Sanders backed off the assertion that Obama was personally responsible, telling ABC News, "Whether it was directly ordered by this president specifically, his administration could have done this." On "This Week" on Sunday, she said "there certainly could have been" a FISA order that Obama did not order. She pointed to thenAttorney General Loretta Lynch's meeting with former President Bill Clinton on a tarmac during a Justice Department investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a personal email server as evidence that Obama "got directly involved" in other investigations. (Lynch and Bill Clinton denied discussing the email case.) Sanders added that even if Obama wasn't involved, it "would have fallen under this administration and this past president."

What Obama is saying: A spokesperson for Obama said, "No White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice," in a statement on Saturday. "Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false." The statement did not rule out that wiretapping was initiated by the Department of Justice. Former national security adviser Ben Rhodes tweeted a similar sentiment in a response to Trump, writing, "No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you."

What other officials are saying: FBI Director James Comey asked the Justice Department to publicly refute Trump's assertion that Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump's phones before the election, government sources told ABC News. Comey was concerned the president's tweets which he believes are inaccurate created the impression that the FBI acted improperly, and he wanted to set the record straight, the sources said. The FBI and Department of Justice declined to comment.

What we don't know: While Obama has denied any order or involvement and Comey asked his superiors for a public refutation, it's not clear whether it's possible a Justice Department investigation may have existed independently of Obama's influence or whether these top officials may be choosing not to publicly confirm the existence of such a highly classified and sensitive investigation. And while Clapper has denied the existence of a FISA Court order, we don't know whether there may have been a criminal wiretap warrant outside of a foreign intelligence-related investigation or if a state or local agency was involved.

What Trump is saying: Trump asked via Twitter, "Is it legal for a sitting President to be 'wire tapping' a race for president prior to an election?" He added that Obama was allegedly "turned down by court earlier." He compared the alleged action to "Nixon/Watergate." Trump hasn't offered any evidence supporting his claim.

What the White House is saying: On "This Week," Sanders told Raddatz that if this wiretap happened, "this would be the greatest abuse of power and overreach that's probably ever occurred in the executive branch." And Monday on "Good Morning America," Sanders asserted to Stephanopoulos more generally that "the administration was wiretapping American citizens" and "the fact that it was being done is a fact that we should be talking about." A spokesperson for Obama said, "No president can order a wiretap." The FISA Court has approved over 10,000 requests for electronic surveillance from the Justice Department since 2009.

What other officials are saying: Former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod tweeted, "If there were the wiretap @realDonaldTrump loudly alleges, such an extraordinary warrant would only have been OKed by a court for a reason."

What the law says: A wiretap order on Trump could have been legally obtained from the FISA Court, a secret tribunal with legal authority to grant warrants for electronic surveillance against suspected spies or terrorists. The court made up of 11 federal judges serving seven-year terms and selected by the chief justice of the United States meets in private, sometimes in the middle of the night. FISA targets are highly classified. A FISA Court order is not the only way to authorize a wiretap: Nonintelligence, criminal wiretap warrants can be obtained but require that the individual under surveillance is using the device in connection with a past or possible future crime.

What we don't know: While Clapper has said he's not aware of any foreign-intelligence-related court order and would be aware if there was one and Obama denied ordering a wiretap of Trump, we don't know whether a criminal wiretap order remains sealed or if Trump is alleging as with Richard Nixon and Watergate some kind of extragovernmental group working illegally.

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What we know about Trump's unsubstantiated wiretapping ...

Trump agency heads already rolling back Obama-era rules on …

President Trumps newly installed agency heads are starting to take a lead role unraveling a web of Obama-era regulations, acting alongside congressional Republicans and the president himself to roll back rules they claim hurt business or simply go too far.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was the latest to peel back red tape.

On his first day of work, for which he arrived Teddy Roosevelt-style on horseback, Zinke ended a ban on lead bullets and fishing tackle on federal lands and water. The ban was imposed to protect animals from lead poisoning, but had been criticized by the National Rifle Association as an attack on gun owners.

Zinke said in a statement he determined the original order was not mandated by any existing statutory or regulatory requirement.The NRA thanked the new secretary for eliminating this arbitrary attack.

Zinke also hinted at more to come in another order, directing agencies to identify areas where recreation and fishing can be expanded.

Meanwhile, the EPA reportedly is set to reverse an Obama-era decision to lock in strict gas mileage requirements for cars and light trucks through 2025.

Together, the moves are part of a three-pronged attack on regulations issued over the last several months and years. It's what White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, at CPAC, dubbed the deconstruction of the administrative state.

The Republican-controlled Congress has moved since the start of the session to nix rules issued toward the end of the last administration. And Trump has directed others to be rolled back, a plan his agencies also are implementing.

In February, for instance, Trump signed an order instructing the Labor Department to delay implementing a rule requiring certain financial professionals to put their clients' interests first. The department could simply abolish it. Trump also ordered agencies to ease the regulatory burdens of ObamaCare, and look at removing two regulations for every new one.

Yet, as the final members of Trumps Cabinet are being confirmed, incoming agency heads also appear to be acting on their own.

The EPA, under Scott Pruitt, last week withdrew its request that owners and operators in the oil and natural gas industry provide information on equipment and emissions at existing operations.

The Washington Examiner reported Monday that Trump also is planning on signing an executive order rolling back Obamas Clean Power Plan which requires states to cut greenhouse gas emissions by a third as well as the Interior Departments moratorium on coal leases.

However, the Clean Power Plan order would merely instruct the EPA to overturn it. A similar order was sent out last week, instructing regulators to re-examine President Obamas Clean Water Rule.

In another example of agencies taking the lead, Health Secretary Tom Price says his department will go through existing health care regulations and try to "get rid" of those they determine hurt patients, as Republicans push an ObamaCare replacement bill.

Conservatives, however, are hoping the Trump administration will be an opportunity not just to roll back regulations, but get agencies out of the habit of passing their own.

Regardless of which party controls the White House, we need to get a handle on the regulatory state. Yes, roll back what we can, but also to make sure were going through Congress to put checks in place to restore Article 1 [of the Constitution], Jason Pye, director of public policy and legislative affairs for FreedomWorks, told Fox News.

EPA Administrator Pruitt holds a similar view, telling The Wall Street Journal that his job is not about increasing or reducing regulation.

There is no reason why EPAs role should ebb or flow based on a particular administration, or a particular administrator, he said in a Feb. 17 interview. Agencies exist to administer the law. Congress passes statutes, and those statutes are very clear on the job EPA has to do.

As for revoking rules via Congress, conservatives have pointed to the Congressional Review Act a little-known 1996 law that gives Congress 60 legislative days to reconsider any new regulations. If a resolution of disapproval is signed by the president, then the agency cannot re-submit a regulation in substantially the same form, unless approved by Congress.

The House passed a bill in January the Midnight Rules Relief Act that, if signed by President Trump, would allow Congress to disapprove of multiple regulations at once.

Some Republicans are suggesting a slash-and-burn approach. North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows posted online a 100 days list of rules he wants to see revoked.

But Pye warns most lawmakers are unlikely to be so aggressive.

I think theyre going to be thoughtful. Some, like the Clean Power Plan or the fiduciary rule, are unavoidable -- you have to start rolling those back, he said. With that said, we should be pursuing legislative measures, not just rolling regulations back, but making sure a future president cant impact negatively impact [the] economy through [regulation].

Adam Shaw is a Politics Reporter and occasional Opinion writer for FoxNews.com. He can be reached here or on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.

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Trump agency heads already rolling back Obama-era rules on ...

Barack Obamas Politically Active Post-Presidency Isnt …

Just as his limited rsum and celebrity candidacy helped open the door for President Trumps run, his politicking since leaving office may be setting a dangerous precedent.

In a break from modern tradition, former President Barack Obama appears to be wading back into political waters.

Its coming. [President Obama is] coming, former Attorney General Eric Holder told a gaggle of reporters last month. And hes ready to roll.

We dont know the scope of involvement he has planned. The New York Times, though, reported that Obamas team rushed to preserve intelligence regarding possible contacts between Trumps presidential campaign and Russia. That since leaving office, Obama tapped Holder to chair a new group focused on helping Democrats with redistricting efforts, while his loyal holdovers are leaking secrets about the Trump administration.

For all the talk about Trumps atypical behavior, the Obama camps unfolding machinations feel almost equally unprecedented.

Jimmy Carter threw himself into philanthropy, observes presidential historian David Pietrusza, but also took up oil and canvas, as did U.S. Grant, Dwight Eisenhower, and George W. Bush, who threw himself into folk art. Theodore Roosevelt took after his successors, William Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson, with hammer and tongs. It is up to Obama whether he paints or smears.

One could argue that Obamas choice is both acceptable and appropriate. Hes young, just 55, and you could even say that its his civic responsibility to do everything within his power to check Trumps authoritarian tendencies.

This is the justificationor possibly a rationalizationfor what Obama appears to be doing. [I]f the only way to protect norms is to destroy norms, writes The Atlantics David A. Graham, the effect is a feedback doom-loop for norms in general.

The ends justify the means. He has to destroy the village in order to save it.

To be sure, Trump, too, has played into that destructive feedback loop throughout his campaign and now his candidacy, as when he tweeted Saturday about Obama supposedly wiretapping him during the campaign, andin still another example of Trump reflecting attacks aimed at him back at his enemiessaid of Obama This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

Trump also recently told Fox News he thinks President Obama is behind [the disruptive protests happening at Republican town halls] because his people certainly are behind it. Is this another outlandish Trump claim?

Perhaps, but there also may be some merit. Organizing for Action, a successor to the Obama campaign, is urging progressives to attend Republican town hall meetings.

The fact that Obama has decided to remain in Washington, D.C., is both unusual and symbolic. True, a retired Woodrow Wilson also remained in Washington, but he had reasons. He had remarried a Washington widow, possessed no private home to return to and was too sick to do much more than privately fume about a presidency gone wrong.

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Obama, however, will remain politically active; that break with tradition is simply another aspect of his political abnormality. The truth is that Barack Obama bears a lot of responsibility for destroying what had been acceptable standardsthe destruction of which ultimately made possible Donald Trumps ascendancy. While Obama now poses as a defender of decorum, tradition, and protocol, he (in a much subtler way) flouted convention.

This is a guy who, in not even a single term as a U.S. senator before running for the highest office in the land, accomplished little but did try to filibuster Sam Alitos nomination to the Supreme Court, and supported a poison pill to kill immigration reform. Who ran as a celebrity, helping pave the way for the sort of hero worship that President Trumps fans now employ.

He won office at a time when America felt like it was already coming apart, and given the opportunity to be a true post-partisan leader who could unite the country, chose instead to run a highly partisan and ideological presidency. That began with his choice of the divisive issue of health care reform as his landmark legislationObamacare being Obamas original sinusing every means necessary to pass it on a party-line vote. And he frequently resorted to unilateral decisions outside the scope of his constitutional authority. Sound familiar?

Along the way, he got us used to a lot of things that his team is now accusing Donald Trump of inventing. Think Donald Trump is an undignified reality star? Yeah, remember the time that Obama gave an interview to a YouTube star who drinks cereal out of a bathtub? Cultural degradation doesnt just happen overnight.

Do you think President Trump was the first politician to have a casual relationship with the truth? Then answer this: Who said, If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor and that ISIS is the JV team?

Dont get me wrongin his outward demeanor and rhetoric, Obama generally acted much more like a traditional politician than does Trump. But while the narrative seems to be that Obama was kind and normaland that Republicans were mean and obstructionistit takes two to tango. Dont forget that Obama curtly told Republicans I won when they were first trying to negotiate with him.

Yet, his faade masked a partisan motivation that harmed not only the nation and the Constitution but also his own party. Now, he may harm his party yet again because a too-active ex-president possesses its own risks. Theodore Roosevelts post-presidential political resurrection deterred the rise of any alternative Republican progressives, such as a Robert La Follette, a Hiram Johnson, or a William E. Borah. A still-active, Washington-based Obama may similarly retard the ascent of badly needed new Democratic leadership, much as any sitting president eclipses his own party.

By turning his term into a never-ending, eight-year campaign, Obama established a non-traditional presidency which begat an even more non-traditional president as his successor. He will open even more previously-locked doors by continuing his tradition of ignoring tradition.

Hastened by those who should know better, the erosion and devolution of discourse is already finding easy footholds in an already-surreal Trump Presidency. The reverberations, sadly, could echo far beyond the four or eight years of the current administration and tinge Presidential politics for a generation or more.

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Michelle Obama surprises D.C. students, talks struggles and …

When former first lady Michelle Obama walked into a D.C. high school classroom, the stunned students erupted in tears. One student even darted out of the classroom to regain her composure before she could sit next to her.

Obama, who still lives in Washington, made a surprise visit Tuesday to Ballou STAY High School to speak with 14 students for two hours. Upon arriving, she hugged each of them before taking her seat in the circle.

Once she came in, it was an inspirational feeling, said Alliyah Williams, 18. She was so sweet and warm. She was like a mom.

[Watch Michelle Obama crash these D.C. classrooms and surprise students.]

After visiting the public alternative high school in Southeast Washington, she tweeted Always love visiting DC schools. Thank you for hosting me today @BallouSTAY. Stories of students #reachinghigher continue to inspire me. The tweet referenced the White House initiative Reach Higher she launched to encourage students to continue their education.

Mrs. Obama had an emotional and heartfelt discussion with the students, Caroline Adler Morales, a spokeswoman for the former first lady, wrote in an email. There were tears, laughs and lots of hugs.

While the Obamas shared a close rapport with D.C. Public Schools, the relationship with the Trump administration has had a rocky start. Protesters greeted Education Secretary Betsy DeVos when she visited a D.C. school last month. DeVos later criticized teachers, prompting the school to send 11 tweets defending itself.

The previous White House occupants are still D.C. residents, renting a house in the Kalorama neighborhood at least while their youngest daughter finishes high school.

[One of Michelle Obamas legacies in D.C.? This nonprofit.]

Ballou STAY principal Cara Fuller said she learned of the visit an hour before, although the students didnt know until Obama walked in. Students had been expecting a discussion with new D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Antwan Wilson, so Fuller had selected the students to participate.

Fuller said the students ranged in age from 16 to 23. Four have children, some live in shelters, and others had been expelled from previous schools.

I think she really just wanted a school and a group of students who are typically counted out to know that they themselves are amazing and wonderful and have the talents that they need to be successful, Fuller said.

Fuller said Obama led an informal discussion, with students asking her how she met the former president and how she survived as first lady. In response to one question, Obama said she has no presidential aspirations, saying that she didnt have the freedom to crack open a window in the White House because of security. Students also asked for her thoughts on Trump.

They just asked what her thoughts were on the current president and they were deeply concerned about the rhetoric that has been going around, she said.

At one point, a student told Obama of her struggles living in a shelter, and Obama walked the student through steps she could take to achieve her goals. Another student, Williams, told the former first lady she wants to be an anesthesiologist.

She told me not to let anything get in the way, and she said dont go back and help everyone until you get where you want to be, said Williams, who has a 2-year-old son.

Fuller said one student, 18-year-old Vonte Walker, had never talked about his ambitions in school. Since Obamas visit, hes been telling the staff of his college plans.

She motivated me, Walker said.

Fuller recalled Obama calling a young mother in the class a superstar and listening to a student who said his biggest fear was making minimum wage at 40.

These are students, students who no one says positive things to you generally, and it was really just to affirm their journey, Fuller said.

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Obama "Furious" With Trump Over Wiretapping Allegations …

In a report demonstrating the collapse in diplomatic relations between the current and previous president, the WSJ wrote overnight that rapport between Barack Obama and Donald Trump has "unraveled" with Trump "convinced that Mr. Obama is undermining his nascent administration" while Obama is "furious" over Trump tweets accusing him of illegal wiretapping. The WSJ notes that after shaking hands on Jan. 20, the day of Trump's inauguration, the two presidents havent spoken since, "although Trump tried to call Obama to thank him for the traditional letter that one president leaves for his successor in the Oval Office." The reason: Obama was traveling at the time and the two never connected.

As an amusing aside, the WSJ adds that the rift is distancing Mr. Trump from a former two-term president "who had offered to give private advice and counsel as the onetime businessman settles into his first job in public office." Of course, if Trump is correct and Obama did in fact order a wiretap of the Trump Tower, Obama was actively seeking to impair the Trump campaign and chances for presidency, so that statement may seem a little suspect in retrospect.

Accuracy of the report notwithstanding, it is obvious that the bad blood between the two people has grown to unprecedented levels: Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian, said the open friction has upended tradition, an almost unwritten rule that you treat your predecessor with a degree of grace and decorum.

There are these kinds of things that have happened in the past, but nothing to the degree where a sitting president would charge his predecessor with a felony, Mr. Brinkley said. It creates a feeling of instability in the United States.

Whether real or imagine, Trump and other White House officials believe that Obama loyalists sprinkled throughout the federal bureaucracy are behind leaks that are damaging his personnel, White House officials said. A spokesman for Mr. Obama wouldnt comment to the WSJ on the claim. In fact, as NewsMax CEO Christopher Ruddy, a friend of Mr. Trump who sees him on weekends at the presidents Mar-a-Lago, said in an interview: From what Im hearing, Trumps people think Obama is at war with them.

This president has been under siege since Day One from both the press and Obama loyalists and hes reacting to it, Mr. Ruddy said. I dont think theres any doubt that Obama loyalists inside the administration and outside are giving Donald Trump a lot of grief and a lot of problems.

As is well-known by now, the animosity between Trump and Obama hit a climax last weekend, when Trump responded to recent allegations of ties to Russia by tweeting How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

Keeping a low profile in post-presidency, Obama - who is currently writing a book for which he will receive tens of millions in proceeds - had decided he wouldnt respond to every intemperate Trump tweet, an aide said. "But he was livid over the accusation that he bugged the Republican campaign offices, believing that Mr. Trump was questioning both the integrity of the office of the president and Mr. Obama himself, people familiar with his thinking said."

Ironically, as the WSJ adds, Obama had been critical of leaks when he was president, specifically those related to the Federal Bureau of Investigations probe into the email use of Mrs. Clinton, his former secretary of state. He was very quick to condemn it then and obviously his silence now is notable, one White House official said Tuesday. Obama, in an interview with the mobile news outlet NowThis News just days before the November election, said that when it comes to investigations we dont operate on innuendo, we dont operate on incomplete information, we dont operate on leakswe operate based on concrete decisions that are made.

For now, Trump's attacks on Obama continue, first responding to a Fox News report yesterday when he claimed incorrectly that a number of Guantanamo Bay detainees who returned to the battlefield were released under Mr. Obamas watch (most were released under President Bush), followed by calling Obamacare a total disaster and said Mr. Obama had allowed Russia to grow stronger and stronger over eight years in office.

So far, Obama and his spokesman have not responded to those tweets; it is unclear how long the former president can hold his silence.

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Obama "Furious" With Trump Over Wiretapping Allegations ...