Crossfire Hurricane: the FBI spied on Trump
In a very long article in the NY Times, the newspaper tries to get ahead of the forthcoming IG report by admitting a couple of things, but burying and/or downplaying them. Par for the course.
Rather than re-invent the wheel and fisk the Times myself, I’ll defer to experts who have already done it. First we have Mollie Hemingway at The Federalisit, who offers ten key takeaways from the Times article, some of which I’ll briefly summarize here (please read the whole thing, however):
Whereas FBI officials and media enablers had previously downplayed claims that the Trump campaign had been surveiled, in this story we learn that it was more widespread than previously acknowledged…
…This is a stunning admission for those Americans worried that federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies might use their powers to surveil, leak against, and target Americans simply for their political views or affiliations.
“Stunning” only to the right; the left considers it a fine way to cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil.
Hemingway also points out that the Times article admits that after two years of this, there is still no evidence of collusion on the part of the Trump campaign. And the extent of the spying by the FBI was broader than previously disclosed:
Now we learn that it wasn’t just Page, but that the government was going after four campaign affiliates including the former campaign manager, the top foreign policy advisor, and a low-level advisor whose drunken claim supposedly launched the investigation into the campaign…
The surveillance didn’t just include wiretaps, but also national security letters and at least one government informant to spy on the campaign.
Hemingway has many other points to make, but I’m going to discuss just one of them, number seven:
One thing that is surprising about the [Times] story is how many errors it contains. The problems begin in the second sentence…
Hemingway lists a whole bunch of egregious errors, things that could easily have been ascertained with simple fact-checking. But I disagree with two points she makes here. The first is that it is surprising how many errors the story contains. It is not surprising; it is the Times’ modus operandi. What’s more, they are not actually errors. IMHO, they are purposefully and knowingly misleading. This is propaganda, not reporting, and the Times is very good at it.
How many people read the Times and/or use it as a reliable source? A great, great many—even though the right doesn’t trust it, many others still do. How many people read Mollie Hemingway in The Federalist? I think everyone should, but I would wager a guess that it’s a lot fewer than are reached by the NY Times. And the Times knows it, and they aim to keep it that way.
Now we turn to Andrew C. McCarthy. As usual, his take is not only clear, but he also gives a learned legal perspective on an element that few others have pointed out, the difference between a criminal investigation and a counterintelligence one (and again, please read the whole thing if you can) [the italics are McCarthy’s, but the passages in bold are my emphasis]:
What the Times story makes explicit, with studious understatement, is that the Obama administration used its counterintelligence powers to investigate the opposition party’s presidential campaign.
That is, there was no criminal predicate to justify an investigation of any Trump-campaign official. So, the FBI did not open a criminal investigation. Instead, the bureau opened a counterintelligence investigation and hoped that evidence of crimes committed by Trump officials would emerge. But it is an abuse of power to use counterintelligence powers, including spying and electronic surveillance, to conduct what is actually a criminal investigation.
The Times barely mentions the word counterintelligence in its saga. That’s not an accident. The paper is crafting the media-Democrat narrative. Here is how things are to be spun: The FBI was very public about the Clinton-emails investigation, even making disclosures about it on the eve of the election. Yet it kept the Trump-Russia investigation tightly under wraps, despite intelligence showing that the Kremlin was sabotaging the election for Trump’s benefit. This effectively destroyed Clinton’s candidacy and handed the presidency to Trump…
It’s also bunk. Just because the two FBI cases are both referred to as “investigations” does not make them the same kind of thing.
The Clinton case was a criminal investigation that was predicated on a mountain of incriminating evidence.
…The scandal here is that Mrs. Clinton was not charged. She likes to blame Comey for her defeat; but she had a chance to win only because the Obama Justice Department and the FBI tanked the case against her ”” in exactly the manner President Obama encouraged them to do in public commentary.
By contast, the Trump case is a counterintelligence investigation. Unlike criminal cases, counterintelligence matters are classified. If agents had made public disclosures about them, they would have been committing crimes and violating solemn agreements with foreign intelligence services ”” agreements without which those services would not share information that U.S. national-security officials need in order to protect our country.
In the scheme of things, though, the problem is not that the FBI honored its confidentiality obligations in the Trump case while violating them in the Clinton case. The scandal is that the FBI, lacking the incriminating evidence needed to justify opening a criminal investigation of the Trump campaign, decided to open a counterintelligence investigation. With the blessing of the Obama White House, they took the the powers that enable our government to spy on foreign adversaries and used them to spy on Americans ”” Americans who just happened to be their political adversaries.
The Times averts its eyes from this point ”” although if a Republican administration tried this sort of thing on a Democratic candidate, it would be the only point.
There is what happens, and then there is the story, and then there is the story about the story.
[NOTE: Of course, it all conjures up this. It’s interesting to go back and look at that, considering what we know now.]
This is clearly the greatest scandal, involving the most egregious abuse of power by unelected members of the administrative state, in modern American political history, yet few in the media aside from a handful of conservative websites and television networks (not to mention heroic bloggers in the conservative blogosphere) seem to care in the slightest.
Yes, McCarthy is absolutely essential if one is to have any understanding of what has been going on.
Of what IS going on.
Of the evil that was been unleashed by the previous administration.
Suborning government departments and agencies.
First the IRS. Then the DOJ. And the FBI. And one wouldn’t want to forget Kerry’s sell-out (which was of course also Obama’s).
And one might want to add, “the media”. But the MSM did NOT have to be suborned: they jumped into Obama’s pocket willingly, with eyes wide open. The epitome of virtue. (And anyone who said “nay” was branded a racist. Anyone who dared shout—or whisper—that the emperor is naked was/is a racist. Well he’s a lot more than naked….)
And then the unfortunate cover-up (“unfortunate”, because it never should have had to have happened…. Never should have been exposed. But Hillary, alas, lost.)
To be sure, still, none of this would likely have come out had not Hillary accepted her defeat with just a modicum of graciousness (or even sourly, for that matter)….
But that’s how cover-ups generally go, isn’t it?
What about the now? How will this be played by Obama’s minions and the MSM that has protected him and continues to do so?
The MO up until now has always been to double down. And then triple down.
And one can be sure that this is exactly what will be repeated now. The NYT has tried to plug the breach in the dyke with cunning spin that is, essentially, untruth.
One can bet that the rationalisation will be that IF the law was broken (heh), then it was broken because of the necessary evil that the noble Obama and his brave administration was forced to try to prevent.
An evil that had to be prevented AT ALL COSTS.
In order to save the country.
To save the country from Trump and all those other Conservative low-lifes.
“…by unelected members…”
But also, most importantly, elected.
From the President on down.
McCarthy doesn’t even like Trump but he sees what is going on.
neo rightly responds, “Stunning” only to the right; the left considers it a fine way to cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil.”
After the Left has cut down all the laws to get after the Devil(s)… Jordan Peterson asked Bill Maher and his elitist panel… what they expect to then happen?
Utter silence. Unfortunately, Peterson goes on and that gives them time to regroup and pretend that civility is called for, while of course continuing to support cutting a great road through the law to get after the ‘Devil’… which of course is really anyone who disagrees with them.
Peterson points out that the 62,984,828 people who voted for Trump are not taking the witch hunt to get Trump well… and the audience laughs and the panel looks amused… they haven’t a clue as to the fire they’re playing with, not a clue as to the incredibly dangerous ‘game’ they’re playing.
Now, I better understand the mind set of the French nobility in 1788, just a year before they met their destiny with the guillotine.
Geoffrey Britain,
62,984,828 people. And if only 2% (and only 3% supported the American Revolution) of that number decide that the Deep State/Media Complex (far more insidious, and of course stupid, than Eisenhower’s Military Industrial Complex, in my opinion) is trying to effect a Coup? If they decide violence is necessary to support their rightful President?
Well, that’s 1.24 million people willing go to war.
One and a quarter million. Many with former military training. Most are gun owners.
These people should be terrified at what they are trying to bring about. Terrified.
Hell, I’m terrified and I’m among the 62+ million.
G.B., “Now, I better understand the mind set of the French nobility in 1788, just a year before they met their destiny with the guillotine.”
If the flat truth of the perfidy of the Obama-Clinton cabal becomes widely known among the deplorables, and justice is not forthcoming, it will be pitchforks and torches time.
A poll question for Neo’s readers: Do you think this is the first time that members of the Obama administration did this to get someone or is it a refinement of previous efforts? I’m of the opinion that it’s at least version 2.0 and maybe even 3.0. The lawlessness started on day 1 in 2009 with the axing of the slam dunk case against the New Black Panthers.
To ask the question is to answer it. Or, right back at you. Do you really thick Justice Roberts wrote both sides of the ObamaCare decision because he wanted to cover all of the bases?
I think this is definitely just a refinement. Or maybe just Obama demonstrating what he can accomplish when has unlimited resources.
As opposed to the resources he had back in 1996…
At the time of Watergate it was necessary to use more basic and less sophisticated methods to get dirt or intelligence on the other campaign, namely a break in. Obama and the Democrats had the benefit of modern technology and the complete cooperation of the administrative state to achieve the same result. In Nixon’s time a number of the perpetrators went to jail. The Democratic operatives deserve the same fate.
“Well, that’s 1.24 million people willing go to war.”
Fractal…I’m really surprised someone hasn’t already started. I mean that…every new revelation is that much more gas on the floor…waiting for what sort of spark?
Here’s a rhetorical question; how much of the spying on the Trump campaign both electronically and humint… was passed on to the Clinton campaign?
It’s a virtual certainty that anything of political importance was passed on. The FBI, NSA, CIA, IRA, etc. all were involved in attempting to rig a Presidential election.
Now their involved in attempting to bring down a lawfully elected President, innocent of “high crimes and misdemeanors” by creating the appearance of crimes warranting impeachment.
“I’m really surprised someone hasn’t already started.” John Guilfoyle
There’s a tremendous reluctance on the right to resort to violence because there’s a near religious reverence for the Constitution with an at least subconscious appreciation that prolonged violence between the Left and Right, i.e. a civil war will tear this country irrevocably apart. In many cases it would be friend against friend and relative against relatives.
That is the special evil of the Left.
They’ve engineered the cultural and political divide to ensure that our divided house will not stand.
What’s important is that America be destroyed, by whatever means are necessary. Never have so many been guilty of sedition and treason. The cancer has metastasized into every governmental and nearly every cultural institution.
Yes, the Leftist socialist cancer took over the top US universities, and spread to all institutions hiring graduates from those top colleges.
Justice in the USA needs Hillary to be indicted, and tried. With whatever evidence is left in the FBI … and those who covered up/ obstructed justice / destroyed evidence need to be tried. Dozens of top Dem gov’t criminals. Maybe hundreds.
Too Many To Prosecute???
We still don’t know the name of the incompetent/ in-on-the conspiracy judge who signed off on the FISA warrants.
Mkent — I have always suspected Roberts was somehow blackmailed into it.
“Do you think this is the first time that members of the Obama administration did this to get someone or is it a refinement of previous efforts?”
Definitely a refinement. The IRS’s abuse of conservative political organizations, as well as the use of federal agencies such as EPA to harass GOP-supporting business owners (e.g. Gibson Guitars) was probably version 1.0 of Obama’s kneecapping of political foes. The CIA was caught spying on Congress a few years ago, as well as foreign leaders (allies, not enemies), including Merkel and Netanyahu.
Now that the guilty IC leakers are admitting to spying on the Trump campaign (at least to the NYT) it’s reasonable to wonder how many other candidates Obama opened counter-intelligence investigations. Were there FISA warrants sought on Rubio, Jeb, Cruz, et al? Or was it that they were spying on all of them and only bothered with the FISA warrant on Trump to cover this illegal spying on the eventual GOP nominee?
Another piece of this is what happened to all of the intel gathered via this counterintelligence investigation. While it’s bad enough that it was done at all, the Obama’s DoJ and FBI made the results of their surveillance widely available through several means.
Some of this intelligence was included in Obama Presidential Daily Briefing, which had over 30 recipients, including the president’s top strategic communications aide and speechwriter, and deputy secretaries of national security departments. Obama also loosened the rules for who could access unmasked intelligence in his final months. US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power alone performed hundreds of unmasking requests. How many other Obama officials were doing this?
This counterintelligence was also available to a few non-IC organizations – political organizations – whom the DoJ/FBI had granted access to the NSA database to perform 702 “about queries” (queries or searches of content of email and phone conversations based on any subject matter put into the search field). Specifically, Fusion GPS, who was/is employed by the Hillary campaign, the DNC, and foreign governments (including Russia). This only stopped when NSA Director Mike Rodgers discovered this and ended it in late October 2016.
https://tinyurl.com/yczos4b6
“How many people read the Times and/or use it as a reliable source?”
Too many, but fewer and fewer.The NYT and WAPO long ago turned themselves into Pravda for the democrats. They are all democrat party apparatchiks. I quite taking the WAPO because there was no difference between the front page and the editorial page. The only way the WAPO stays in business is they were bought by Bezos. I suppose they are now the BEPO.
What’s now manifest is that the culture of the Democratic Party is completely sectarian. The rules of the game are whatever gets them what they want. The people with some respect for procedural norms tend to be from the older generation (Ann Althouse, Camille Paglia, Jerilyn Merritt, Alan Dershowitz, Michael Kinsley (intermittently)).
One might hope that one outcome of this mess will be to break the FBI into about a half-dozen pieces: crime lab, statistical collection and database maintenance, counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, cyber crime, racketeering, fraud, and miscellaneous investigations. One might also hope that the federal government will adopt the pattern of local government and sort law enforcement and security functions into several departments: one for prosecutors, one for investigation and patrol, one for jail and prison maintenance, one for civil defense and emergency response; and one for bailiffs, security guards, and marshalls. One might hope in addition that Congress would have the sense to scarify the criminal code and leave the function of advising and assisting local police to the state police.
Mkent – I have always suspected Roberts was somehow blackmailed into it.
Lee: Likewise.
Paul In Boston Says:
May 17th, 2018 at 8:53 pm
A poll question for Neo’s readers: Do you think this is the first time that members of the Obama administration did this to get someone or is it a refinement of previous efforts? I’m of the opinion that it’s at least version 2.0 and maybe even 3.0. The lawlessness started on day 1 in 2009 with the axing of the slam dunk case against the New Black Panthers.
* * *
Lizzy gives a good summary, but this is what first got my attention. When that feeler wasn’t slapped down, they moved forward with ever more blatant grabs of power and (can we say this now?) collusion among agencies to support Dems and Obama.
When you reward a behavior, you get more of it.
That’s why they are so scared of Trump.
If the Good Guys (TM) like them could get away with so much criminal action, they are terrified of what the Bad Guys will do.
John Guilfoyle Says:
May 17th, 2018 at 10:38 pm
“Well, that’s 1.24 million people willing go to war.”
Fractal…I’m really surprised someone hasn’t already started. I mean that…every new revelation is that much more gas on the floor…waiting for what sort of spark?
* * *
The only thing we can be sure about is that we won’t know what the spark will be until after it happens.
That is the nature of tipping points in general, and Revolutionary ones in particular.
The best thing we can do is watch the slag heap while it is a-building, and try not to be underneath when it falls.
Pulling down the heap before it falls is as futile an endeavor as draining the swamp, but maybe the slag will fill in the swamp for us.
Ray Says:
May 18th, 2018 at 1:02 pm
…The only way the WAPO stays in business is they were bought by Bezos. I suppose they are now the BEPO.
* *
Or maybe Beppo – which rhymes with Zeppo —
and since they have Karl already, they only need Harpo, Groucho, and Chico to have all the Marx brothers.
These nefarious goingson were/are known to the
Demokkkrats. I give you remarks made by Schumer in Jan.
“You do not want to tick off the CIA, there are 9 ways to Sunday for them to get you” (a lovely veiled threat). There was
Kerry advising patience to some Iranians in London, saying,
“Trump will be out of office within a year” We have Maxine obnoxiously standing on street corners, relentlessly chirping
“Impeach,Impeach, Impeach” Obviously the only take away she got from those DNC meetings. I won’t even dignify the vile remarks of ape man Brennan. Plus the *new * phrase they all have been ordered to sprinkle liberally in their remarks is:
America the land I love! My country which I love” etc . The talking points have been disseminated!
One more reason to hate, despise, and distrust the NYT.
The FBI spied on Nixon. FDR and Hoover used the FBI to spy on American citizens.
Stuff They Don’t Teach you in Public Indoctrination.
“You do not want to tick off the CIA, there are 9 ways to Sunday for them to get you” (a lovely veiled threat)
It was a warning that people ignored.
Snowden wasn’t that much of a fool. He knew what was really going on.
The only thing we can be sure about is that we won’t know what the spark will be until after it happens.
It is pretty easy to predict what will start a war using spiritual gifts.
Well, that’s 1.24 million people willing go to war.
One and a quarter million. Many with former military training. Most are gun owners.
Not nearly enough. The Deep State has stupendous resources and reserves held for WW3, let alone a minor civil war within the USA.
Deep UnderGround Military Bunkers. Look them up.
They also have space, satellite, or ground based next gen weapons that will roast you “rebels” within seconds. Where are you going to hide. They’re not going to use Counter Insurgency ROE that they slapped the US military with.
This will be Deep State Unrestricted Warfare ROE. The American people lack the logistics, strategic depth, and tactical knowledge. Your war has been over before you even realized there is one.
A general that wakes up in the middle of the battle isn’t suddenly going to be capable of acting fast enough to turn the battle around.
A guerilla war works if you have bases. Your bases won’t exist after the DS wipes them out. A guerilla war needs logistics.
To train a guerilla army, the know how of the veterans must have time to create a cadre and spread.
Don’t forget to keep your aluminum foil cover polished.
Don’t forget to keep your troll comments polished when the SS arrives at your door.
Are you in contact with the SS too? Don’t stand too close to your microwave when the spirits are speaking to you, just a word to the wise.
And never forget “All of your base are belong to us.”
OM is distracting people by bringing up off topic issues.
While that is useful, it doesn’t always work.
Om’s birdsong used to be that he was going to scroll past what I wrote, cause it is not worth reading. If only by the grace of god, he would actually follow his own words. But the world doesn’t work like that.
Omni should bring back his fire and brimstone talk that he had against GB and other Trum primary voters back in the day. At least it would be better than this weak sauce now a days.
People get triggered easily now a days. Time for them to find a safe space before the real fighting happens.
Ymar:
Who exactly are you talking to? After all, the election was in November 2016. Geoffrey is and was perfectly capable of defending his positions. You, not so much.
But prattle on about Death Stars under control of the Deep Deep Deep State, wait, maybe that’s your next theme.
Can you tell that I don’t take you seriously? I’ll explain one for you: aluminum foil cover = tin foil hat. In the military a cap or hat is a “cover.” Carry on, as you will.
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I skipped your Omni writing because tl;dr.
The shortest Yammer of all time, keep it up.
Nice work, Neo. Keep it up.
The reason the media (except Fox, talk show radio, some independent mags, and bloggers) wont cover the story is because the media is actively colluding with Obama, Clinton, Lynch/Yates, Brennan/Clapper/Rice/Powers to desperately cover up their conspiracy to spy on a political enemy, and obstruct his success once elected. The Left media is merely the agitprop operation here. Remember Ben Rhodes and his army of 27 year old know nothings? That’s chump change- a throwaway to hide the deeper collusion.
Podesta called it the night of the election, remember?
The Resistance…and it continues.
Hurricane.
I like that.
https://ww2-weapons.com/hawker-hurricane/