Trump says his campaign was spied upon illegally, offers no evidence

[webfact]

Trump says his campaign was spied upon illegally, offers no evidence

 

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter, Sunday, it was looking more and more like his campaign for the 2016 presidential election was "illegally being spied upon." Chris Dignam reports.

 

(Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that documents released by the FBI relating to a former adviser's ties to Russia showed that his campaign for the 2016 presidential election had been illegally spied upon by U.S. law enforcement, but offered no evidence to support his assertion.

 

In a series of Twitter posts, Trump also accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice of misleading the courts during a probe of Russian interference in the election, but did not elaborate.

 

The FBI documents released on Saturday showed how in 2016 the bureau requested surveillance of the former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, as part of that investigation, saying the bureau believed he had been collaborating with the Russian government.

 

"Looking more & more like the Trump Campaign for President was illegally being spied upon (surveillance) for the political gain of Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC," Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the Democratic National Committee. "Republicans must get tough now. An illegal Scam!"

 

A White House spokeswoman referred questions on why Trump believed the documents proved the FBI and DOJ demonstrated illegal conduct or were misleading courts to Trump's personal counsel. His lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, did not respond to a request for comment.

 

The DOJ did not immediately respond to requests to comment on Trump's allegation. The FBI declined to comment.

 

Page told CNN on Sunday he was never an agent of a foreign power, and that the documents overstated his ties to Russia. Page could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters.

 

A spokesman for Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is now leading the probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election, declined to comment on the president's tweets.

 

Trump has repeatedly criticized U.S. law enforcement agencies that are investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the vote, and he has insisted there was no collusion with members of his campaign. Russia denies any interference.

 

Trump's statements on Twitter followed sharp criticism, including from some Republicans, of his meeting in Finland last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a joint news conference, Trump failed to confront the Russian leader over Moscow's alleged election interference and appeared to side with the Kremlin over U.S. intelligence agencies.

 

The 412 pages of heavily redacted documents released on Saturday by the FBI included surveillance applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and warrants surrounding the investigation into Page. They included an initial application and requests for renewals that were filed in 2017, after Trump took office.

 

"The FBI believes that Page has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian Government," the surveillance application filed in October 2016 said.

 

In addition, the documents said "the FBI believes that the Russian Government's efforts are being coordinated with Page and perhaps other individuals associated with" Trump's campaign, and that Page "has established relationships with Russian Government officials, including Russian intelligence officers."

 

Page has denied being an agent of the Russian government and has not been charged with any crime.

 

Referring to the Page documents, Trump tweeted on Sunday: "As usual they are ridiculously heavily redacted but confirm with little doubt that the Department of "Justice" and FBI misled the courts. Witch Hunt Rigged, a Scam!"

 

Some Republican lawmakers have contended that the FBI made serious missteps when it sought a warrant to monitor Page in October 2016 shortly after he left the Trump campaign.

 

On CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, Page called the documents a "complete joke" and insisted they overstated his relationships with the Russian government.

 

"I've never been an agent of a foreign power by any stretch of the imagination," Page told CNN. "I've never been anywhere near what's being described here."

 

(Reporting by David Stamp in London; Additional reporting by Pete Schroeder and Amanda Becker in Washington, and Roberta Rampton in Bedminster, N.J.; Editing by David Goodman, Jason Neely and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-23

[bristolboy]

Who needs evidence when you've got "truthiness"?

"Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts.^[1][2] Truthiness can range from ignorant assertions of falsehoods to deliberate duplicity or propaganda intended to sway opinions.^[3][4]"

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truthiness}

[spidermike007]

This clinically insane man will do or say anything to avoid any blame for his many crimes and misdemeanors. It is always about deflections, and never about taking responsibility for his actions, and the havoc he wreaks from his actions. Fake media. They hate us. The elite. The deep state. The liberals. Never me. Never Don. Always something else. Most of the world sees right through this charade, and he looks more and more ridiculous by the day. 

[Destiny1990]

Its time to release his Pee Vid.

[Tug]

Naaa he is spinning lying deflecting desperately trying to draw attention away from the Helsinki betrayal

[DM07]

Trup doesn't need any "evidence"!

He just says something, throws a little "Obama that and Hillary this" into the mix, mentiones the "fake media...the real enemy of the people" and as easy as 1,2,3...his followers eat up this new pile of horse manure with a shovel!

[Lupatria]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Trump says his campaign was spied upon illegally, offers no evidence

He said he will definitely run in the 2020 elections. But there is hope: in just 300 days he made 1.600 false assertions!

[Silurian]

6 minutes ago, Lupatria said:

3 hours ago, webfact said:

Trump says his campaign was spied upon illegally, offers no evidence

He said he will definitely run in the 2020 elections. But there is hope: in just 300 days he made 1.600 false assertions!

 

His new campaign promise. "Don't worry, I will golf for at least 25% of the time anyway. What do you got to lose?"

 

[zaphod reborn]

Carter Page tried to pass himself off as an energy expert.  The Russians initially bit, because Putin wanted someone to broker the sale of 19.5% of Rosneft to Exxon.  However, when Page spoke at the New Economics School in Moscow, Sechin realized he was an idiot.  Accordingly, the Russians stopped trying to recruit him, but Page was now working in the Trump campaign and a source of possible access to Putin for Trump.  Page had been a subject to an FBI investigation for 4 years at that point, so a continuation of prior FISA warrants was justified.

[Becker]

Well, he also said he was a stable genius but has certainly offered no evidence of that as well. On the contrary he has clearly shown to be a deranged man-child with a (way) less than stellar IQ.

[klauskunkel]

According to Putin, the illegal spying was done by the FBI and the legal spying was done by the Russians.

Trump agrees.

[lordblackader]

FBI used the so-called Trump dossier compiled by the DNC and Russians to get a FISA warrant without disclosing the source - that's illegal. The idea that there is no evidence is absurd and it's absolutely fake news claiming that there is no evidence when there is. 

[bristolboy]

2 minutes ago, lordblackader said:

FBI used the so-called Trump dossier compiled by the DNC and Russians to get a FISA warrant without disclosing the source - that's illegal. The idea that there is no evidence is absurd and it's absolutely fake news claiming that there is no evidence when there is. 

One of the things the FBI used was the Steele dossier. Originally paid for by conservative trump opponents and then by the democrats. In fact the FBI disclosed to the judges that it was paid for by a partisan source. It was also not the only source the FBI used to make its case. And since then, other evidence independent of the Steele Dossier has continued to be gathered and is provided to the judges in order to continue the FISA investigation.

[Spidey]

Muller's noose tightens. Trump's forked tongue is turning blue.

[riclag]

"Trump: I was "wire tapped" 
CNN: Haha. That idiot @realDonaldTrump thinks he was wiretapped.
..Six months later..
CNN: Trump was wiretapped"

"Those deflecting with minutiae are missing the point. To me, they sound like the ones who aren’t thinking".

 

http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/351495-it-looks-like-obama-did-spy-on-trump-just-as-he-did-to-me

Now if the Obama Admin,was like a normal administration while passing the torch(transition of power),they would of mentioned at that time to DT,that he had  suspicious advisers in his campaign and that the advisers where under investigation in prior years. Nope, the opposition used this politically,trying to use this nonsense to implicate PT.

 

 "The debate over semantics of how to refer to Halper is amusing, but serious. Trump-hating mainstream media, echoing the FBI's and Justice Department's preferred term, call Halper an "informant," not a "spy."

Why? Because, if it turns out that putting a spy into Trump's presidential campaign was actually political rather than for national security, it would be plainly illegal. A lot of people could have careers ruined or go to prison".

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/did-obama-spy-on-trump/

Edited July 23, 2018 by riclag

[Chomper Higgot]

20 minutes ago, riclag said:

"Trump: I was "wire tapped" 
CNN: Haha. That idiot @realDonaldTrump thinks he was wiretapped.
..Six months later..
CNN: Trump was wiretapped"

"Those deflecting with minutiae are missing the point. To me, they sound like the ones who aren’t thinking".

 

http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/351495-it-looks-like-obama-did-spy-on-trump-just-as-he-did-to-me

Now if the Obama Admin,was like a normal administration while passing the torch(transition of power),they would of mentioned at that time to DT,that he had  suspicious advisers in his campaign and that the advisers where under investigation in prior years. Nope, the opposition used this politically,trying to use this nonsense to implicate PT.

 

 "The debate over semantics of how to refer to Halper is amusing, but serious. Trump-hating mainstream media, echoing the FBI's and Justice Department's preferred term, call Halper an "informant," not a "spy."

Why? Because, if it turns out that putting a spy into Trump's presidential campaign was actually political rather than for national security, it would be plainly illegal. A lot of people could have careers ruined or go to prison".

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/did-obama-spy-on-trump/

Trump/s campaign and transition was stuffed full of people working for the Russians, Manafort (who proposed Pence as Trump's running partner), Flynn, Carter Page.

 

The security services and the FBI monitoring foreign agents working within a presidential campaign team is not 'Political', it's protecting America.

 

Take your denial glasses off.

[bristolboy]

36 minutes ago, riclag said:

"Trump: I was "wire tapped" 
CNN: Haha. That idiot @realDonaldTrump thinks he was wiretapped.
..Six months later..
CNN: Trump was wiretapped"

"Those deflecting with minutiae are missing the point. To me, they sound like the ones who aren’t thinking".

 

http://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/351495-it-looks-like-obama-did-spy-on-trump-just-as-he-did-to-me

Now if the Obama Admin,was like a normal administration while passing the torch(transition of power),they would of mentioned at that time to DT,that he had  suspicious advisers in his campaign and that the advisers where under investigation in prior years. Nope, the opposition used this politically,trying to use this nonsense to implicate PT.

 

 "The debate over semantics of how to refer to Halper is amusing, but serious. Trump-hating mainstream media, echoing the FBI's and Justice Department's preferred term, call Halper an "informant," not a "spy."

Why? Because, if it turns out that putting a spy into Trump's presidential campaign was actually political rather than for national security, it would be plainly illegal. A lot of people could have careers ruined or go to prison".

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/did-obama-spy-on-trump/

The same nonsensical article again. Give it a rest.. Basically the author spends most of her time filling up space with past incident that are not related to the present case except through paranoia feigned or real.

[ballpoint]

It's quite comical to read the multiple threads where Trump's supporters frantically try to clutch the straws that fall from the stable dweller's mouth.  "I was wiretapped"  "Why didn't Obama stop the Russians from colluding with me?"  "But, but Hillary / Obama..."

[riclag]

 

"Halper is also a close colleague of Sir Richard Dearlove, formerly the head of Britain's MI6 spy agency".

The Mole, Halper was the recipient of more than $400,000 in payments from the Department of Defense's Office of Net Assessment (ONA) — an internal Defense intelligence think tank — from July of 2016 to September 2017, after Halper spied on Trump campaign officials George Papadopoulos and Carter Page".

Were those legitimate payments from ONA for past research, or was it used to pay for espionage services rendered to the Deep State"? 

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/did-obama-spy-on-trump/

The Obama admin is noted for spying on American's,more so than any POTUS admin in the last 20 years

Edited July 23, 2018 by riclag

[Chomper Higgot]

Riclag,

 

please edit your post #19, the quote you attributed to me are not my words.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Chomper Higgot

[riclag]

Sorry buddy honest mistake,I fixed it

Edited July 23, 2018 by riclag

[Chomper Higgot]

5 minutes ago, riclag said:

Sorry buddy honest mistake

Accepted.

 

And good form on your part for  responding so promptly.

 

My own response edited accordingly.

Edited July 23, 2018 by Chomper Higgot

[riclag]

"There are many different ways the Obama administration could have reacted to the news that Page and Manafort had joined the Trump campaign.

It could have given the campaign a defensive briefing. It could have continued interviewing Page, with whom the FBI had longstanding lines of communication".

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/trump-russia-investigation-obama-administration-origins/

Edited July 23, 2018 by riclag

[mtls2005]

3 hours ago, lordblackader said:

FBI used the so-called Trump dossier compiled by the DNC and Russians to get a FISA warrant without disclosing the source - that's illegal.

 Patently false, or as Blotus would tweet FAKE NEWS.

 

Read the FISA application. The Steele dossier was mentioned, and in more than a footnote, as but a tiny fraction of a reason for the FISA warrant, and it's renewal several times, all approved by four Republican-appointed judges.

 

Carter Page was/is a DOOFUS, and was picked up by several intelligence agencies conspiring with the Russians. Just be patient.

 

The whole FISA system could be reviewed but Republicans chose not to do that.

 

[mrfill]

I'm sure his BFF in the Kremlin could come up with some 'evidence' but maybe he told the old man to just follow the script.

[Redline]

5 hours ago, lordblackader said:

FBI used the so-called Trump dossier compiled by the DNC and Russians to get a FISA warrant without disclosing the source - that's illegal. The idea that there is no evidence is absurd and it's absolutely fake news claiming that there is no evidence when there is. 

I guess we will leave that to the people who know the details, and not someone that got their cherrypicked information from Fox News, and then presents it as factual

[Chomper Higgot]

2 hours ago, riclag said:

"There are many different ways the Obama administration could have reacted to the news that Page and Manafort had joined the Trump campaign.

It could have given the campaign a defensive briefing. It could have continued interviewing Page, with whom the FBI had longstanding lines of communication".

https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/05/trump-russia-investigation-obama-administration-origins/

We need only look at the response of the rightwing and the rightwing media’s response to Mueller’s investigation, which despite indictments and convictions, they viscously attacked and undermined.

 

What hope then of the rightwing and rightwing media responding rationally to any action by Obama (for whom they in any case exhibit a visceral hatred).

 

The issue is not Obama’s actions, it’s those of Trump, Republicans in Congress and the Senate and too those of the rabid rightwing media.

 

[Chris Lawrence]

Hillary accepted that her husband did not have sexual relations with that girl. You make up your own mind. They both know how to Tango.

 

I think Trump is a pig in poo. Loves the attention. 

 

The yanks get another go at the next election. He probably will win again.

[stevenl]

8 hours ago, lordblackader said:

FBI used the so-called Trump dossier compiled by the DNC and Russians to get a FISA warrant without disclosing the source - that's illegal. The idea that there is no evidence is absurd and it's absolutely fake news claiming that there is no evidence when there is. 

How anybody can make claims like this when the report clearly shows there were plenty of reasons for the warrant plus that Nunes was lying is beyond me.

[Scott]

Troll Posts removed.