FBI obtained court order to monitor ex-Trump adviser in Russia probe - Washington Post

[webfact]

FBI obtained court order to monitor ex-Trump adviser in Russia probe - Washington Post

REUTERS

 

One-time advisor of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump Carter Page addresses the audience during a presentation in Moscow, Russia, December 12, 2016. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The FBI obtained a secret court order last summer to monitor the communications of an adviser to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, part of an investigation into possible links between Russia and the campaign, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing law enforcement and other U.S. officials.

 

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting foreign policy adviser Carter Page's communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia, the Post said.

 

Page has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his dealings with the Trump campaign or Russia, the newspaper reported.

 

This is the clearest evidence so far that the FBI had reason to believe during the 2016 presidential campaign that a Trump campaign adviser was in touch with Russian agents, according to the Post.

 

In a statement to Reuters, Page said the court order was evidence that the administration of former President Barack Obama wanted to "suppress dissidents" who opposed its foreign policy.

 

"It will be interesting to see what comes out when the unjustified basis for those FISA requests are more fully disclosed over time ...," he said.

 

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters, which could not independently confirm the Post story. The White House and FBI declined to comment.

 

The FBI and congressional committees are investigating whether Russia tried to influence the election in Trump's favour, mostly by hacking Democratic operatives' emails and releasing embarrassing information, or possibly by colluding with Trump associates.

 

Russia denies the allegations, which Trump also dismisses.

 

Page has not been accused of any crimes, and it is unclear whether the Justice Department might later seek charges against him or others in connection with Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election, the Post said.

 

(Writing by Eric Beech; Additional reporting by Nathan Layne; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-12

[Emster23]

Computers, technology, the internet have really changed the pace of tracking down criminals since the Watergate investigation.

Apr 06
John Dean, the White House Counsel, begins co-operating with the Watergate prosecutors.

Apr 17
Nixon announces that White House staff will appear before the Senate Committee. He promises “major new developments” in the investigation and says there has been real progress towards finding the truth.

Apr 17
An official statement from the White House claims Nixon had no prior knowledge of the Watergate affair.

[TGIR]

What has Nixon and Watergate got to do with this?  Nothing........Watergate involved a real crime as opposed to one made up on the slightest of misinformation and innuendo.  A report that someone obtained a warrant to intrude on another person's conversations only proves they can fill out a form.  This report is as bogus as you can get.  Reports today show the individual in questions had never met Trump but was on a list of "potential" interviewees for a position in Trump's organization.  The individual subject to the warrant was never charged with a crime much less convicted of one as your post suggests.  

 

 

[mrwebb8825]

Wonder how much of this would be in the news if there hadn't been a 3am tweet a couple of months ago....

 

Also wonder where all the dems are that were here a couple of months ago when that tweet was sent calling out "Liar!"  RIP Dem Party.

[boomerangutang]

                As much as Trump tries to distract from the Russia/Trump probe by dropping $50 million dollar bombs in Muslim countries - the story won't die.   Most recent development:   a Russian considered to be among the longest-lived and most vile hacker in the world, was just arrested in Spain.  And the FBI's criminal unit wants to question him.  The hacker's g.f. said her boyfriend had been involved with Trump's people during the campaign.   Some details here..... though you may want to skip to halfway thru the monologue in order to save time. . . . . . . .

 

 

[boomerangutang]

addendum to my post, above. . . . . . 

 

                    No one should be surprised if that recently arrested Russian hacker is mysteriously killed, ......by Russians or by Americans, ......clandestinely, of course.   Why?  He could prove to be a serious problem for both the Russkies and Trump's people, though more so for the latter.

[boomerangutang]

On 4/12/2017 at 5:48 PM, TGIR said:

What has Nixon and Watergate got to do with this?  Nothing........Watergate involved a real crime as opposed to one made up on the slightest of misinformation and innuendo.  A report that someone obtained a warrant to intrude on another person's conversations only proves they can fill out a form.  This report is as bogus as you can get.  Reports today show the individual in questions had never met Trump but was on a list of "potential" interviewees for a position in Trump's organization.  The individual subject to the warrant was never charged with a crime much less convicted of one as your post suggests.  

                        I think you're missing the bigger picture here.   There is a big crime pointing at Trump and his associates.  ....even bigger than Watergate.  

 

                       The alleged crime is;  Trump and his people conspired with another country (an adversarial country, no less) to skew an important US election.   Arch Republican Cheney equated it as an "AN ACT OF WAR."   Can you process that?!   Cheney, who has spent his career trying to say positive things about Republican politicians, is saying if Trump is found guilty of what he's accused of, he will therefore be a traitor to the US.   He and his people will therefore be guilty of treasonous acts.    That's more than even Nixon was accused of.   Last time I checked, an American found guilty of treason can be executed.   That's some serious shit.

[mrwebb8825]

I don't buy it. It's just a load of crap stirred up by the Dems for being sore losers. Funny that 7/10 of those "spammers" are American, 2/10 are Ukrainian and only 1 happened to be Russian. Rather than investigate any of the other 9, they went after the 1 who filled the bill.

Also interesting to note that in the same story, they talk about Russia piggy-backing on all the spammers by hacking the hackers which means they could have been using the hacker's accounts to send out the recruitment queries. It also means that it very well could have been any of the top 10 that hacked the DNC and then Russia stole the information from them or they gave it to wikileaks themselves. The so called cyber footprint left on the DNC server to be miraculously found could also have been planted by the hackers knowing it would be found and believed diverting attention away from the real hacker(s).

Also find it interesting that Russia would go through so much trouble to get Trump elected only turn around and and snub him and his team. Could it be that Trump's team is so intelligent that it played Putin as a cyber puppet?

[boomerangutang]

                   Mr. Webb's post above raises some interesting points.  He and I may not agree on some conclusions emanating from the recent arrest of one of the world's premier hackers in Spain - but I think we agree that there should be investigations into how much Trump (and his people) - were colluding with Russians to skew the recent US election. (whew, that's a long sentence).  Trump should get a different sort of long sentence.

 

                    As for Webb's closing paragraph:  To folks like me, it's no surprise that Putin is turning off to Trump.   Trump is such a slick salesman that he even had Putin fooled for awhile (Trump got Putin to think Trump was his buddy).  Trump has no allegiance to anyone other than himself and his daughter.  Also, Putin so disliked HRC (because she was brave enough to speak out about human rights abuses and Russia invading Ukraine) .....so Putin liked how Trump didn't care about Crimea getting taken by Russia.   Putin wants to re-cobble the Soviet Empire, and Trump has been saying things for the past 2 years, that play into that scenario.  Stalin would have liked Trump also.  

 

                 In contrast, every past president of the US doesn't like Trump.  Same for every former head of the FBI, CIA and NSA.  I don't like Trump either.  The idea of the US being led by a borderline-treasonous dufus doesn't inspire confidence for Americans.  ISIS likes it though - as Trump is great for their recruitment prospects.

[tomwct]

The Deputy FBI Director was in the tank for Hillary Clinton. His wife was running for Virginia Senate Seat & took half a million from

the DNC & a Hillary lacky. This is while he was investigating Hillary's Email Scandal.This is getting ready to explode and it won't look good for Obama & Democrats in general. The Trump Team had no contact with the Russians on the elections and it was a mirage the Democrats created to cover up their spying and espionage on the Trump Team. Who in the FBI requested info and who else was involved in the NSA working with the FBI? This will be worse than Watergate! Just wait and see! Many Democrats already know there in trouble. President Trump will declassify many of these documents and who's responsible for setting these requests in motion. There

will be plenty of clarity on this issue forthcoming in the near future. God Bless President Trump!

 

[boomerangutang]

Tomwct opines; "The Trump Team had no contact with the Russians on the elections"

 

Is that a joke?  If so, it's not very witty.

 

If you believe that, you may also believe I have a 2 ton gold urn in my living room, I'll sell it to you for only 3 million dollars.  You can send a check to my numbered account at Cayman Islands.