Trump may have been right about Obama wiretapping

Reports that special counsel Robert Mueller had wiretapped former Trump campaign boss Paul Manafort and plans to indict him sent Washington into a new tizzy of speculation.

According to CNN, which first carried the wiretapping report, Manafort was surveilled under a FISA warrant, meaning the FBI suspected he was operating as a foreign agent. The network said it is possible G-men listened to the president talking to Manafort because the wiretap continued into this year and Trump and Manafort often talked in 2017. 

If so, that would mark an infamous history — an American president being overheard by secret agents of his own government. 

It would also be additional support for Trump’s charge that former President Barack Obama “had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory.” 

It was in March when Trump made that explosive claim, and the Democratic media rushed to denounce him even before Obama did. Subsequent denials from then-FBI boss James Comey and other Obama aides all were rock-solid in declaring that no such thing had happened. There was no wiggle room in their denials, some of which were made under oath before Congress. 

But something certainly happened. And what if it was the worst imaginable something? What if the Republican candidate for president was put under surveillance by a Democratic administration that was trying to elect another Democrat?

There was reason to suspect that was true before the Manafort reports added fuel to the fire.

Recall that, starting last fall, continuing throughout the transition and into the early months of the administration, much of the media was obsessed with the narrative that “Russia hacked the election and Trump colluded.”

It was a feeding frenzy of reports naming various Trump associates who had any contacts with Russians. It was guilt by association, all based on leaks of classified secrets that originated either in law enforcement or intelligence agencies, or the Obama White House.

So what this is all shaping up to look like is that under President Obama, there was a massive amount of surveillance going on. Some of it may be illegal and Donald Trump may be absolutely right when back in March he said, ‘Hey, they tapped me!’ Because he was obviously talking to Paul Manafort in the Trump building since Manafort lived there. Now, I’m not going to jump to any conclusions, I’m just putting forth to you the evidence as clearly as I can.

Former UN Ambassador Samantha Power Submitted Hundreds of Unmasking Requests in 2016

Samantha Power, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was 'unmasking' at such a rapid pace in the final months of the Obama administration that she averaged more than one request for every working day in 2016 – and even sought information in the days leading up to President Trump’s inauguration, multiple sources close to the matter told Fox News.  

Two sources, who were not authorized to speak on the record, said the requests to identify Americans whose names surfaced in foreign intelligence reporting, known as unmasking, exceeded 260 last year. 

One source indicated this occurred in the final days of the Obama White House. The details emerged ahead of an expected appearance by Power next month on Capitol Hill. She is one of several Obama administration officials facing congressional scrutiny for their role in seeking the identities of Trump associates in intelligence reports – but the interest in her actions is particularly high. 

Sharyl Attkisson runs down the Trump wiretapping story

Sheryl Attkisson, is an Emmy-award winning investigative journalist, author of The New York Times bestsellers “The Smear” and “Stonewalled,” and host of Sinclair’s Sunday TV program “Full Measure.”

The media leaps to conclusions, when it suits them, and using generalities to get to specifics that weren’t said when it comes to President Trump, and yet also when it suits them they parse his words with such fine detail that you can’t even look at the big picture or the big story.

Many people surrounding Donald Trump and other political figures and journalists were surveilled under the Obama Administration, not suggesting they invented it, but we know much about what happened under the Obama Administration, the emails, leaks and so on. 

Trump’s tweets about being surveilled seem validated with this new information. There were reports of multiple wiretaps or surveillance on at least a half dozen officials that we know of that were close to Trump, both before and after the election. You can come to two conclusions, you can think this was just routine business that our intel agencies were doing while they are busy cracking down on terrorism they were also watching all kinds of political figures. Or, you can come to the conclusion that there’s a pattern that lends at least the question being asked, ‘was there political targeting?’

Attkisson also mentioned that the Obama administration allegedly spied on her, and that there seems to be a pattern ever since the intelligence collection protocols were changed by the Obama administration back in 2011. The journalist has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice for the intrusion into her laptop about 2 ½ years ago, which she alleges involved a keystroke-monitoring program used by a U.S. intelligence service. 

Trump says he has made a decision on the Iran Nuke Deal

The United States said on Wednesday it is weighing whether the Iranian nuclear deal serves its security interests even as Iran said it did not expect Washington to abandon the agreement. 

A collapse of the 2015 deal, which U.S. President Donald Trump has called “an embarrassment” but which is supported by the other major powers that negotiated it with Iran, could trigger a regional arms race and worsen Middle East tensions. 

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani vowed that his country would not be the first to violate the agreement under which Tehran agreed to restrict its nuclear program in return for the loosening of economic sanctions that had crippled its economy.

Trump told reporters he had made a decision on what to do about the agreement but would not say what he had decided. 

"I have decided," Trump told reporters Wednesday. "I'll let you know what the decision is." 

Matters were no clearer after Iran and the world powers that negotiated the deal - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States - met for talks that a European source said included a long discussion between the U.S. and Iranian foreign ministers. 

It was the first time that the two men, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, had met since Trump took office on Jan. 20. 

If Trump backs out of the Iranian nuke deal all hell will break loose all over the world and in Congress. So, does he want that? I don’t know.

California sues Trump administration over border wall

California filed a lawsuit on Wednesday over the Trump administration's plan to construct a wall along the border with Mexico, adding to the obstacles facing one of the Republican president's key campaign promises. 

The border wall lawsuit filed in a San Diego federal court alleges that Trump's wall violates federal environmental standards, as well as constitutional provisions regarding the separation of powers and states' rights.

Representatives for the U.S. Justice Department declined to immediately comment on the case.

Becerra's latest lawsuit charged that the Trump administration "violated the U.S. Constitution, failed to comply with federal and state environmental laws, and relied on a federal statute that does not authorize the proposed projects."  

The lawsuit asks a judge to stop the administration from building the wall until it demonstrates compliance with environmental laws, and issue an order that the Department of Homeland Security cannot waive any federal guidelines in order to facilitate the project. 

Last month, the administration awarded contracts to four companies to begin construction. 

The president tweeted last week that “the WALL, which is already under construction in the form of new renovation of old and existing fences and walls, will continue to be built.”

Dennis Miller on culture wars

Larry O’Connor who writes for Mediaite says that late night TV has become unwatchable to him and many others because it’s not funny and it’s all political. Now, there’s some nasty stuff going on between Jimmy Kimmel and our friend, Brian Kilmeade. Kilmeade criticized Kimmel for his stand on Obamacare.

Now, I know Kimmel and I like Kimmel and I feel terrible for Kimmel’s baby who had to undergo heart surgery and has more to come. Kimmel’s point of view is that he can pay for this, but other people can’t so American’s need this kind of health care so that poor people who have ill children can be treated.

 This isn’t a crazy point of view. Then Kilmeade, gently gave him a little jab about it. On Kimmel’s show last night he laid out Kilmeade. Be that as it may, it just demonstrates that late night TV is no longer what it was under Johnny Carson. 

Miller reminds us that Carson joked about everything, but he moved the show along, he didn’t sit on one topic for too long. Carson’s theory was to never have more than 3 jokes per topic. You could also say that Carson threw darts at all the balloons, but he didn’t use a flamethrower. 

We ask Miller if he’d rather watch entertainment or political commentary on late night TV and he says neither, he’d prefer to watch Turner Classic movies because he likes to watch TV to escape the world. 

Jerry Jones: The National Anthem Is ‘Not The Place To Express Yourself’

Some players around the NFL are continuing to carry on the national anthem protest started by the now unemployed Colin Kaepernick and Jerry Jones is continuing to put them in their place.

The Dallas Cowboys owner has made his stance on the national anthem very clear and so have his players. On Wednesday, Jones joined Fox Business for a quick interview in which he explained why everyone should stand for the national anthem and our flag.

“I do not think the place to express yourself in society is as we recognize the American flag,” Jones said. 

The Cowboys owner also noted that it’s a time to recognize the American troops “and all the people that have made this great country” and given the players the opportunity “to even be there in front of the nation” due to to their sacrifice for our freedom. 

“That’s not the place to do anything other than honor the flag and everybody that’s given up a little for it,” Jones concluded.

Mail Time!

• Bill, your response to Trump’s speech was spot on. It frustrates me the liberal media sees Trump as such a threat, but gave President Obama a pass for complete inaction. 

• Will Trump attack North Korea if they continue their tests, but don’t actually attack any country? 

• If they rename Houston, then what will they do with the city of Washington and Mt. Washington? Stop the madness! 

• Bill, I love the podcast and your books. I’m curious to know how you respond to the PC folks who feel that Washington, Jefferson and the founding fathers should be discredited on the slavery issue. Many in fact did own slaves and it was wrong, but that’s what life was in colonial America.

UPCOMING TOUR DATES & LOCATIONS

• Tomorrow (9/22), Miller and I will be in Baltimore, MD, at the Royal Farms Arena!  
• On Saturday (9/23), Miller and I are going to be in Tampa, FL, at the Amalie Arena!

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