Trump Vindicated in Surveillance Claim, But Mueller’s Fishing Expedition Remains

CNN revealed on September 18 that the FBI wiretapped the campaign headquarters at Trump Tower.

By Rachel Alexander Published on September 28, 2017

President Trump is gradually being vindicated over his claims that the Obama administration surveilled his campaign. CNN revealed on September 18 that the FBI wiretapped the campaign headquarters at Trump Tower.

It was part of a probe of Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort. The surveillance began in 2014. Agents renewed it last year, using a secret FISA warrant. FISA stands for “Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.” It likely caught Manafort speaking with Trump.

Trump, declared talk show host Sean Hannity, “has been proven right about wiretapping. The media has been caught in a massive lie and a major coverup.”

The Manafort Surveillance

Manafort, a former Trump Tower resident, was under surveillance there for two years before the Trump campaign. The monitoring continued during the campaign. It also occurred during the transition period after the election. Authorities suspected financial and tax crimes.

The FISA warrant was issued to let the FBI look into work Manafort and two consulting firms had done for Ukraine’s former ruling party. The FBI looked into Manafort as well as the Podesta Group and Mercury LLC. They had failed to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. All three recently filed retroactively with the DOJ. 

At one point last year, the surveillance was halted for lack of evidence. Sources told CNN it resumed when the FBI started looking into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russians. The DOJ appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to head up the probe. 

Trump Ridiculed, Officials Lied

The mainstream media ridiculed Trump when he first tweeted in March that he was under surveillance. 

At least three top officials under Obama denied the surveillance when Trump first brought it up. Former FBI Director James Comey told others that Trump’s assertion was “outside the realm of normal” and “crazy.” After that, rumors began that Trump was thinking about firing him. 

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper responded to Trump’s tweet on Meet the Press the next Sunday. He told host Chuck Todd, “I can deny it. I will say that … there was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president, the president-elect at that time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign.”

 

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Now, six months later, Clapper changed his story. In an interview with CNN, he admitted that Trump may have been recorded speaking with Manafort. “It’s certainly conceivable,” he said.

Susan Rice’s Conflicting Statements

Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice made conflicting statements as well. In March, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes announced the discovery of the surveillance at a press conference.

When asked about it, Rice responded, “I know nothing about this. I was surprised to see reports from Chairman Nunes on that count today.” Later on, she said that she meant that she didn’t know “what reports Nunes was referring to.”

In April, she admitted getting reports on the surveillance. This time she claimed that she never did anything “untoward” with it.

But she reportedly did more with it than that. Multiple sources told CNN that she privately admitted unmasking Manafort and others to House officials. The names of the subjects should remain secret, especially from officials who might use the information for political ends. She told them she unmasked several Trump officials. She said she wanted to figure out why the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates was in New York late last year.

Former intelligence officer Tony Schaeffer observed, “It is now abundantly clear that Comey and all the Obama national security team lied about wiretapping.” Judge Napolitano, writing for Fox News, observes that the FBI stopped denying the surveillance of Trump Tower this past week.  

Overzealous Investigation

Manafort is cooperating with Congress. He submitted 300 pages of documents to Congress. Nevertheless, in July, the FBI obtained a search warrant to search his home. Agents entered with guns drawn early in the morning. They searched Manafort’s wife for weapons.  They also searched a storage shed. 

Mueller now has 17 prosecutors looking into Manafort. Andrew McCarthy at National Review believes they are overdoing the probe. He asks, “What exactly is the crime of the century that requires five times the number of lawyers the Justice Department customarily assigns to crimes of the century?” They are “determined to pluck out some white-collar felony or another that they can use to squeeze him.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said on Fox News’ show “Outnumbered” that the wiretap alarmed him. “Why did they engage in that wiretap? This is frightening,” he said.

If your government can just decide that it’s going to tap into your phones because you played a political role that somebody in the government didn’t want you to play, I’m sorry, that scares the bejeebies out of me. If the federal government wants to “get you,” they will find a way.

He said that juries could indict people for other crimes than the ones being looked into. He’s known people “who have been bankrupted, their reputations ruined. They ended up winning, but they were finished. The federal government is using your tax dollars to come after you, and you have to use your own dollars to fight them off.”

Manafort’s Denials

Manafort denied that he ever “knowingly” spoke with Russian officials during the election. He has also denied “financial wrongdoing regarding his Ukraine-related payments, his bank accounts in offshore tax shelters, and his various real estate transactions over the years.” 

Mueller’s probe into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia includes Donald Trump, Jr., and Manafort’s meeting with a Russian lawyer. The lawyer claimed to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Manafort’s notes revealed the meeting mostly covered her concern about sanctions being urged on Russia. There was nothing of substance related to Clinton. 

So far, there appears to be no signs that the Trump campaign acted criminally with the Russian government to influence the election. There are growing concerns that the FBI used false Russian propaganda — which became known as the Russian dossier — to justify surveilling Trump. 

 

Follow Rachel on Twitter at Rach_IC.

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