Russian connection confirmed!

My my, the worm has started to turn...

Top Obama Adviser Sought Names of Trump Associates in Intel

White House lawyers last month learned that the former national security adviser Susan Rice requested the identities of U.S. persons in raw intelligence reports on dozens of occasions that connect to the Donald Trump transition and campaign, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-03/top-obama-adviser-sou...

The NY Times has been sitting on this story for three days now (much like Newsweek sat on the Lewinski story)  hoping that the ObamaPods can come up with a cover story that they can run with.  Good luck with that.  In the meantime they'll continue with the "Trump won because of Russian collusion" meme since it's a distraction that has been working well.  Boob bait for bubbies.  But the real scandal is being exposed and it's going to get ugly for the left.  Obama won't be touched of course, like any good crime boss he knows how to insulate himself with "layers".  But the truth will be obvious and history will be the final judge.

It is beyond obvious by now, and clear to anyone with any hint of honesty left in them, that the Obama administration was illegally using FISA gathered intelligence to spy on the Trump campaign and transition team.  Of course that's okay with most of you, breaking Federal law in order to stop Trump isn't something that you're going to get bent out of shape about.  By any means necessary and all that.

And right on cue...

Swalwell is NOT concerned about Obama’s illegal surveillance, calls it a “distraction”.

When asked, “do you have concerns that more and more evidence is now coming out . . . that shows that there was some level of surveillance of the Trump candidacy or transition?” Swalwell, with typical leftist smugness, responded with one word “NO”.

When further pressed on the topic and asked about the politically motivated nature of the situation, Swalwell again responded simply with “NO”.

After being asked why he continues to say “no” he responded with the following:

“What I am concerned about is that a foreign adversary, RUSSIA, a country who is not our friend, attacked our Democracy this past election and that our President and his campaign, who the FBI are investigating right now for counterintelligence and criminal investigations, have deep, personal, political, and financial ties and what I want to know . . . is whether those ties were converging at the same time Russia was attacking us.”

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/04/smug-democrat-lawmaker-not-conce...

Unfortunately, even Adam Schiff had to admit to Jake Tapper that there is not a scintilla of evidence that there was any collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians:

In addition, Schiff backed off claims he made last month on MSNBC that there was “more than circumstantial” evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. When Tapper asked him point-blank whether there was “collusion,” Schiff said: “I don’t think we can say anything definitively at this point.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/02/adam-schiff-cant-say-...

He can't say anything definitively, but he's more than willing to keep making the assertion in an increasingly pathetic attempt to hide the truth of the matter and maintain a distraction for the fools who need it.

And the beat goes on....

Fresh evidence the Russia ‘scandal’ is a Team Obama operation

Do you suspect that the noise over Trump-campaign contacts with the Russians is just a political hit arranged by Obama insiders before they left? You got fresh evidence of that Monday, with news that then-National Security Adviser Susan Rice was behind the “unmasking” of Trumpites in transcripts of calls with Russian officials.

Again, nothing on the public record so far shows that anyone on Team Trump said anything improper on those calls.

http://nypost.com/2017/04/03/fresh-evidence-the-russia-scandal-is-a-team...

Operation Smokescreen continues apace.  "Don't look at that man behind the curtain!"

So now the discrediting meme is that it's a "white nationalist" opinion to think that the Obama administration would try to use the power of the Federal government to undermine a political opponent?  Really?  Come on, you can do better that that.

Oh my, and now the credibility of the original source of the "the Russians hacked the DNC server" story is being called into question:

However, it turns out that they (that would be the FBI) never had direct access to the DNC's hacked computer servers. The FBI said it repeatedly requested access and the DNC denied it to them, according to The Hill.

A source told The Hill that, as a result of this lack of access, "the FBI had no choice but to rely upon a third party for information." (that would be CrowdStrike, hired by the DNC)

The problem is that the evidence provided by CrowdStrike as proof that Russia was behind the hack had some experts scratching their heads, including the fact that the supposedly super-sophisticated hackers left so many clues pointing to Russia. (Remember that software we found out about that can make it appear that the original source was someone other than the actual source?)

As Sam Biddle put it in December article for the liberal-leaning Intercept, "it's very hard to buy the argument that the Democrats were hacked by one of the most sophisticated, diabolical foreign intelligence services in history, and that we know this because they screwed up over and over again."

So what are we left with? A claim that Russia hacked the DNC, based heavily on an organization whose credibility is now being called into question.

Normally, you'd think this would be huge news, since it gets to the very heart of the entire Trump/Russia scandal.

But the VOA's reporting, and CrowdStrike's decision to alter that key report, have been ignored by the mainstream press. The Washington Post, for example, hasn't bothered to tell readers that its breathless Dec. 22 story no longer holds up.

http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/did-the-claim-that-russia-h...

Of course the WaPo isn't reporting it, none of the Democratic party supporting media (ie most of them) want to go near a story that refutes their chosen smokescreen meme that the Russians "hacked the election" and that's why Hillary lost.  Or to admit that this is all a ruse to cover the real story, that the Obama administration broke Federal laws by leaking classified FISA gathered information in order to discredit a political opponent.  And when they do start reporting the truth (don't hold your breath) I'll be glad to post a link to their story as opposed to sites that you find it so easy to discount.

This is boob bait for Bubbas.  If you want to see the Bubba, step in front of a mirror and open your eyes.

Nothing to see here, just keep moving....

Former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser Susan Rice ordered U.S. spy agencies to produce “detailed spreadsheets” of legal phone calls involving Donald Trump and his aides when he was running for president, according to former U.S. Attorney Joseph diGenova.

“What was produced by the intelligence community at the request of Ms. Rice were detailed spreadsheets of intercepted phone calls with unmasked Trump associates in perfectly legal conversations with individuals,” diGenova told The Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group Monday.

“The overheard conversations involved no illegal activity by anybody of the Trump associates, or anyone they were speaking with,” diGenova said. “In short, the only apparent illegal activity was the unmasking of the people in the calls.”

Other knowledgeable official sources with direct knowledge and who requested anonymity confirmed to TheDCNF diGenova’s description of surveillance reports Rice ordered one year before the 2016 presidential election.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/03/susan-rice-ordered-spy-agencies-to-pro...

Michael Doran, former NSC senior director, told TheDCNF Monday that “somebody blew a hole in the wall between national security secrets and partisan politics.” This “was a stream of information that was supposed to be hermetically sealed from politics and the Obama administration found a way to blow a hole in that wall.”

Doran charged that potential serious crimes were undertaken because “this is a leaking of signal intelligence.”

“That’s a felony,” he told TheDCNF. “And you can get 10 years for that. It is a tremendous abuse of the system. We’re not supposed to be monitoring American citizens. Bigger than the crime, is the breach of public trust.”

Waurishuk said he was most dismayed that “this is now using national intelligence assets and capabilities to spy on the elected, yet-to-be-seated president.”

“We’re looking at a potential constitutional crisis from the standpoint that we used an extremely strong capability that’s supposed to be used to safeguard and protect the country,” he said. “And we used it for political purposes by a sitting President. That takes on a new precedent.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/03/susan-rice-ordered-spy-agencies-to-pro...

But it was all justified, right?  I mean, you guys are on the side of the angels and all that.

Don Lemon, leading the charge...

CNN Goes on Rampage Against Susan Rice Bombshell, Instructs Viewers to Ignore Story

'We will not aid and abet the people trying to misinform you'

ince news broke Monday that the Obama Administration's National Security Adviser, Susan Rice, directed the "unmasking" of NSA intercepts of Trump associates, CNN has raced to shoot down the blockbuster report.

CNN Tonight's Don Lemon went so far as to announce he would ignore the news at all costs.

While interviewing a Democratic congressman, CNN's Chris Cuomo claimed it was "demonstrably untrue" Rice sought surveillance of the Trump team, even as that's exactly what yesterday's reports prove.

Over the last 24 hours, the network has also repeatedly called on its chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, to dismiss the reports as a non-story; Sciutto has even excused Rice claiming ignorance of the unmasking scandal two weeks ago, arguing Rice "wasn't aware" what unmasking Rep. Devin Nunes (D-Calif.) was referring to.

And on Tuesday's "New Day," anchor Alisyn Camerota openly pleaded with Sen. John McCain to write-off the news as unimportant.

Last night, Lemon began "CNN Tonight" with an announcement that the Rice report a "fake scandal ginned up by right-wing media and Trump" that he would not be baited into justifying with coverage.

"On this program tonight, we will not insult your intelligence by pretending," it's legitimate, he said. "Nor will we aid and abet the people trying to misinform you, the American people, by creating a diversion. Not going to do it."

https://news.grabien.com/story-cnn-goes-rampage-against-susan-rice-bombs...

No sir, we are sticking to our story.  Nothing to see here, move along now.

As a former government prosecutor explains, there was no need for Susan Rice to have this information other that for partisan purposes:

In general, it is the FBI that conducts investigations that bear on American citizens suspected of committing crimes or of acting as agents of foreign powers. In the matter of alleged Russian meddling, the investigative camp also includes the CIA and the NSA. All three agencies conducted a probe and issued a joint report in January. That was after Obama, despite having previously acknowledged that the Russian activity was inconsequential, suddenly made a great show of ordering an inquiry and issuing sanctions. (Interesting how this became a much larger issue after the unexpected Hillary loss)

Consequently, if unmasking was relevant to the Russia investigation, it would have been done by those three agencies. And if it had been critical to know the identities of Americans caught up in other foreign intelligence efforts, the agencies that collect the information and conduct investigations would have unmasked it. Because they are the agencies that collect and refine intelligence “products” for the rest of the “intelligence community,” they are responsible for any unmasking; and they do it under “minimization” standards that FBI Director James Comey, in recent congressional testimony, described as “obsessive” in their determination to protect the identities and privacy of Americans.

Understand: There would have been no intelligence need for Susan Rice to ask for identities to be unmasked. If there had been a real need to reveal the identities — an intelligence need based on American interests — the unmasking would have been done by the investigating agencies. The national-security adviser is not an investigator. She is a White House staffer. The president’s staff is a consumer of intelligence, not a generator or collector of it. If Susan Rice was unmasking Americans, it was not to fulfill an intelligence need based on American interests; it was to fulfill a political desire based on Democratic-party interests.

To summarize: At a high level, officials like Susan Rice had names unmasked that would not ordinarily be unmasked. That information was then being pushed widely throughout the intelligence community in unmasked form . . . particularly after Obama, toward the end of his presidency, suddenly — and seemingly apropos of nothing (apropos of making sure that this information would be easier to leak) — changed the rules so that all of the intelligence agencies (not just the collecting agencies) could have access to raw intelligence information.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446415/susan-rice-unmasking-trump-...

All one needs to ask is "What if a Republican President's aids had acted this way?"

Hey, at least she didn't blame it on a video. 

A nice summary...

The Rice revelation might also put into the proper landscape the following:

a) the astounding self-confessionals of Hillary adviser Evelyn Farkas about her frantic efforts to convince Obama operatives to increase intelligence gathering and to leak the information to the press (what gave a former mid-level Department of Defense employee the presumption that she could influence the intelligence operations of the U.S. government?),

b) the unprecedented eleventh-hour Obama effort to broaden access to classified data to spread and leak such unmasked individuals,

c) the political and media landmines that Representative Nunes (facing “kill the messenger” efforts to kill the message) had to navigate around and the character assassination to which he has been subjected,

d) why the Russian-collusion narrative, denied by intelligence chiefs, has become the necessary distraction — first, to steer attention away from the improper leaking and surveillance, and, second, to be used to offer pseudo-moral equivalence to stop further investigation: as if Russian collusion is the bookend to unmasking Trump; as if Nunes is the mirror-image of Representative Adam Schiff, to achieve an impasse of “so let’s just call it even and quit the entire mess and ‘move on.’”

e) the relative silence of former president and “constitutional law professor” Barack Obama.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner