Wednesday, March 08, 2017

Here's Why Trump's Tweet About the Obama "Tapp" is 100% Bullshit

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Let’s assess the reasons why President Trump's incendiary accusation that former President Barack Obama wiretapped him at Trump Tower during the 2016 election campaign is absolute bullshit:

1. We assume Trump has evidence because if he doesn't then he's just committed an unconscionable, possibly libelous/treasonous/impeachable act by blatantly lying about the former pres;

2. So if he does have evidence, why is he demanding an investigation? We assume he got his evidence from the FBI or Justice Department, and if so he already knows/has the answer;

3. If he doesn’t have the answer, and truly needs a Congressional investigation, then he DOESN'T have the evidence and intentionally made this baseless, unsubstantiated claim; 

4. If he doesn’t have the evidence, as president, he can make a call and in a matter of minutes get from FBI, and Justice whether or not the FISA court did in fact issue a warrant to wiretap him, and why. But again, if the answer is it didn’t, then his accusation is an outright lie;

5. And if he doesn’t make that call, why not? If he really wanted to find the truth, why hasn’t he already made that call? Why choose not to get a quick answer to confirm this very serious charge if it’s truly the truth he seeks? Unless his accusation is a calculated lie designed to distract away from #RussiaGate?

6. If FISA did issue a warrant, we have to assume Trump already knew that, which is why he then Tweeted about it. So again, if he already knows, why is he pretending he doesn't know and is demanding an investigation? Especially one that wastes a ton of taxpayer money?;

7. By law, no president can "tapp" anyone's phones. FBI or Justice, based on reasonable suspicion/evidence, makes the request to FISA independent of the White House. So while Trump's accusation could possibly end up having merit, it's not Obama doing the tapping, and therefore it’s not something Trump should want to be publicizing;

8. If FISA did issue a warrant, that would be because FBI or Justice proved to FISA that they had sufficient evidence that Trump colluded with Russia, which is why they needed to "tapp" his phones in the first place; 

9. By Tweeting this information, Trump in effect, because he's the president, served to declassify what previously was classified;

10. Trump, who just days ago ranted like a maniac about "unnamed sources," Tweeted his treasonous bullshit about Obama based on...unnamed sources;

11. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stated last weekend that there were no FISA warrants issued during his tenure at NI to "tapp" Trump Tower phones; 

So, what can we conclude? That Trump is a liar who made up his evidence-free accusation. Or, if his claim of being wiretapped ends up being true, Trump, as everyone suspects, has been co-opted by the Russians, which is why FBI/Justice, not Obama, sought the wiretap. Either way, Trump is in a heap of shit, and too ignorant and tone-deaf to understand the gravity of that early morning weekend Tweet. And that, this time, he may have gone too far...

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