You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Home Front: Politix
Spy vs Spy
2017-03-23
CNN -- House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said Wednesday that President Donald Trump's personal communications may have been picked up by investigators through "incidental collection."
I'm not sure what that means.
Nunes said at a news conference he discovered the potential surveillance of Trump himself while reviewing intelligence reports, but said it was not related to Russia.
So The Donald may have been right after all.
"This is a normal, incidental collection, based on what I could collect," Nunes said. "This appears to be all legally collected foreign intelligence under" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Nunes said he alerted House Speaker Paul Ryan about the collection and is traveling to the White House Wednesday afternoon.

"I'm actually alarmed by it," Nunes said.

Asked whether he felt vindicated by Nunes' comments, Trump told reporters in a brief exchange he felt "somewhat" vindicated.

Democrats on the committee appeared blindsided by Nunes' announcement. Rep. Jim Himes said he spoke with ranking Democratic member Adam Schiff, and that neither of them are familiar with the evidence Nunes is citing.
Heads in the sand.
Nunes is chairing the House Intelligence Committee's investigation into Russian meddling into the US election last year. Two weeks ago, Trump asked Congress to investigate whether Trump Tower was wiretapped by his predecessor, then-President Barack Obama.

On Monday, Nunes' committee held a hearing featuring FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers. At that hearing, Comey confirmed for the first time that his agency is investigating possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign and whether any crimes may have been committed during last year's election campaign as part of a wider probe into the hacking of Democratic servers and the Clinton campaign.

Also at that hearing, Comey said he had seen no evidence so far of the specific allegation of wiretapping Trump Tower.

Nunes did not know whether the "incidental collection" happened at Trump Tower, and could not say for certain whether Trump's communications were directly collected.

Nunes said the collection included Trump transition officials and that it happened after the election. He said he could not say whether it meant that Trump was "spied on"

"I'm not going to get into legal definitions, but clearly I have a concern," he said.
If there were legitimate concerns that Candidate Trump and his team were engaged with the Russian government to illegally interfere with the 2016 elections, exploring that would have been legitimate, it seems to me. But barring information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the American citizens involved, unmasking their names in leaks to the press and warnings to foreign governments and foreign intelligence services seems to me to be exactly that interference in the election process by American intelligence and law enforcement staff that they were accusing Russia and Mr. Trump of. Winkle them out and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.
Nunez sez a 'FISA warrant was involved and everything was legal.' That really does point to collection against US Persons (USP).

Daily Caller: House Intel Chair: Trump’s Personal Communications May Have Been Captured In Sweep

Grabien News: Nunes - FBI Not Cooperating With Investigation Into Trump Camp Surveillance


Legal Insurrection was updating the story as new information came in.

I seriously doubt the term "oh well, shi* simply happens" can be found anywhere in the lexicon of General Mike Flynn. My guess, and it's only a guess mind you, Mike Flynn has been very busy as work discovering precisely went wrong.
Posted by:Deacon Blues

#1  "This appears to be all legally collected foreign intelligence under" the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

What about the illegal distribution half of the question?
Posted by: gorb   2017-03-23 14:29  

00:00