Former Obama spokesman: Trump working very hard to distract from growing scandal

[Sunlei]

WASHINGTON) -- Former White House press secretary Josh Earnest said President Trump's claim that his boss, President Obama, wiretapped phones at Trump Tower is an attempt to divert attention from questions over contacts between Trump associates and Russia.

"President Trump is working very hard to try to distract the American public and the news media from the growing scandal about why his administration and why he himself has, at best, not been forthcoming about their talks and their ties with Russia," Earnest, who was former President Obama's press secretary, told ABC News chief global affairs correspondent Martha Raddatz. Earnest said, “This may come as a surprise to the current occupant of the Oval Office, but the president of the United States does not have the authority to unilaterally order the wiretapping of an American citizen,”

For the FBI to be able to use a wiretap on an American citizen, "It would require FBI investigators, officials at the Department of Justice, going to a federal judge and making a case and demonstrating probable cause to use that authority."

When pressed by Raddatz on whether he could deny that the Justice Department under Obama sought to wiretap the Trump campaign, Earnest responded, “Here’s the simple answer to that question, Martha: I don’t know." "Even when I was in government, I was not in a position of being regularly briefed on an FBI counterintelligence investigation. No one at the White House, including the president of the United States, should be in a position in which they are trying to influence or dictate how that investigation is being conducted.”


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http://www.wspynews.com/news/politics/former-obama-spokesman-trump-working-very-hard-to-distract-from/article_f12c8a90-887b-501d-93b1-512a4c198bc0.html

[Hortensis]

1. If you're innocent, you throw the doors open to

show and defuse accusations, as John Dean says.

PoliticsUsa.com, February 24: “When a White House leans on the FBI, they’re in a cover-up mode. There are three FBI investigations going on right now. One goes into what happened pre-election, what was the influence or connection between the Trump campaign and the Russians,” Dean said.

“The other one is the interim between the election and the inauguration, we’re trying to figure out exactly who Flynn was talking to and who else was involved, was Trump involved in really undercutting the Obama administration’s sanctions,” the former Nixon counsel explained.

“And the third investigation is looking at the dossier that was produced by the MI6 former intelligence agent, Mr. Steele, to see if there is some validity to some of those things that he outlined in that dossier.” ...

Earlier Friday afternoon, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi called for massive investigations into Trump and his administration’s dealings with the FBI. The problem here for Trump is not only is it the cover-up, but it opens the door to investigating the Trump campaign’s dealings with the FBI during the election.

There is no other reason for the White House to be leaning on the FBI to silence them about their investigations and try to force them into claiming there’s no problem with Russia and Trump.

This discussed only the FBI investigations after 45 tried to get the FBI to smother them, of course. Not the others.