Trump says he will ask Justice Department to look into campaign surveillance

[DonViejo]

Source: Reuters



Reuters•May 20, 2018

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he would ask the Justice Department to look into whether his 2016 presidential campaign was infiltrated or surveilled by the FBI or the department under the Obama administration.

The Republican president's pronouncement followed a morning in which he posted seven tweets denouncing as a "witch hunt" the federal investigation of whether his campaign worked with Russia to sway the election.

"I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes - and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!" Trump wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, Trump, without naming Special Counsel Robert Mueller, repeated his criticism of the probe as politically motivated. He reprised his attacks on Hillary Clinton, his Democratic challenger in 2016 and maintained that the Democrats were not submitted to the same scrutiny by the FBI.

Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-says-ask-justice-department-look-campaign-surveillance-175203905.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=ecd5e8af-dc90-3332-9efb-d522bf6b8dfa&.tsrc=notification-brknews

[bucolic_frolic]

1. "Russia, if you're listening ...." was not surveillance?

Private surveillance is just as onerous as the government variety

[mpcamb]

33. He asks that on his ZTE phone.

[pnwmom]

2. No, Trump said he DEMANDED -- not asked. n/t

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Just like a little boy having a temper tantrum.

[calimary]

20. Sounds like a spoiled little boy who's always been told he's a king

or that he's just BETTER than everybody else.

How's THAT for "entitlement", 'eh?

[Sneederbunk]

3. Be careful what you ask for.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Diversion and attempt at false equivalency. . . . nt

[Ccarmona]

6. CMon, When Are the Repugs Going to Reign in their "King" ?

The Founding Fathers explicitly wrote the Constitution to deter the President from using the Powers of the Executive Branch as his own for punishing his enemies. They lived under a King in England knew how much damage a leader with ultimate power could do. No one, not even the President, is above the law.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. "rein in", as in controlling a horse. Expression is nothing to do with monarchy. . . . nt

[Xipe Totec]

10. Trump is so mad he pisses blue. nt

[RandySF]

8. This could be the week he fires Session or Rosenstein

Trump is hell-bent on learning about the informant and if DOJ keeps pushing back, he's liable to snap and start firing people.

[Freethinker65]

9. about as likely as Obama specifically wiretapping the Trump campaign

Which, of course turned out to be false.

Trump, in his infinite wisdom in choosing only the "best" for the job, chose some pretty shady characters already well known to the FBI to work on his campaign.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Republicons have already outed the informant's name. Only after NUNES saw the unredacted memo. . nt

[Yonnie3]

12. He did not write that tweet without help.

Giuliani, Hannity, or ???

What's going to happen?

The DOJ says OK, we will get back to you. Four weeks later nothing to report.

Much like the Obama wire tapping Trump Tower nonsense.

[LiberalLovinLug]

13. so...any surveilence done by the FBI while Obama was in office is "political"?

Even if there were suspicions of criminal activity?

[Kablooie]

14. Trump always assumes everyone else is as dishonest and criminal as himself.

[Botany]

15. It was the black guy's fault aka Obama's spy found out about my treason

Trump is the cowboy in the old wild west movie that is out of bullets and throws his
gun at the other guy. Trump and company are trying to change the subject from their
crimes w/Russia and other foreign and domestic actors to it is the law enforcement's
fault for doing their jobs and catching Team Trump in their crimes.

[padah513]

18. Off topic, but your bullets comment brought something to mind that I hadn't thought about in years

On the old Superman show, when the bad guys would shoot a ton of bullets at Superman and then throw their gun at him, why did Superman duck? Silly I know, but after being stuck in this quagmire of a silly season for a year and a half now, I take my levity anywhere I can find it.

[Liberalagogo]

16. And Reuters

tries to cover up for the DEMANDER. He did not ASK.

[djacq]

17. Yet another rabbit hole

[jpak]

19. Dictator

Down with him.

[SeattleVet]

21. 25th Amendment his orange ass.

This tweet is solid evidence that he is completely, totally off his rocker and a danger to the entire world.

[Honeycombe8]

22. Obama would not have spied on anyone. He's trying to smear Obama even more.

What IS this thing Trump has about Obama?

[paleotn]

27. Someone he can never, ever be, no matter what he does.

Barrack Obama is the epitome of what a US President should be. In that regard, he sits with the greats. Dumpster can't even hope to reach that plateau. His inferiority complex is warranted. As his worthless father probably told him many times, he is a piece of shit. Deep in his cluttered, putrid mind he knows that and it eats him up inside.

[Honeycombe8]

29. Yep. nt

[jmowreader]

23. Not this shit again.

Which one of you was in charge of telling President Queeg there aren't any more strawberries because he ate half the can at dinner?

More important, didn't anyone let prezident malen'kiye ruki know he actually won the election?

[uppityperson]

24. He "demands", which is very different from "will ask". Seriously, get it right yahoo news

[paleotn]

25. Resurrecting that old meme?

Desperation has made itself at home in the Dumpster camp.

[dogknob]

26. For his sake I hope the Deep State is shaped more like Florida than Colorado (ouch!) n/t

[bucolic_frolic]

28. How do you know they're not going to lie to you, Donnie?

You know, #FakeNews - tell you what you want to hear! Don't let that paranoia go to your head!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

30. Trump may be hoping it can be used as a pretext to fire Rosenstein. . . . nt

[rlegro]

31. The best summary and prediction on this situation...

... came from Esquire political writer Charles Pierce back in January, when he commented on a Mother Jones piece about revelations from Glenn Simpson, boss at Fusion GPS, which conscripted the "Steele dossier," actually a series of raw information memos on the Trump-Russia connection prepared by former MI6 agent Christopher Steele. See link to Pierce's piece below. I love his closing comment: "By the end of the week, we’ll be hearing about Barack Obama’s being on stakeout outside of Trump Tower in a nondescript white van, headphones securely on his head...."

This whole dustup is just another example of how Trump and, increasingly, Republicans in general take a small morsel of information and turn it into a contrary, boiled-over stew. Further, in doing so in this case, they simultaneously disbelieve in what Steele turned up in his legwork yet believe one detail: Steele's passing comment about someone inside the Trump campaign. That someone, of course, very possibly might have been a disillusioned campaign worker who came forward to the FBI, an act unsurprising and hardly controversial or illegal. This Trump-enhanced factoid does, however, make a fine pretext for blowing up the investigation.

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a14941443/fbi-mole-trump-campaign/

[bucolic_frolic]

32. FAKE NEWS! WITCH HUNT!

call his obstructing tactics exactly what they are!