Trump Accuses Obama Administration of Wiretapping Trump Tower Phones

FOX NEWS: President Trump made a startling claim Saturday that former President Barack Obama had Trump Tower phones tapped in the weeks before the November 2016 election.

In early Saturday morning tweets that began at 6:35 a.m., the president said the alleged wiretapping was “McCarthyism” and “Nixon/Watergate.”

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism,” Trump wrote. » | Saturday, March 4, 2017

Trump on Refugee Deal with Australia: Why Are We Doing This?

President says he respects Australia as a country, but questions the logic of promise by the Obama administration to resettle nearly 1,200 asylum seekers being held on Pacific island camps

Hannity: President-elect Trump Is Inheriting a Big Mess

Jan. 19, 2017 - 2:17 - Sean Hannity offers advice to the president-elect on the eve of the inauguration

Putin Accuses Obama Administration of Undermining Trump

Jan. 17, 2017 - 6:39 - House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Rep. Ed Royce reacts to where relationship with Russia goes from here

Obama Was Inadequate. But America Will Miss Him

Barack Obama’s presidency, sandwiched between those of George W Bush and Donald J Trump, will be missed by many Americans, says Gary Younge. But, he argues, ‘could be worse’ is poor rhetorical compensation for ‘yes we can’. Since Obama was simultaneously the best man for the job and insufficient, he says, the American political system is by definition in crisis

Brigitte Gabriel's Israel Response to John Kerry

Obama Administration Prepares Sanctions, Retaliation for Russian Election Meddling

CNN: The Obama administration is preparing to announce, as soon as Thursday, a series of retaliation measures against Russia for meddling in the US election, according to American officials briefed on the plans.

The actions are expected to include expanded sanctions and diplomatic measures, the officials said, in what the administration deems a proportional response to a Russian operation that went beyond cyber hacking activities common among nations. » | Evan Perez, Elise Labott and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, December 28, 2016

Gorka on Why Americans Can't Trust Admin's Deal with Iran

Sep. 01, 2016 - 1:03 - New report claims U.S. agreed to 'secret' exemptions from Iran after nuclear deal

Obama Administration to Blame for Coup Attempt in Turkey?

Jul. 16, 2016 - 4:24 - Fox News analyst and Trump foreign policy adviser Walid Phares weighs in on 'America's News HQ'

The Glazov Gang – Reports Showing Failed War Against ISIS Deleted

The Glazov Gang – Reports Showing Failed War Against ISIS Deleted

Administration Stands by Accusations of Israeli Terror

Oct. 15, 2015 - 13:20 - Israel's prime minister warns the world not to confuse his country's victims with their attackers

White House Warns Chuck Schumer: Disapprove of Iran Deal at Your Own Peril

Senator Schumer had previously defied the Obama administration,
questioning the merit of forcing through the Affordable Care Act.

THE GUARDIAN: Spokesman Josh Earnest calls Democrat’s defiance on nuclear deal ‘not particularly surprising’ and says it may cost him party leadership in Senate

The White House fired a shot across the bows of New York senator Chuck Schumer on Friday for defying its position on Iran, warning that fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill may remember his voting record when deciding who to elect as their next leader.

Though Schumer’s announcement that he would vote in disapproval of the nuclear deal – which leaked mysteriously during the middle of the Republican debate on Thursday – is unlikely to derail the process, it represents an embarrassing rift with a senior Democrat who had once been one of Barack Obama’s staunchest allies.

Schumer is expected to take over as leader of the party’s caucus in the Senate when Harry Reid, currently the minority leader, steps down after the next presidential election. » | Dan Roberts in Washington | Friday, August 7, 2015

Related »

US Ransom Policy Shift Undermines UK's Hardline Stance

THE GUARDIAN: Barack Obama’s decision may put Americans at greater risk, fuel hostage price inflation and raise pressure on UK to save its citizens in the same way

Barack Obama’s decision to relax Washington’s blanket ban on paying ransoms to free hostages will be seen as belated American acceptance of an unpleasant but unavoidable necessity by west European countries criticised in the past for buying off terrorist kidnappers with cash.

But if David Cohen, deputy director of the CIA, and other counter-terrorism experts are to be believed, Wednesday’s announcement may increase the risk of American citizens being taken hostage abroad, because the payment of large amounts of money for their release now appears more likely.

Obama’s policy shift does not in any way overcome the basic ransoms-for-hostages dilemma, which is the fear that handing over money is, in effect, “giving in” to the bad guys and will encourage and finance more terrorism. Linked to this is the belief, common among American and British politicians, that European governments that pay ransoms (while officially denying it) – notably France, Germany, Spain, Austria, Switzerland and Italy – are letting the side down. » | Simon Tisdall | Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Obama Administration Issues 5.5M Work Permits to Non-citizens; Jeff Sessions Wants Investigation

New documents reveal that the Obama administration has issued roughly 5.5 million work permits to non-citizens without Congressional authorization. The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the conservative-leaning Center for Immigration Studies demonstrate what critics call a "shadow" or "parallel" immigration system that infringes on employment opportunities for Americans, Fox News reported…

Stasi 2.0? US Fed Workers to Spy & Snitch on Each Other

The 'Insider Threat Program' - President Obama's initiative that mandates federal employees to start spying on each other - is coming under increasing scrutiny. Now under that program, millions of government workers must watch their colleagues for whistleblower tendencies - and report any suspicions to their superiors. But, as our Washington correspondent Gayane Chichakyan reports, the government's own experts have grave doubts.

'Red Line' Crossed: US to Give Military Support to Syrian Rebels
Washington has given the green light for arming the Syrian rebels to prop up the opposition. A plan for a limited no-fly zone over Syria has also been drawn up. It comes after the U.S. administration concluded Assad's forces had used chemical weapons ''on a small scale''

A.C.L.U. Sues to Bar ‘Dragnet’ Collection of Phone Records
THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration over its “dragnet” collection of logs of domestic phone calls, contending that the once-secret program — whose existence was exposed by a former National Security Agency contractor last week — is illegal and asking a judge to both stop it and order the records purged.

The lawsuit, filed in New York, could set up an eventual Supreme Court test. It could also focus attention on this disclosure amid the larger heap of top secret surveillance matters that were disclosed by Edward J. Snowden, a former N.S.A. contractor who came forward on Sunday to say he was the source of a series of disclosures by The Guardian and The Washington Post.

The program “gives the government a comprehensive record of our associations and public movements, revealing a wealth of detail about our familial, political, professional, religious and intimate associations,” the complaint says, adding that it “is likely to have a chilling effect on whistle-blowers and others who would otherwise contact” the A.C.L.U. for legal assistance.

A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment. » | Charlie Savage | Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The Dark Presidency: Obama: Congress Knew About, Authorized NSA Surveillance
President addresses controversy over government eavesdropping

NSA Surveillance Scandal: Barack Obama's Credibility Under Scrutiny Like Never Before

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Commentary: In the wake of the NSA surveillance scandal, Barack Obama's credibility is under scrutiny like never before, writes Peter Foster.

Whether using drones for the 'targeted killing' of alleged terrorists, or data-mining the phone records of everyone in America, Barack Obama has a standard response to those who would question his use of these questionable clandestine programmes: "we welcome a debate".

That debate – which Mr Obama described last month as "the appropriate balance between our need for security and preserving those freedoms that make us who we are" – has exploded into the open following this week's revelations about the extent of National Security Agency surveillance programs.

Mr Obama's offer of debate sounds all very liberal, and reasonable but for his frustrated critics on both the liberal Left and libertarian Right the offer is nothing more than a cover for a president who campaigned as a liberal but on national security has governed as an outright authoritarian.

If Mr Obama really wanted a debate on drones, or the ethics of dragnet-surveillance of the phone records of all Americans, they ask, why has it taken a series of damaging leaks for his administration to even admit the existence of these programmes, let alone openly debate them? » | Peter Foster, Washington | Friday, June 07, 2013

Truther Alert! NSA, FBI, Obama Indiscriminately Obtaining Phone Records, Domestic Surveillance