A messy situation for all involved
Seventy per cent of the respondents to the News online poll on March 15 believe that President Donald Trump is not telling the truth that he has evidence that former president Barack Obama’s administration wire-tapped Trump Tower. And that may be true. Now the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating these allegations and Russia’s hacking during the presidential election and the ties between Russia and people on Trump’s team.
It is also interesting to read what the biggies in U.S. media have reported on this issue: The New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. Mark Levin of CRTV has researched the media and reports on some articles.
In June, 2016, the Obama Administration filed a request with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to monitor the communications involving Donald Trump and several advisers. The request was denied.
In October 2016, the Times reported from FBI sources that a new request was approved by FISA to focus surveillance of a computer server in Trump Tower suspected of links to Russian banks. No malicious purpose was found. It is alleged that the surveillance of the Trump team was then expanded and continued on national-security grounds.
In January 2017, CNN reported on an intelligence dossier compiled by a foreign spy which showed on-going contact between Russia and the Trump campaign. None of these allegations have been verified. In the same month, the Times reported that the outgoing Obama administration expanded the power of the NSA to share globally intercepted personal communications with sixteen other government agencies to make the intelligence on individuals easier to circulate.
In February 2017, the Times cited four American officials who claimed that the Trump campaign had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials. Of course, the Trump campaign denied the allegations. Questions regarding illegal intelligence leaks were raised.
The Times reported on the eve of the Trump inauguration that the FBI was leading the investigation and it was aided by the National Security Agency (NSA), the CIA and the Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit. Apparently FBI officials reported that no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing had been found and that intelligence reports were provided to the White House.
The Senate Committee will probably eventually clear up this rather messy situation. Was Trump wire-tapped? If he wasn’t, were the biggies then reporting fake news?
Larry Samcoe Medicine Hat