Why would you put yourself out there like this and confirm that your an idiot?Trump increases attack against Obama with ‘Obamagate’ tweet
By Edmund DeMarche | Fox News
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DOJ drops criminal case against Michael Flynn after doubts of legitimacy emerge
Fox News Contributor Andrew McCarthy, Fox News Contributor Sara Carter, Wallstreet Journal Columnist Kim Strassel, and Fox News Analyst Lawrence Jones join 'The Next Revolution' to weigh in.
President Trump on Sunday intensified his criticism of former President Obama by tying him to the Michael Flynn investigation and blasting his predecessor's recent criticism aimed at his administration's coronavirus response.
NBC ADMITS MISTAKE WITH BARR FOOTAGE
Last week, Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department dismissed the case against Flynn, Trump's first national security adviser, who was seen as the key prosecution witness from Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign.
Trump, along with other Republicans, seized on the decision and framed it as an example of a Democrat-manufactured plot to remove him from office.
WASH PO TORN OVER FLYNN TIP
Trump retweeted Eli Lake, a columnist at Bloomberg, who said he has been reviewing the interview transcripts that were recently released in the collusion investigation. Lake wrote, “It’s now clear why every Republican on [Rep. Adam Schiff’s] committee in 2019 called for his resignation. He knew the closed door witnesses didn’t support his innuendo and fakery on Russia collusion.”
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OBAMAGATE!
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Sidney Powell, one of Flynn’s lawyers, told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” that FBI agents did their best to hide their investigation and attempted to entrap Flynn. She mentioned a meeting on Jan. 5, 2017 at the White House that included Obama, then-FBI Director James Comey, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan.
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Powell said the “whole thing was orchestrated and set up within the FBI, Clapper, Brennan and in the Oval Office meeting that day with President Obama,” she told Maria Bartiromo, the anchor.
Bartiromo asked Powell if she believed the scandal reached up to Obama, and Powell responded, “Absolutely.”
Trump later tweeted, “OBAMAGATE,” indicating that he believes that Obama worked to undermine his presidency.
Obama on Friday told supporters that with regards to Flynn's case, there “is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”
Obama’s criticism of the DOJ has been echoed by fellow Democrats, who have called out what they see as Trump’s influence over Barr. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the House Judiciary chairman, called the decision to drop the charges against Flynn “outrageous.”
“The evidence against General Flynn is overwhelming. He pleaded guilty to lying to investigators. And now a politicized and thoroughly corrupt Department of Justice is going to let the president’s crony simply walk away,” he said in a statement.
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Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about two separate contacts he had with a former Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News last week that Comey displayed “arrogance” and “ego” with the way he spoke about the Flynn case. The department said its continued prosecution of Flynn would “not serve the interests of justice.”
Trump said that Flynn was innocent and was targeted in an attempt to take down his presidency. He told reporters that he was unaware that the DOJ was going to drop its case.
“I felt it was going to happen just by watching and seeing, like everybody else does. He was an innocent man. He is a great gentleman. He was targeted by the Obama administration and he was targeted in order to try and take down a president,” he said.
Trump continued, “What they’ve done is a disgrace and I hope a big price is going to be paid. A big price should be paid. There’s never been anything like this in the history of our country. What they did, what the Obama administration did, is unprecedented. It’s never happened. Never happened. A thing like this has never happened.”
Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, told Fox News’ “The Next Revolution” Sunday that the FBI likely feared that Flynn would uncover illegitimacies surrounding the origin of the Russia probe.
"I think the best way to look at this is what the FBI and the Obama Administration wanted to do here was really audacious if you think about it in terms of the idea of trying to continue an investigation after a new president has come into power and is in a position to shut down the investigation -- when the president ultimately is the target of the investigation," McCarthy said.
Obama told 3,000 members of the Obama Alumni Association that the Trump administration was woefully inept in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak.
“It would have been bad even with the best of governments. It has been an absolute chaotic disaster when that mindset — of ‘what’s in it for me’ and ‘to heck with everybody else’ — when that mindset is operationalized in our government,” he said.
Trump has insisted that his administration was correct in banning flights from China early on in the outbreak, despite being condemned in some segments of the media.
Larry Kudlow, his national economic council director, told ABC News’ “This Week with George Stephanopolous” that he did not want to engage in a political back and forth with the former president, but said Trump has worked well in incorporating the private sector and parts of the government in the response.
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“I don’t understand what President Obama is saying. It just sounds so darn political to me. Look, what we have done may not be 100 percent perfect. These things happen once every 100 years,” Kudlow said.
Fox News' Joshua Nelson and the Associated Press contributed to this report
Obamagate!
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Federal prosecutor shreds Trump for accusing Obama of a felony: ‘He clearly has no idea what he’s talking about’
President Donald Trump has spent the past few days attacking President Barack Obama, tweeting out “OBAMAGATE” more than half a dozen times on Mother’s Day alone while accusing the 44th president of a felony, but as it turns out he has no idea what he’s talking about.
That’s what former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, who worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois for nearly a decade said on Twitter, in response to a question Washington Post White House Bureau Chief Philip Rucker posed of President Trump.
Trump accused Obama of committing “the biggest political crime in American history,” but Trump was unable to describe it, even in general terms.
“What crime exactly are you accusing Obama of committing and do you believe the Justice Dept. should prosecute him?” Rucker asked the President Monday.
“Obamagate. It’s been going for a long time,” Trump replied. “It’s been going on from before I even got elected and it’s a disgrace that it happened and if you look at what’s gone on and if you look at all of this information that’s been released and from what I understand it’s only the beginning.”
“Terrible things happened,” Trump continued, still having not come close to answering Rucker’s question. “And it should never be allowed to happen on our country again. And you’ll be seeing what’s going on, over the coming weeks but I wish you’d write honestly about it but unfortunately you choose not to do so.”
Without pausing Trump then pointed to another reporter to avoid Rucker asking for clarification.
“What is the crime exactly,” Rucker interjected, “that you’re accusing him of?”
“You know what the crime is, the crime is very obvious to everybody all you have to do is read the newspapers except yours,” Trump concluded, before taking another reporter’s question.
Mariotti said Trump “accused his predecessor of committing a crime, but he can’t name what crime it is because he clearly has no idea what he’s talking about. We’ve gotten so used to nonsense like this that it’s not even surprising anymore.”
And he called it “nonsense.”
President Donald Trump has spent the past few days attacking President Barack Obama, tweeting out “OBAMAGATE” more than half a dozen times on Mother’s Day alone while accusing the 44th president of a felony, but as it turns out he has no idea what he’s talking about.
That’s what former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti, who worked in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois for nearly a decade said on Twitter, in response to a question Washington Post White House Bureau Chief Philip Rucker posed of President Trump.
Trump accused Obama of committing “the biggest political crime in American history,” but Trump was unable to describe it, even in general terms.
“What crime exactly are you accusing Obama of committing and do you believe the Justice Dept. should prosecute him?” Rucker asked the President Monday.
“Obamagate. It’s been going for a long time,” Trump replied. “It’s been going on from before I even got elected and it’s a disgrace that it happened and if you look at what’s gone on and if you look at all of this information that’s been released and from what I understand it’s only the beginning.”
“Terrible things happened,” Trump continued, still having not come close to answering Rucker’s question. “And it should never be allowed to happen on our country again. And you’ll be seeing what’s going on, over the coming weeks but I wish you’d write honestly about it but unfortunately you choose not to do so.”
Without pausing Trump then pointed to another reporter to avoid Rucker asking for clarification.
“What is the crime exactly,” Rucker interjected, “that you’re accusing him of?”
“You know what the crime is, the crime is very obvious to everybody all you have to do is read the newspapers except yours,” Trump concluded, before taking another reporter’s question.
Mariotti said Trump “accused his predecessor of committing a crime, but he can’t name what crime it is because he clearly has no idea what he’s talking about. We’ve gotten so used to nonsense like this that it’s not even surprising anymore.”
And he called it “nonsense.”
Now watch Trump and his sweepers go on a tweeting binge against the judge.
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Federal judge says he won’t close the Flynn case just yet — and wants other parties to submit filings
On Tuesday, federal district judge Emmet Sullivan issued an order that declined to immediately close the case into President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — despite the fact that the Department of Justice has moved to dismiss the case.
Sullivan wrote that “given the current posture of the case,” some outside parties may want to file their own friend-of-the-court briefs on the matter, and that he would like to solicit such briefs.
.Federal judge says he won’t close the Flynn case just yet — and wants other parties to submit filings
On Tuesday, federal district judge Emmet Sullivan issued an order that declined to immediately close the case into President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — despite the fact that the Department of Justice has moved to dismiss the case.
Sullivan wrote that “given the current posture of the case,” some outside parties may want to file their own friend-of-the-court briefs on the matter, and that he would like to solicit such briefs.
Now watch Trump and his sweepers go on a tweeting binge against the judge.
Federal judge says he won’t close the Flynn case just yet — and wants other parties to submit filings
On Tuesday, federal district judge Emmet Sullivan issued an order that declined to immediately close the case into President Donald Trump’s former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — despite the fact that the Department of Justice has moved to dismiss the case.
Sullivan wrote that “given the current posture of the case,” some outside parties may want to file their own friend-of-the-court briefs on the matter, and that he would like to solicit such briefs.
View attachment 227749
You guys are too stupid to try to reason with.
You don't think Flynn was setup? Obama's entire administration was a cesspool of pure Chicago-Land style corruption.
More to come!
BARACK OBAMA
Published 56 mins ago
List of officials who sought to 'unmask' Flynn released: Biden, Comey, Obama chief of staff among them
By Brooke Singman, David Spunt | Fox News
Reaction from former FBI special agent Chad Jenkins.
Top Obama administration officials purportedly requested to "unmask" the identity of Michael Flynn during the presidential transition period, according to a list of names from that controversial process made public on Wednesday.
The list was declassified in recent days by Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and then sent to GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, who made the documents public. The roster features top-ranking figures including then-Vice President Joe Biden -- a detail sure to soon be raised in the bare-knuckle 2020 presidential race where Biden is now the Democrats' presumptive nominee.
The list also includes then-FBI Director James Comey, then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Obama's then-chief of staff Denis McDonough.
READ THE DOCUMENTS
"I declassified the enclosed document, which I am providing to you for your situational awareness," Grenell wrote to GOP senators in sending along the list.
Grenell’s letter was addressed to Sens. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., who had penned a letter to him and Attorney General Bill Barr regarding the declassification of files related to the unmasking process earlier in the day.
As Fox News previously reported, Grenell already made the decision to declassify information about Obama administration officials who were involved in the “unmasking” of former national security adviser Flynn — whose calls with the former Russian ambassador during the presidential transition were picked up in surveillance and later leaked. His case has returned to the national spotlight after the DOJ moved to dismiss charges against him of lying to the FBI about those conversations, despite a guilty plea that he later sought to withdraw.
Trump allies claim Flynn was wrongly targeted, and have suggested high-level involvement in an effort to bring him down. Democrats, however, claim the DOJ's decision to abandon the case shows how it has become politicized.
Both the DOJ and Grenell had been discussing these "unmasking" files, after Grenell appeared to have delivered those files to the department last week. There were some tensions between the two offices over who would actually pull the trigger to release them -- ultimately, the publication came from Capitol Hill after Grenell sent lawmakers the files.
The declassified list specifically showed officials who “may have received Lt. Gen Flynn’s identity in response to a request processed between 8 November 2016 and 31 January 2017 to unmask an identity that had been generically referred to in an NSA foreign intelligence report,” the document, obtained by Fox News, read.
GRASSLEY, JOHNSON REQUEST INFORMATION ON UNMASKING, AS GRENELL, BARR WEIGH RELEASE
“Each individual was an authorized recipient of the original report and the unmasking was approved through NSA’s standard process, which includes a review of the justification for the request,” the document said. “Only certain personnel are authorized to submit unmasking requests into the NSA system. In this case, 16 authorized individuals requested unmasking for [REDACTED] different NSA intelligence reports for select identified principals.”
The document added: “While the principals are identified below, we cannot confirm they saw the unmasked information. This response does not include any requests outside of the specified time-frame.”
The list revealed that then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power made unmasking requests seven times between Nov. 30, 2016 and Jan. 11, 2017. The list revealed that Clapper made three requests from Dec. 2, 2016 through Jan. 7, 2017; that Brennan made two requests, one on Dec. 14 and one on Dec. 15, 2016. Comey also made a request on Dec. 15, 2016. On Jan. 5, 2017, McDonough made one request, and on Jan. 12, 2017, Biden made one request.
The document comes just a day after Biden told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that he knew “nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn,” and called the topic a “diversion” from the coronavirus pandemic.
GRENELL DECLASSIFIES NAMES OF OBAMA OFFICIALS WHO 'UNMASKED' FLYNN
Biden was pressed again, and clarified: “I thought you asked me whether or not I had anything to do with him being prosecuted. I’m sorry. ... I was aware that there was—that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it, and I don’t think anything else.”
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVIEWING 'UNMASKING,' BUT SOURCE SUGGESTS DECISION ON RELEASING FILES IS DNI'S CALL
The unmasking concerns events between the November 2016 election and Inauguration Day 2017. Unmasking occurs after U.S. citizens' conversations are incidentally picked up in conversations with foreign officials who are being monitored by the intelligence community. The U.S. citizens' identities are supposed to be protected if their participation is incidental and no wrongdoing is suspected. However, officials can determine the U.S. citizens' names through a process that is supposed to safeguard their rights.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Wednesday penned a letter to Grenell inviting him to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Government Oversight next week about the unmasking of Flynn, noting that he has questions about what Biden and former President Obama knew.
“During my prior oversight of this matter, I met several dead ends, and I have many remaining questions in regard to President Obama’s administration abusing its authority,” Paul wrote to Grenell Wednesday. “Unlawful unmasking of U.S. persons should never be swept aside in hopes of being forgotten in time.”
Officials in the Obama administration have acknowledged that they moved to unmask some Americans in intelligence reports, but insisted that their reasons were legitimate. Those officials include Obama national security adviser Susan Rice, Power and former deputy national security adviser Benjamin Rhodes.
A Justice Department official told Fox News this week that the DOJ has been reviewing the unmasking of U.S. officials as part of its broader examination of the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation and was taking a look at the files that Grenell declassified and delivered to the Justice Department last week.
Published 56 mins ago
List of officials who sought to 'unmask' Flynn released: Biden, Comey, Obama chief of staff among them
By Brooke Singman, David Spunt | Fox News
Reaction from former FBI special agent Chad Jenkins.
Top Obama administration officials purportedly requested to "unmask" the identity of Michael Flynn during the presidential transition period, according to a list of names from that controversial process made public on Wednesday.
The list was declassified in recent days by Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell and then sent to GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, who made the documents public. The roster features top-ranking figures including then-Vice President Joe Biden -- a detail sure to soon be raised in the bare-knuckle 2020 presidential race where Biden is now the Democrats' presumptive nominee.
The list also includes then-FBI Director James Comey, then-CIA Director John Brennan, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and Obama's then-chief of staff Denis McDonough.
READ THE DOCUMENTS
"I declassified the enclosed document, which I am providing to you for your situational awareness," Grenell wrote to GOP senators in sending along the list.
Grenell’s letter was addressed to Sens. Grassley, R-Iowa, and Johnson, R-Wis., who had penned a letter to him and Attorney General Bill Barr regarding the declassification of files related to the unmasking process earlier in the day.
As Fox News previously reported, Grenell already made the decision to declassify information about Obama administration officials who were involved in the “unmasking” of former national security adviser Flynn — whose calls with the former Russian ambassador during the presidential transition were picked up in surveillance and later leaked. His case has returned to the national spotlight after the DOJ moved to dismiss charges against him of lying to the FBI about those conversations, despite a guilty plea that he later sought to withdraw.
Trump allies claim Flynn was wrongly targeted, and have suggested high-level involvement in an effort to bring him down. Democrats, however, claim the DOJ's decision to abandon the case shows how it has become politicized.
Both the DOJ and Grenell had been discussing these "unmasking" files, after Grenell appeared to have delivered those files to the department last week. There were some tensions between the two offices over who would actually pull the trigger to release them -- ultimately, the publication came from Capitol Hill after Grenell sent lawmakers the files.
The declassified list specifically showed officials who “may have received Lt. Gen Flynn’s identity in response to a request processed between 8 November 2016 and 31 January 2017 to unmask an identity that had been generically referred to in an NSA foreign intelligence report,” the document, obtained by Fox News, read.
GRASSLEY, JOHNSON REQUEST INFORMATION ON UNMASKING, AS GRENELL, BARR WEIGH RELEASE
“Each individual was an authorized recipient of the original report and the unmasking was approved through NSA’s standard process, which includes a review of the justification for the request,” the document said. “Only certain personnel are authorized to submit unmasking requests into the NSA system. In this case, 16 authorized individuals requested unmasking for [REDACTED] different NSA intelligence reports for select identified principals.”
The document added: “While the principals are identified below, we cannot confirm they saw the unmasked information. This response does not include any requests outside of the specified time-frame.”
The list revealed that then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power made unmasking requests seven times between Nov. 30, 2016 and Jan. 11, 2017. The list revealed that Clapper made three requests from Dec. 2, 2016 through Jan. 7, 2017; that Brennan made two requests, one on Dec. 14 and one on Dec. 15, 2016. Comey also made a request on Dec. 15, 2016. On Jan. 5, 2017, McDonough made one request, and on Jan. 12, 2017, Biden made one request.
The document comes just a day after Biden told ABC News’ “Good Morning America” that he knew “nothing about those moves to investigate Michael Flynn,” and called the topic a “diversion” from the coronavirus pandemic.
GRENELL DECLASSIFIES NAMES OF OBAMA OFFICIALS WHO 'UNMASKED' FLYNN
Biden was pressed again, and clarified: “I thought you asked me whether or not I had anything to do with him being prosecuted. I’m sorry. ... I was aware that there was—that they asked for an investigation, but that’s all I know about it, and I don’t think anything else.”
JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVIEWING 'UNMASKING,' BUT SOURCE SUGGESTS DECISION ON RELEASING FILES IS DNI'S CALL
The unmasking concerns events between the November 2016 election and Inauguration Day 2017. Unmasking occurs after U.S. citizens' conversations are incidentally picked up in conversations with foreign officials who are being monitored by the intelligence community. The U.S. citizens' identities are supposed to be protected if their participation is incidental and no wrongdoing is suspected. However, officials can determine the U.S. citizens' names through a process that is supposed to safeguard their rights.
Meanwhile, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Wednesday penned a letter to Grenell inviting him to testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Government Oversight next week about the unmasking of Flynn, noting that he has questions about what Biden and former President Obama knew.
“During my prior oversight of this matter, I met several dead ends, and I have many remaining questions in regard to President Obama’s administration abusing its authority,” Paul wrote to Grenell Wednesday. “Unlawful unmasking of U.S. persons should never be swept aside in hopes of being forgotten in time.”
Officials in the Obama administration have acknowledged that they moved to unmask some Americans in intelligence reports, but insisted that their reasons were legitimate. Those officials include Obama national security adviser Susan Rice, Power and former deputy national security adviser Benjamin Rhodes.
A Justice Department official told Fox News this week that the DOJ has been reviewing the unmasking of U.S. officials as part of its broader examination of the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation and was taking a look at the files that Grenell declassified and delivered to the Justice Department last week.