Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, after delivering a speech Nancy Reagan apparently dropped on the floor in 1984, denied that he was the source for Donald Trump’s tweets accusing President Obama of putting a “tap” on his phones.
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions today said that he never gave President Trump any reason to believe the Obama administration had wiretapped Trump Tower.
Not only did Sessions disown the idea that he slipped Trump the wiretap claim, the Department of Justice also missed its deadline for providing any information to back up that claim. Which is easy to understand if you listen to Republican Representative Devin Nunes.
The Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who has been one of the few defenders of Trump's claims, made clear on Tuesday that there is zero evidence to suggest Trump Tower was wiretapped.
“I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower,” Nunes said. He added that if you are taking Trump's tweets literally — which he said you shouldn't do — then “clearly the president was wrong.”
Back during the campaign, while Sessions was busy surrogating, there was someone else who complained bitterly about the rules that make it hard to sue over defaming a public figure.
Donald Trump said on Friday he plans to change libel laws in the United States so that he can have an easier time suing news organizations. ...
"One of the things I'm going to do if I win, and I hope we do and we're certainly leading. I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money.”
That’s one claim that Donald Trump should be really, really glad he hasn’t fulfilled.
Trump’s accusations aren’t just libelous, they’re dangerous. They represent not just a new low in attacking the preceding administration, but a unique, personal attack that’s just “unpresidented,” it’s disgusting. Nunes’ “the president was wrong” statement comes on top of statements from James Clapper, James Comey and, oh yeah, Barack Obama stating that Trump’s claims are completely unfounded. Trump’s tweets were unfounded and unhinged.
The issue isn’t that the president was wrong. Mistakes are made every day. The issue is that the president made a false statement on purpose as a personal attack. A statement that’s pretty much the dictionary definition of ...
li·bel ˈlībəl/ noun
A published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation.
But of course, the rules concerning libel are greatly relaxed when it comes to public figures. Though there was that promise.
"We're going to open up libel laws, and we're going to have people sue you like you've never got sued before."
There’s still time.