Trumps’s latest explosive and ridiculous pronouncement that “Obama tapped his phones” has been met with glee throughout the progressive community.
Unfortunately the understanding that there would be a FISA warrant underlying this claim is without basis. This assumes Trump understands how the government works, that a warrant would be needed to order tap phones, and is making claims based on presumed rational facts. Of course we know this not to be true. He believes either a president can order phone surveillance or that president Obama did so illegally. We are giving him way too much credit here
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The Breitbart story relied heavily on a Nov. 7 article in a British blog called HeatStreet. It claimed that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had approved a “warrant” in October in connection with activity between the server and Russian banks. It further stated that “it is thought in the intelligence community” that this purported warrant permitted the collection of emails and other communications of Americans connected to the server investigation, which “thus covers Donald Trump.”
As things stand, there are reasons to be skeptical. HeatStreet had vague sourcing — two “sources with links to the counterintelligence community” — and it does not regularly publish investigative stories about American intelligence or law enforcement operations. To date, reporters for The New York Times with demonstrated sources in that world have been unable to corroborate that the court issued any such order. On Sunday, James Clapper, who was the director of national intelligence until Jan. 20, denied to NBC News that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court had approved monitoring at Trump Tower.
He achieved his purpose here spectacularly. He had a terrible week when his well received speech was quickly superseded by his Attorney General recusing himself from any Russian campaign connections. Everyone in the media spent the entire weekend treating this as if it were a serious legitimate story, interviewing very serious people and discussing it non stop. Sessions’ recusal is long forgotten. One republican spokeswoman’s quote dominated- “if this is true, this would be the biggest scandal ever”. Yes it would . So would any other crazy absurd thing. But “biggest scandal ever” is what lingers. Trump is the master media manipulator and I'm sure he thoroughly enjoyed this. We need to stop underestimating him
Z. Byron Wolf on CNN says it perfectly:
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It's the latest example in a pattern perfected by a president whose actions have had the effect of diversion. Faced with an explosive political situation at his feet, he lobs a rhetorical grenade elsewhere, using the resulting blast and confusion to his advantage. It moves the conversation from one that has him on defense to one where he is on offense.