PRESSURE BUILDS ON OBAMA OVER TRUMP WIRETAPPING ALLEGATIONS

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Pressure in Washington is building to get 
full disclosure from the Obama administration’s Department of Justice, 
NSA and CIA regarding the electronic surveillance conducted on the 
Russians that may have monitored Donald Trump and his close campaign 
aides during the 2016 election.

Yesterday, Judicial Watch
announced the filing of a FOIA lawsuit against the CIA seeking an
unclassified report assessing Russia’s interference in European
elections.
The Judicial Watch FOIA request to obtain the CIA’s
unclassified report regarding Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential
election was based on a Wall Street Journal report
commenting that since 2015, Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio), a member of the
House Intelligence Committee, has demanded to see the unclassified
version of the classified CIA report that was presented to the White
House.

“The fact that the administration is picking and choosing the
information it releases and who they release it to ought to give
everybody concern that the administration is manipulating this,” Turner
said.
This follows a separate Judicial Watch FOIA lawsuit filed last week
against the CIA, the Department of Justice and the Department of the
Treasury, seeking to obtain records related to the investigation of
retired U.S. Army Lt. General Michael Flynn’s communications with
Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak.
While President Trump has
consistently denied any involvement with Russia to interfere with the
2016 election, last weekend he asked the congressional intelligence
committees to investigate Obama administration electronic surveillance
before the November election that may have intercepted his
communications, as well as the communications of his close campaign
associates.
Underlying the inquires being made since last weekend,
when President Trump tweeted several messages accusing President Obama
of “wiretapping” Trump Tower, is the suspicion President Obama may have
encouraged Attorney Lynch to conduct FISA-authorized electronic
surveillance of the Russians during the presidential campaign because
the White House suspected the electronic surveillance would pick up
incidentally Donald Trump and his closest campaign associates.
The
suspicion in Washington is that President Obama ultimately will fail,
just as President Nixon failed, invoking the Watergate defense that he
did not directly give the order to “wiretap Trump,” but was
knowledgeable in encouraging the electronic surveillance of the Russians
because he and other top Obama administration officials had reason to
believe the effort would gain intelligence on Trump’s electoral plans.
The
key questions remain: (1.) Did Russia intervene in the U.S. 2016
presidential election?  (2) If Russia did intervene, did Russia do so in
collusion with Donald Trump?  (3) What did President Obama know about
the U.S. government electronic surveillance of Russia and when did he
know it?
The answers to the last question – the question made
famous by Sen. Howard Baker during the Watergate Hearings in 1974 –
could end up creating serious legal difficulties – potentially even
criminal legal difficulties – for President Obama, for his top aides,
for former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, for former CIA Director John
Brennan, and for Hillary Clinton – especially if it turns out the Obama
administration shared with Hillary or her campaign intelligence gained
about Trump and his 2016 presidential campaign.
On Tuesday, former
Clinton campaign manager Robby, in an appearance on Fox News “Fox &
Friends,” admitted the Clinton campaign had intelligence from the Obama
administration that came from the electronic surveillance the
administration was conducting on Russian agents during the campaign.
“Trump
aides were caught talking to Russian agents, and those conversations
were captured because the intelligence community regularly taps the
phone lines of those Russian agents,” Mook explained.
Fox News interpreted Mook’s comments
as the Obama administration was actively involved in conducting
electronic surveillance against Russian agents, and that the Obama
administration shared that information with the Clinton campaign.
“The
whole situation is very bizarre that American campaign operatives would
be going back and forth so much, not only with the Russian ambassador
but other Russian agents as well,” Mook said. “The whole reason we are
having this conversation is [because] the Trump campaign was talking to
the Russians a lot. That’s how this got picked up. We need to understand
why this was happening.”
John Brennan And The Trump Tower Wire Tactic