{"id":1457822,"date":"2024-02-16T20:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-17T01:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1457822"},"modified":"2024-02-16T20:45:00","modified_gmt":"2024-02-17T01:45:00","slug":"watch-live-matt-taibbi-refutes-lesley-stahls-infamous-trump-surveillance-eye-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/watch-live-matt-taibbi-refutes-lesley-stahls-infamous-trump-surveillance-eye-roll\/1457822\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch Live: Matt Taibbi Refutes Lesley Stahl’s Infamous Trump Surveillance ‘Eye-Roll’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watch Live: Matt Taibbi Refutes Lesley Stahl’s Infamous Trump Surveillance ‘Eye-Roll’<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

The flagship CBS news show still hasn’t corrected its infamous eye-roll over surveillance of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. The documents you need to answer this, including a Chris Christie cameo<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On their YouTube page,\u00a060 Minutes\u00a0<\/em>still hasn\u2019t corrected its headline: \u201cPresident Trump repeats unsupported claim about spying.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>The money exchange between Donald Trump and host Lesley Stahl:<\/p>\n

TRUMP: They spied on my campaign, Leslie.<\/em><\/p>\n

STAHL: There\u2019s no real evidence of that.<\/em><\/p>\n

TRUMP: Of course there is.<\/em><\/p>\n

STAHL: No.<\/em><\/p>\n

TRUMP: It\u2019s all over the place.<\/em><\/p>\n

STAHL: Sir\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

TRUMP: Leslie, they spied of my campaign and they got caught.<\/em><\/p>\n

STAHL: Can I say something? This is 60 Minutes and we can\u2019t put on things we can’t verify.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is\u00a060 Minutes\u00a0<\/em>and we can\u2019t put on things that we can\u2019t verify! Stahl said this a year after the publication of Barack Obama appointee and Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz\u2019s\u00a0report on the Trump-Russia investigation<\/a>\u00a0that described how the FBI used \u201cintrusive techniques,\u201d like having informants \u201cinteract and consensually record multiple conversations\u201d with Trump aides \u201cboth during and after the time they were working for the Trump campaign.\u201d That Horowitz report used the term CHS, or \u201cconfidential human source\u201d \u2014 also known as an informant, also known as a spy \u2014\u00a01,122 times!\u00a0<\/em>Stahl was chastening Trump that \u201cwe\u201d don\u2019t tolerate wrongness, in the middle of being obviously, provably wrong in that very moment.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to get stories wrong. It happens. But people like Stahl for eight years have combined being wrong with constant expressions of proud contempt for those who are not. There has to be pushback. Not for Donald Trump, but for members of the public who want to be able to better answer this sort of thing, I\u2019ve begun putting together a list that will help direct those interested to the major public documents demonstrating the existence of the spying campaign and other abuses. I\u2019ll also hold a livestream this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. ET to briefly summarize what\u2019s on the list. To tune in:<\/p>\n

For Rumble,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For YouTube,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Regarding the documents:<\/h2>\n

This page will be updated, even by this afternoon, so please look at the online version for the livestream. Eventually this list will replaced with a full chronological timeline (a\u00a0Racket\u00a0<\/em>contributor is putting together a sizable package we hope to put out as a public resource), after which it\u2019s my hope we can put this matter to bed for a while.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, here\u2019s a starter kit of official reports and papers describing the multitudinous angles of investigation into Trump and the Trump campaign before he took office. This includes undercover surveillance of Trump himself, the multi-layered interviews of senior advisors like General Michael Flynn, the warrant application for monitoring of former aide Carter Page, and other key documents.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to stress that it is in fact spying when you\u2019re reporting conversations to authorities, and the other person in the room or on the phone isn\u2019t in on the deal. This went on in several different stages prior to Trump\u2019s election. In no particular order:<\/p>\n

FISA warrant application for Carter Page<\/a><\/strong>. Most people, including perhaps even Lesley Stahl, have heard of the FBI\u2019s application for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance monitoring of the former Trump aide. It\u2019s concrete proof the FBI sought and received permission to conduct electronic surveillance on a campaign associate. It\u2019s important to be able to point out what was added to this document, in particular a footnote designed to mollify an FBI attorney who didn\u2019t like submitting a \u201cpolitically sensitive\u201d application based on paid opposition research. Read and be the judge of whether you\u2019d know exactly what the \u201cfootnote\u201d meant, if you were sitting in judgment:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The footnote designed to mollify attorney Stuart Evans,<\/em><\/p>\n

Interview of Special Agent William Barnett<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0This interview was conducted in September, 2020, a month before the\u00a060 Minutes\u00a0<\/em>piece. Barnett worked on both the FBI\u2019s \u201cCrossfire Hurricane\u201d probe and the investigation of Special Agent Robert Mueller. Barnett described believing the reason for the initial probe of Trump was \u201copaque,\u201d the case theory based on \u201csupposition on supposition,\u201d with predication that was \u201cnot great.\u201d He describes other investigators who believed what they were doing was an \u201cexercise in futility,\u201d and relates how agents played a \u201cCollusion Clue\u201d game that spoofed that total stupidity of their investigation, the goal of the game being to take any activity in any location, pair that with any character, and \u201cinterpret it as evidence of collusion\u201d:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCollusion Clue.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The \u201cOperational Plan\u201d memos<\/a><\/strong>. To be fair, these were declassified after the Stahl interview, but the information had been reported on previously. One August 24, 2016, the FBI\u2019s \u2018Crossfire Hurricane\u201d investigative team laid out an \u201coperational plan\u201d for confidential human source Stefan Halper\u2019s approach of Trump aide Carter Page. \u201cThe main goal of the operation is to have [Page] admit that he has direct knowledge of and is either helping coordinate or assisting the [Russian Federation] conduct an \u2018active measure\u2019 with the Trump team,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

It went on to say \u201cThe CH team will continue to encourage the CHS to make contact with individuals in furtherance of the investigation.\u201d It talks about how Halper \u201coffered for the FBI to install recording devices in [redacted]\u201d and mentions another source who \u201cwill install audio and video recordings in [redacted] in order to record the meetings\u201d:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

From the \u201cOperational plan.\u201d Isn\u2019t the use of informants spying?<\/em><\/p>\n

The Priestap 302<\/a>, and\u00a0interview with former Acting National Security Director Mary McCord<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>Case notes for the FBI interview of Flynn, conducted to determine if he was in a \u201cclandestine relationship with Russia,\u201d according to notes from the interview of McCord, who also approved the infamous Page FISA. This was in the wake of an intercepted phone call between Flynn and Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak during the transition. Again, you\u2019ve likely heard about this, but it\u2019s a different thing to see the paper: assistant director of Counterintelligence Bill Priestap asking in his handwritten notes if the goal of the FBI interview is \u201ctruth\/admission\u201d or \u201cget him to lie, so we can prosecute,\u201d or \u201cget him fired\u201d?<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Priestap\u2019s notes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Unmasking requests, pre-inauguration<\/a><\/strong>. Courtesy first of Senators Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley and later\u00a0reporter Chuck Ross<\/a>, a list of 39 requests to unmask U.S. Person identities by the likes of John Brennan and James Clapper, who \u201cmay have received Lt. General Flynn\u2019s identity in response.\u201d An attentive reader will spot future Twitter employee Patrick Conlon, then of the\u00a0Office of Intelligence and Analysis<\/a>\u00a0at Treasury. I\u2019d like to know the reason former Citigroup executive and Barack Obama buddy Jacob Lew needed to unmask a former DIA official like Flynn. This document shows that intercepts of incoming Trump officials were being looked at in the months before Trump took office.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Comey memos<\/a>,\u00a0Inspector General rebuke of Comey<\/a><\/strong>. It\u2019s forgotten, but FBI chief James Comey didn\u2019t just brief President-elect Trump about the \u201csalacious\u201d Steele dossier material in an infamous Trump Tower meeting on January 5th meeting, he felt Trump out for intelligence as part of the \u201cCrossfire Hurricane\u201d probe. This is explained in a brutal and under-reported Inspector General review of Comey\u2019s conduct that concluded Comey violated government policies by keeping and sharing memos of his conversations with Trump. Why? Because \u201cmuch of the content of the Memos was directly tied to FBI investigative activities,\u201d as the IG put it. In other words, Comey was yet another source reporting on Trump to investigators, prodding him in search of a reaction and then, at the suggestion of people like Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, memorializing his interactions for possible future use.<\/p>\n

In order to pull this off, Comey had to lie to Trump in his very first meeting, against the advice of the FBI\u2019s General Counsel, telling him he wasn\u2019t under investigation and that their meeting was \u201cprivate\u201d (with details leaked not just to other FBI departments but to the press, it would soon be anything but). In his awful\u00a0Higher Loyalty\u00a0<\/em>book, Comey humorously justified his decision by lying to himself, claiming that \u201cyou\u2019re not under investigation\u201d could be technically true because the FBI didn\u2019t care about whether or not the Pee\/Prostitute story was true. But Trump was being investigated for espionage and election-fixing, not sex romps. Nonetheless, Comey consoled himself that \u201cyou\u2019re not under investigation\u201d wasn\u2019t lying:<\/p>\n

This was literally true. We did not have a counterintelligence case file open on him. We really didn\u2019t care if he had cavorted with hookers in Moscow, so long as the Russians weren\u2019t trying to coerce him in some way\u2026 The FBI\u2019s general counsel, Jim Baker, argued powerfully that such an assurance, although true, could be misleadingly narrow: the president-elect\u2019s other conduct was, or surely would be, within the scope of an investigation looking at whether his campaign had coordinated with Russia.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Comey\u2019s meeting recollections.<\/em><\/p>\n

Interview with Supervisory Special Agent. While purporting to brief then-candidate Donald Trump on potential security threats, the FBI sent an agent undercover to a Washington meeting to spy on, and record the actions of, Trump, Michael Flynn<\/p>\n

Stefan Halper\u2019s payment records<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0The main \u201cconfidential human source\u201d used to \u201cbump\u201d and inform on figures like Carter Page, George Papadopoulos, and Michael Flynn was Cambridge academic Stefan Halper, who was given an award of $411,575 three days after the first story about Page leaked in the media. As noted before he was paid through a crude mail drop called the Office of Net Assessment, a Pentagon department that essentially overpays clandestine sources for research papers no one will ever read. Halper in 1983 was outed by the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0<\/em>as part of a political espionage caper to wrest information from the Jimmy Carter campaign. Some say he wasn\u2019t \u201cspying\u201d in this case, which means there\u2019s another term for being paid nearly half a million dollars to work with the FBI to \u201cinstall recording devices\u201d and \u201celicit information\u201d through undercover pretext conversations.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Interview with \u201cSupervisory Special Agent<\/a><\/strong>.\u201d While purporting to brief then-candidate Donald Trump on potential security threats, the FBI sent an agent undercover to a Washington meeting to spy on, and record the actions of, Trump, Michael Flynn, and of all people, Chris Christie.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cdefensive briefing\u201d that wasn\u2019t.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are too many of these documents to list all at once now, but I wanted to get a head start before this afternoon. Check for updates, see you in a few hours!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 02\/16\/2024 – 15:45<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bRead More<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watch Live: Matt Taibbi Refutes Lesley Stahl’s Infamous Trump Surveillance ‘Eye-Roll’ Authored by Matt Taibbi via Racket News, The flagship CBS news show still hasn’t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1457822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}