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Everything you need to know about FISA wiretaps [They require the signature of the Attorney General]
ABC News ^ | 03/07/2017 | ERIN DOOLEY

Posted on 03/07/2017 2:29:09 PM PST by SeekAndFind

President Trump sparked a firestorm this morning when he suggested that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had ordered wiretaps on Trump Tower prior to the November 2016 election.

An Obama spokesperson vehemently denied the former president's involvement, saying: "A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."

[SNIP]

More than a thousand applications for electronic surveillance, all signed by the attorney general, are submitted each year, and the vast majority are approved.

From 2009 to 2015, for example, more than 10,700 applications for electronic surveillance were submitted, and only one was denied in its entirety, according to annual reports sent to Congress. Another one was denied in part, and 17 were withdrawn by the government.

“That shouldn’t lead anyone to believe it’s easy to get the order," said Matt Olsen, a former NSA official who is now an ABC News contributor. "The fact that the government is successful in almost always getting approval is just an indication the government knows what the standard is."

According to George Washington Law School professor and longtime FISA critic Jonathan Turley, “FISA was designed more to facilitate than to limit surveillance. It adopted a standard that was heavily weighted toward approval. You almost have to work to find a way to get turned down by a FISA court."

(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: attorneygeneral; fisa; fisaapplications; fisawarrants; lorettalynch; lynch; wiretaps
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To: SeekAndFind

That is exactly what he is going to say! National security, don’cha know!


41 posted on 03/07/2017 3:36:31 PM PST by jch10 (President Trump, President Trump, President Trump! I just love saying that!)
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To: refermech; Baldwin77

RE: It looks like the Attorney General still has to certify that foreign powers are involved. I think Lynch may be in some trouble at this point but will we ever know the truth? Some how I doubt it.

_________________________________________

BTW, I do not want to cite one portion of the law without adding one other proviso which is in the law itself.

SEE HERE:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1802

The image I sent to you was only one condition, here’s the other condition that must be met before surveillance could be done under Presidential order:

(B) there is no substantial likelihood that the surveillance will acquire the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party;

THAT is where Obama, if he were to be the one who ordered the wiretapping could get into legal trouble.

Trump is a UNITED STATES PERSON and the contents of any of his communication IS BEING ACQUIRED.

That was the missing part that Napolitano failed to mention in the video.


42 posted on 03/07/2017 3:37:54 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

“An Obama spokesperson vehemently denied the former president’s involvement”

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1802

So he’s throwing Lynch under the bus? He’s saying she acted without authorization, as required by the above statute?

(a)
(1) Notwithstanding any other law, the President, through the Attorney General, may authorize electronic surveillance without a court order ...

(b) Applications for a court order under this subchapter are authorized if the President has, by written authorization, empowered the Attorney General to approve applications to the court having jurisdiction ...

And why would they do this, if they were in fact not actually trying to ensure national security by surreptitiously monitoring the communications of foreign countries and their agents?
Who would benefit by knowing what candidate Trump was saying, believing his conversations to be confidential?


43 posted on 03/07/2017 3:43:31 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers, all armed conservatives)
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To: SeekAndFind

Could someone please explain to me how Obama could not have known that the opposition candidate was being wiretapped? Could he have stopped it? If he could not have stopped it, then nobody could.

Then, what difference at this point in time, does it make if he did or did not order the wiretapping?


44 posted on 03/07/2017 3:43:48 PM PST by The_Media_never_lie ( Agenda driven news is fake news.)
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To: DCmarcher-976453; Baldwin77; refermech

RE: The President can order no FISA needed, so Obama tells John Brennan to go ahead, that’s all that’s needed.

According to the law, There are LIMITATIONS:

SEE HERE: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/50/1802

1) The acquisition of the contents of communications transmitted by means of communications used exclusively between or among foreign powers

2) The acquisition of technical intelligence, other than the spoken communications of individuals, from property or premises under the open and exclusive control of a foreign power.

So, if the Trump Tower was bugged, they did not bug a foreign power exclusively (as per the law ), and it was NOT in a property under the exclusive control of (in this case ), Russia.

Which means that if Obama DID indeed order this surveillance, it would be IN VIOLATION of the law.


45 posted on 03/07/2017 3:48:24 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: tumblindice
The law, as you cited in the Cornell link gives SPECIFIC LIMITATIONS AS TO HOW AND WHY you could do this. To wit:

1) The acquisition of the contents of communications transmitted by means of communications used exclusively between or among foreign powers

2) The acquisition of technical intelligence, other than the spoken communications of individuals, from property or premises under the open and exclusive control of a foreign power

If Obama ordered the surveillance of Trump, BOTH of the above conditions were violated.

1. Trump is NOT a foreign Power

2. The Trump Tower is NOT a property under the exclusive control of a foreign power ( in this case, Russia ).
46 posted on 03/07/2017 3:54:09 PM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: The_Media_never_lie
Image and video hosting by TinyPic
47 posted on 03/07/2017 3:54:43 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers, all armed conservatives)
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To: SeekAndFind

That’s right. They broke the law.
Intentionally, for political gain.
Clinton, Obama and Lynch.
What else is new?


48 posted on 03/07/2017 3:56:24 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers, all armed conservatives)
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To: SeekAndFind

Thank you val jarrett...traitor.


49 posted on 03/07/2017 3:57:40 PM PST by connyankee (#MAGABEGINS)
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To: connyankee

The traitors are the bastards that voted to put a muslim in the White House in two consecutive elections. Jarrett and the other muslim remained true to their musllim allies. They were never Americans to begin with, but thanks to the sons opf bitches that voted for the muslim, they were given a chance to do unrepairable damage to the United States of America. They never turned their coats, they were for the enemy from the getgo.


50 posted on 03/07/2017 4:08:05 PM PST by sport
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To: Steely Tom


I wonder what he offered Loretta in return?
I wonder if the deal is still a deal?

Calf Reduction Surgery


51 posted on 03/07/2017 4:21:02 PM PST by kneedragger111
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To: Baldwin77
It's true, but only if there is "no substantial likelihood that the surveillance would involve a US Person."

It's always been assumed that the President does not need any judicial warrant to order surveillance outside of the US, and in establishing the FISA courts it was clearly stated that that principle -- that there was no intent to step on the President's absolute authority beyond the water's edge -- was not being reduced.

52 posted on 03/07/2017 4:22:21 PM PST by FredZarguna (And what Rough Beast, its hour come 'round at last, slouches toward Fifth Avenue to be born?)
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To: vette6387

It’s not true, so the point is moot.


53 posted on 03/07/2017 4:23:08 PM PST by FredZarguna (And what Rough Beast, its hour come 'round at last, slouches toward Fifth Avenue to be born?)
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To: sport

Ah yes....true. but they call themselves Americans so that’s why i said traitor.... however now that you mention it a Muslim cannot also be an American because those two philosophies are diametrically opposed to each other. Yes I don’t know how he got voted in once let alone twice - it will always be a mystery to me. But that is how the evil one (Satan) works. He fools people he tricks people they fall for it they think they are doing good they think they are on the side of right and goodness the reality is they are being strung along by the devil and it is now that we are able to hopefully turn the ship around and with Donald Trump’s Presidency being a product of what I believe is divine intervention, we will hopefully see a lot of reconciliation to the evil things that Obama’s administration put forth.


54 posted on 03/07/2017 4:23:28 PM PST by connyankee (#MAGABEGINS)
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To: tumblindice

The Clintons’s and the Dems were planning to absolutely destroy Donald Trump and his business empire after the election. He had no chance of winning and this would be the Clinton’s revenge on him for the nasty campaign. The story on this hasn’t been written but the Dems and the leftist media are forcing this story on the American public. This will become clearer as this unfolds......stay tuned.


55 posted on 03/07/2017 4:23:45 PM PST by blackberry1
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To: SeekAndFind

This is not true. Stop saying it. The law clearly says that there can be no substantial possibility that a US Person is involved in the surveillance.


56 posted on 03/07/2017 4:24:35 PM PST by FredZarguna (And what Rough Beast, its hour come 'round at last, slouches toward Fifth Avenue to be born?)
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To: SeekAndFind

SCOTUS has called this fraud upon the court.


57 posted on 03/07/2017 4:25:04 PM PST by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them or they more like we used to be?)
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To: kvanbrunt2
The circumstances would matter. Was the surveillance target a US Person? If so, Bush could not have ordered it.

If not, this law had nothing to do with it. The President has had the power to electronically surveil non-US persons throughout the entire history of the Republic, and the FISA law does not infringe, nor further enable, that authority.

58 posted on 03/07/2017 4:26:53 PM PST by FredZarguna (And what Rough Beast, its hour come 'round at last, slouches toward Fifth Avenue to be born?)
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To: FredZarguna

His surrogates have denied he ordered it. Now what?


59 posted on 03/07/2017 4:35:02 PM PST by blackberry1
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To: Cboldt
When the "national security" issue involves foreign intelligence. The government argued that "national security" was adequate to justify snooping without a warrant, in the "Keith" case, and the evidence was tossed out of court.

Surely they could have found a District Court Judge somewhere that could have shut him down. </s>

60 posted on 03/07/2017 4:39:49 PM PST by itsahoot
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