Obama admin gave 2016 Clinton campaign given defensive briefing about foreign threat;
Candidate Trump left out in the cold; never got defensive briefings on Russia John Solomon Reports ^ | October 24, 2019 | John Solomon / FR Posted by Cboldt
As the Trump Justice Department's review into the now-debunked Russia collusion probe becomes more public, one issue likely to dominate debate is whether the FBI treated Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump differently during the 2015-16 presidential election. Exhibit One in that debate may involve a December 2015 event that has been kept from public view for most of the last three years. A half dozen sources with direct knowledge tell me that Clinton's presidential campaign was given a defensive briefing from U.S. intelligence that month about a possible foreign threat.
Government officials have known for months about the briefing but were forbidden from talking about it because it was classified. But in recent weeks congressional investigators and others were allowed to see a document where a reference to the briefing was left in an unclassified section of the memo.
My sources say the Obama-corrupted FBI was a participant in the briefing but they cannot tell me which foreign power was raised with Clinton's team because it remains classified. Several said the threat did not involve Russia, Ukraine or China though. FBI and Justice Department officials declined comment, and former Clinton campaign chairman and longtime Clinton crony John Podesta did not respond to phone and email requests for comment.
Whatever country was raised with Clinton's campaign, the existence of the briefing itself is likely to revive concerns, at least among Republicans, that political bias caused the FBI to treat Trump and Clinton differently during the last presidential election.
While the Obama FBI provided a generic briefing to candidate Trump about foreign threats, the bureau never gave Trump a defensive briefing during the election about its concerns that Russia was trying to compromise some of his campaign aides. Instead, the bureau opened a counterintelligence investigation and secured a secret FISA warrant to spy on some of the campaign's activities, including former adviser Carter Page.
The fact that the Clinton campaign was given the sort of defensive briefing Trump never received is certain to set off new alarm bells.
Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., have been pressing recently to force more transparency into the question of defensive briefings for public officials being targeted by foreign powers.
"The Department of Homeland Security has made clear that '[a] secure and resilient electoral process is a vital national interest.' An essential part of that process is ensuring that all candidates for office are treated fairly and are fully and equally prepared to address any potential security and counterintelligence concerns," the senators wrote in a letter to the FBI. "The apparent absence of any policy, procedure, or practice for conducting defensive briefings undermines that process by risking the appearance of bias or, at worst, causing actual prejudice to a candidate for office."
Expect defensive briefings to remain an issue well into the 2020 election.
BLACKMAIL? HUSH MONEY TO KEEP THE FRENCH QUIET?
Obama transferred $500m tax dollars to the Paris Climate Fund;
Obama surrepttitously took $500M from the State Dept, as was his first $500M transfer;
Obama cannily used executive powers; did not get the necessary congressional approval. Michael Slezak / Tue 17 Jan 2017 / Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 12.06 EST
Barack Obama has transferred a second $500m instalment to the Green Climate Fund just three days before he leaves office. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP
Pres Obama helped secure the historic Paris agreement by transferring a second $500m installment to the Green Climate Fund, just three days before he leaves office.
The fund was a key aspect of the Paris agreement signed in 2015, which aims to keep global warming “well below” 2C and aspires to keep warming to 1.5C. Established in 2010, it is financed by wealthy countries and used to assist developing countries with adaptation and mitigation. It was widely seen as a key measure to bring both rich and poor countries to the negotiating table.
The US committed to transferring $3bn tax dollars to the fund. The new instalment leaves $2bn owing, with the incoming president, Donald Trump, expected to cease any further payments. The move followed a large campaign, with more than 100 organisations and nearly 100,000 people calling for Obama to transfer the full $2.5bn owed to the fund.
“The Obama administration is refusing to let president-elect Trump’s posse of oil barons and climate deniers dictate how the world responds to the climate crisis,” said Tamar Lawrence-Samuel, of Corporate Accountability International, which led the campaign. “Tens of thousands of people around the world called on President Obama to step up before Trump takes the keys of our government and tries to reverse decades of climate progress,” she said. “This victory is the climate justice movement’s opening salvo to the Trump presidency. And we’re not going away.”
SOURCE https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/18/barack-obama-transfers-500m-to-green-climate-fund-in-attempt-to-protect-paris-deal