Posted on 03/02/2017 2:21:04 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
President Trumps claims that the Obama administration sought to undermine his presidency received some support on Wednesday from a New York Times report on the Obama White Houses activities in the weeks before the inauguration.
According to The Times, Obama White House officials waged a campaign to procure, save and disperse classified intelligence regarding Trump associates contacts with Russians.
The campaign also involved curtailing the Trump teams access to highly classified information and of lowering classification ratings on other information about the ongoing Russia investigation so that it could be more widely shared across the government.
According to The Times sources, the Obama officials waged the campaign out of fear that the Trump administration would cover up or destroy some of the information.
The campaign was multifaceted but was not directed by Obama himself, the Times sources claimed.
The wide-ranging report also includes some information that is not positive for Trump, including that federal investigators were given intelligence from foreign services that some Trump associates met with Russians in the Netherlands and Britain.
That detail adds new information to a report from The Times last month that U.S. investigators had evidence that some Trump campaign advisers communicated with Russian government officials before the election.
That report noted that U.S. officials do not yet have evidence of any coordination between Trump advisers and the Russian government to influence the election. The White House strongly denied the claims made in that report, and asserted the FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe told Trumps chief of staff, Reince Priebus, that the story was bullshit.
The Obama administrations intelligence-sharing effort involved the White House, intelligence agencies and State Department, The Times reports.
According to the newspaper, some Obama White House officials asked specific questions in intelligence briefings because they knew the questions and answers would be documented and saved for future review.
Intelligence agencies ramped up efforts to convert raw intelligence gathered on Trump advisers into information that could be used by analysts. The intelligence was also classified at relatively low levels to ensure as wide a readership as possible across the government, according to The Times.
The State Department, then led by John Kerry, also took part in the intelligence-sharing campaign. The agency sent a batch of documents classified as Secret to Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, just before the election.
The Obama officials also moved to cap the number of incoming Trump officials who could view extremely sensitive information, including the names of sources and the identities of foreigners who were regularly monitored.
The scheme would seem to lend support to Trumps claims that the Obama White House sought to undermine his presidency by leaking classified information.
I think that President Obama is behind it because his people are certainly behind it. And some of the leaks possibly come from that group, which are really serious because they are very bad in terms of national security. But I also understand that is politics. In terms of him being behind things, thats politics. And it will probably continue, Trump told Fox & Friends in an interview this week.
Trump has alleged that Obama appointees still working in the government have leaked information about some of his phone calls with foreign leaders and about Michael Flynn, the former Trump national security adviser who resigned last month because of phone calls he had with Russias ambassador in December.
The Times report provides new details about the information being reviewed as part of the expansive investigation into Russias attempts to influence the election.
The newspapers sources said that in late summer, American intelligence officials began picking up discussions in which Russian officials mentioned contacts with Trump associates. European intelligence services also began providing information about people close to Mr. Trump meeting with Russians in the Netherlands, Britain and other countries.
The Times notes that the nature of the meetings was not clear to the intelligence officials. The intercepted communications also provided little useful information.
Notably, The Times did not report the names of the Trump advisers and Russians who were allegedly involved in the discussions. It is unclear whether the Times sources provided the names, and if so, why they withheld the information.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer dismissed the claims in a statement to The Times.
The only new piece of information that has come to light is that political appointees in the Obama administration have sought to create a false narrative to make an excuse for their own defeat in the election. There continues to be no there, there, he told the newspaper.
SJWs always lie.
SJWs always PROJECT.
SJWs always double down.
Correctomundo.
It seems to me that McAnus and Grahamnasty are Obama’s butt boys.
Do the Obamas and Valerie Jarrett still have clearances? If so, Trump should at least limit their access to classified info. Might not be a bad idea to give them background investigations to see if they qualify to retain their clearances... If they refuse to fill out an SF 86 or if they lie when filling it out then they should be denied...
What goes around comes around... elections have consequences.
I just read this article from the Drudgereport today. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4271412/Obama-confidante-Valerie-Jarrett-moves-Kaloroma-home.html This is just not what America expects from a former President. If Obama and Jarrett can drive President Trump from office, what then? I cannot believe that America, even the liberals would stand for this, unless there is a shadow government which has already taken over and we just do not know it yet. Some people say we should greatly fear the Obama Secret Service. I wonder what the “Freepers” think about a not so disguised effort to depose a sitting President by the former President, if true.
If the people who could go to jail, can’t get the people who would put them in jail, out of office, they could go to jail...
>Gee, I wonder if Congress is going to want an investigation into this crap?
Why? Did any (R) ‘investigation’ find *ANYTHING*??
Had Cankles dead to rights, and the FBI re-writes the law on the fly....*crickets*.
IRS, dead to rights. Plead the 5th walked away, no slap on the wrist, no loss of bennies
Just what, exactly, does any investigation gain, except (re)election fodder “Look what I did\we found!” and wasting taxpayer $$?
The democrats have nothing to offer other than wearing white protest outfits like the clowns did the other night.
Obama and those clown offer no fixes for the Obamacare train wreck. The obama enonomy was a $10 TRILLION FAKE ECONOMY and we have nothing good to show for it.
Check out the neighborhood.
What’s the large structure at the end of the block?
Bookmark - Jarrett moves in.
So in other words, in an extremely vague sense, obama had attempted to save the world from some Trump/Russia team...according to some unnamed Times source.
Ok got it
congress needs to take a look at that $1.4 billion in cash obammy & jarrett shipped out to Iran?? in the dark of night
congress needs to look into the $6 bil MIA from hildabeast state dept.
congress needs to look at pay for play between foreign govts and xlinton foundation.
Obama is not smart enough to do this
But it kinda confirms he was handled for 8 years or longer by people who believe their staying in power justifies any act
What a terrible thing, for Nstional intelligence to be so corrupted
Who owns Pravda on The Hudson - a Mexican oligarch, and, like La Raza, he is always on a Mexican nationalist claim on U.S. territory.
Attention Obama, et al: We have Trump’s back. What you are planning will not end well for you.
Amen
It would be quite the spectacle if the Russians decided to open their books on Obama and Hillary, leaking or outright releasing their intelligence, as if to say, “no we didn’t hack the election, because if we wanted to we would have exposed THIS”.
Obamalites are using the Stalin communist playbook.
Do the Obamas and Valerie Jarrett still have clearances? If so, Trump should at least limit their access to classified info. Might not be a bad idea to give them background investigations to see if they qualify to retain their clearances...
I seriously doubt Buckwheat and Jarrett had even a basic security clearance, at any time during his tenure. Neither one could pass a basic background check. They told the investigators to pound sand. The FBI probably conducted an investigation anyway..just to CYA. You can bet that the Mossad and Russian intelligence have the scoop on Buckwheat’s pedigree, and have threatened to leak it....Congressional “leaders” know too...hence all the chaff and hand wringing about “the Russians.
Fight fire with fire. Release everything the govt has on Obama, and his college transcripts
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.