Maybe Trump was right about that wire tap deal Manafort was the target

[Jhhnn]

The Fox/Trump zealot comments on these articles and on FB are off the charts (more so than usual)
These people really are stark raving mad.

Decades of relentless right wing agitprop have had the desired effect, no doubt.

 

[emperus]

The president is the original classification source so nothing can be top secret for him to know.

Is that necessarily true when it comes to Criminal matters? Does he get to know that there is a wiretap warrant against his phone? Or what Mueller and his colleagues are doing in their investigation?

 

[realibrad]

Is that necessarily true when it comes to Criminal matters? Does he get to know that there is a wiretap warrant against his phone? Or what Mueller and his colleagues are doing in their investigation?

Its true in terms of level of classification. There is no level above Trump, but if he is being investigated it can be withheld.

 

[fskimospy]

Is that necessarily true when it comes to Criminal matters? Does he get to know that there is a wiretap warrant against his phone? Or what Mueller and his colleagues are doing in their investigation?

It's true in all matters having to do with classification. What Mueller is doing isn't classified, although Mueller is handling classified material. There may be ways in which Mueller can withhold information from Trump (I have no idea), but whatever those reasons are it wouldn't be because the information is classified.

All classification authority flows from the president, meaning that the only way something is classified is through him. He delegates this authority to other people who actually do the work, but they are wielding his power in doing so. So he can literally classify or unclassify anything at any time.

 

[emperus]

It's true in all matters having to do with classification. What Mueller is doing isn't classified, although Mueller is handling classified material. There may be ways in which Mueller can withhold information from Trump (I have no idea), but whatever those reasons are it wouldn't be because the information is classified.

All classification authority flows from the president, meaning that the only way something is classified is through him. He delegates this authority to other people who actually do the work, but they are wielding his power in doing so. So he can literally classify or unclassify anything at any time.

You replied based on this.

If it was a 'secret' court order then how did Trump learn about it? Is that the illegal leaking he keeps blabbering about?

And my comment was saying that in Criminal matters esp. secret wiretaps, I can't see the President being able to get that information. I would assume it's like grand jury testimony.

 

[Thump553]

Just a month or so ago (back when the FBI raided Manafort's home, the White House/Trump surrogates' position was "Paul who?" and Manafort was just someone who worked briefly for the campaign, Trump barely knew him.

I don't think Trump's level of security clearance matters at all in the matter of a criminal investigation he is at least tangentially involved in. If his high priced lawyers haven't advised him of the major legal risks he would be taking just be making such an inquiry, that will make the obstruction case and impeachment that much easier to prove.

 

[fskimospy]

You replied based on this.

And my comment was saying that in Criminal matters esp. secret wiretaps, I can't see the President being able to get that information. I would assume it's like grand jury testimony.

From my understanding the president would have access to 100% of FISA warrants. I'm not aware of any circumstances under which that information could be legally withheld from him, especially since those requests must have come from the NSA or the FBI, which report to the president.

There might be governing norms that would prevent the president from accessing that information but there's no law that can stop him as far as I know.

 

[Jhhnn]

"Classified information" doesn't matter when Trump claimed he learned of it from the NYT...

It's just another Birther/Benghazi snipe hunt.

 

[FIVR]

Manafort was in the sights of the FBI long before he joined the Trump campaign. He wasn't wire tapped because of Trump. More like Trump hired a known criminal who was already under investigation to be his campaign manager.


I'm sure the birthers will use this as more evidence of Obama's supposed deep state/

 

[emperus]

From my understanding the president would have access to 100% of FISA warrants. I'm not aware of any circumstances under which that information could be legally withheld from him, especially since those requests must have come from the NSA or the FBI, which report to the president.

There might be governing norms that would prevent the president from accessing that information but there's no law that can stop him as far as I know.

We don't know if it was a FISA warrant.

 

[fskimospy]

We don't know if it was a FISA warrant.

According to the OP's article it was:

A secret order authorized by the court that handles the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) began after Manafort became the subject of an FBI investigation that began in 2014. It centered on work done by a group of Washington consulting firms for Ukraine's former ruling party, the sources told CNN.

The surveillance was discontinued at some point last year for lack of evidence, according to one of the sources.

The FBI then restarted the surveillance after obtaining a new FISA warrant that extended at least into early this year.

 

[hal2kilo]

More fake news:

I'm sure it's Obama

...paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep, it starts when you are always afraid, step out of line, the men come take you away.......

 

[TheVrolok]

...paranoia strikes deep, into your life it will creep, it starts when you are always afraid, step out of line, the men come take you away.......

I suspect there's something happening in there (here).