Trump gives AG Barr authority to declassify documents related to 2016 campaign surveillance
President Trump on Thursday night issued a memo giving Attorney General William Barr the authority to declassify any documents related to surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016.
"Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election," Press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
"The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions."
Trump also ordered the intelligence community to cooperate with Barr. The memo read: "The heads of elements of the intelligence community... and the heads of each department or agency that includes an element of the intelligence community shall promptly provide such assistance and information as the Attorney General may request in connection with that review."
"Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities during the 2016 Presidential election," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
"The Attorney General has also been delegated full and complete authority to declassify information pertaining to this investigation, in accordance with the long-established standards for handling classified information. Today’s action will help ensure that all Americans learn the truth about the events that occurred, and the actions that were taken, during the last Presidential election and will restore confidence in our public institutions."
In a Twitter message late Thursday, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani defended the president's action.
"The President @realDonaldTrump made a wise decision to let AG Barr on the documents," Giuliani wrote. "I don’t know for sure but I seriously doubt there’s any national security concern but some of it could affect pending investigations. I’m sure AG and DOJ will make a very appropriate decision."
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted the move as an attempt to "weaponize law enforcement and classified information."
Trump claims his campaign was the victim of "spying," though the intelligence community has insisted it acted lawfully in following leads in the Russia investigation.
The president had told Fox News earlier in May that he would allow declassification "soon." He elaborated, "I didn’t want to do it originally because I wanted to wait, because I know what they -- you know I’ve seen the way they play. They play very dirty."
Last month, Barr ran into a buzz saw of criticism from Democratic lawmakers and media figures for testifying that “spying did occur” against the Trump campaign in 2016. But despite the backlash, Barr appeared to be referring to intelligence collection that already has been widely reported and confirmed.
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page are currently the subject of a Justice Department inspector general investigation looking at potential misconduct in the issuance of those warrants. That review also reportedly is scrutinizing the role of an FBI informant who had contacts with Trump advisers in the early stages of the Russia investigation.
The use of the term "spying" as it applies to the FBI's surveillance in 2016 has been fiercely disputed. The New York Times, even as it reported last year on how the FBI sent an informant to speak to campaign advisers amid concerns about suspicious Russia contacts, stated that this was to "investigate" Russia ties and "not to spy."
“I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated,” Barr testified last month, adding that he believed it is his “obligation” to review whether there was misconduct in the original investigation. “Congress is usually very concerned with intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies staying in their proper lane.”
He added that “spying on a political campaign is a big deal.”
President Trump backed the attorney general's testimony, saying the same day Barr testified last month that he thinks what Barr said "was absolutely true," adding, "There was absolutely spying into my campaign.”
Democrats, though, charged that the testimony indicated Barr was a compromised witness.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., told the Associated Press last month that she doesn’t “trust Barr,” but she trusts Special Counsel Robert Mueller . Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer , D-N.Y., accused Barr of “peddling conspiracy theories.”
By Talia Kaplan , Mike Arroyo
Fox News' Catherine Herridge, John Roberts, Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Trump is now playing his cards
'President Trump on Thursday night issued a memo giving Attorney General William Barr the authority to declassify any documents related to surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016.'
Which will not reveal anything untoward.
Which is the reason the 3 Obama intelligence stooges are falling over each other trying to get the blame down.
What are the Dems so afraid of? I thought the left loved an open government.
The Dems aren't afraid. What makes you think that?
U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, blasted the move as an attempt to "weaponize law enforcement and classified information."
As if the Democrats hadn't already been there and done that.
Which ones? The ones in his hands, or the ones up his sleeves?
The 4 Aces
Democrats in Congress aren't going to like this at all, poor things!
I suspect some folks in the Justice Dept. aren't going to like this much, either.
Nope...It's a big story. I'm like the kid who wants to be first on the block to share things. It's gonna be fun updating this. I think I'll leave this one out for the weekend!
Please do leave it up.
The spinning should be interesting and entertaining, to say the least.
If anyone comes to defend the heinous actions taken, of course.
They'll come with the first incriminating material, which of course defeats their "conspiracy theory" claims.
How long are they gonna call it that?
What heinous actions?
If you really need an explanation, it would appear to be a waste of time explaining it.
Any explanation would be immediately and automatically denied and said to be wrong no matter what if it did not match their own personal narratives. Such is the hatred of Trump and conservatives...
Just the fact that the actions need to be explained is disturbing.
And of course, you are 100% correct.
Seen it before, and we'll see it again.
Yep.
Finally, Trump has his Roland Freisler.
Oh, yeah, equating Americans with Nazis seems real sane.
Great isn't it? Especially when Freisler met his end in the same courtroom where he prosecuted the Hitler assassination plotters. Courtesy of a B-24 Liberator generously supplied by the even more generous American patriotic taxpayers.
Damn right. Friggen Nazi.
Whoa. Calm down, cowboy! He is dead and can't hurt or scare you.
Equating Americans with Nazis without a shred of evidence seems more like something the Nazis would have done to Jews.
A lot of American Nazis. Come to Dayton Oh. this weekend. Ku Klux and Nationalist rally. Hot dogs and everything. Be there!
Do the google for information. They want a crowd.
Didn't you say you would be attending, and told everyone what the dress code for KKKers is?
Confusing a government official with a bunch of ragtag idiots isn't helping your argument any.
Show up. Show your stuff.
Naw----not for me.
But you have fun now, y'hear?
What facts?
The ones you conveniently ignore.
Just FYI, there were no B-24 Liberators involved in the raid that killed Freisler. The raid was comprised solely of 8th Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses led by USAAF Lt Col Robert Rosenthal. Do your homework...
The rally was a bust. Fewer than a dozen Ku Kluxers and Nazis showed up. They marched around a bit, shouted a few obscenities, racial slurs, made a few threats, shouted that they were the superior race then got in their vehicles and left.
Might add that over 600 patriots showed up, waving American flags and laughing their arses off at the inanity of the spectacle. It was great.
Did you expect otherwise?
"A Klu Klux Klan (KKK) rally held in Dayton, Ohio, on Saturday drew only nine members to the event and hundreds of counterprotesters.
The rally was held in the center of downtown Dayton at Courthouse Square and was hosted by the Honorable Sacred Knights of Indiana, which has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a KKK hate group.
Though the rally, which received a permit from Montgomery County earlier this year, was slated to have 10 to 20 or more members of the group in attendance, police say only nine members showed up.
Footage captured from the rally showed the small group of members stationed behind police escorts and several fences while waving KKK flags and the U.S. flag at times.
But on the opposite side of Courthouse Square, hundreds of counterprotesters could be seen swarming the area for much of the rally, which lasted roughly three hours.
In March, the city of Dayton even sued the group in an effort to stop the rally from happening.
The rally comes several months after massive protests in Washington, D.C., similarly dwarfed the roughly 15-20 people who took part in the "Unite the Right 2" rally at the time."
The 9 "Klansmen" were lucky they weren't killed!
Anywhere they show up they are outnumbered and chased off by people/ and or groups, who seem bent on confrontation.
Yeah, well Friesler had a ceiling fall on him. Not that he did not deserve it, but comparing comparing Barr to to a psychotic Nazi judge in WW II Germany? That's pretty low and speaks volumes about how little you know about history.
Yeppers, it is whackadoodle city when they bring out the old Nazi playbook.
Desperate times and all, I suppose!
LOL!
Well considering that Mark Meadows is out there saying the evidence of spying on Trump "will curl your hair", I think the Democrats are trying to get their illegal and Unconstitutional power-grab in now:
Be as patient now as you were waiting for the Great Mueller Report!
For the same reasons why the Congress cannot get the full Mueller report: It would be illegal for him to reveal classified information.
Sorry? Wasn't it already weaponized when it was used to illegally spy on an opposition campaign under the Obama administration?
He is also leaving out the weaponizing of the IRS during the Obama administration. That D behind the name really is all powerful in leftist land.
'Sorry? Wasn't it already weaponized when it was used to illegally spy on an opposition campaign under the Obama administration?'
Surveillance was going on, not illegal, not spying.
'He is also leaving out the weaponizing of the IRS during the Obama administration. That D behind the name really is all powerful in leftist land.'
Proof? Facts?
You might have heard of some of it on the news a few years ago.
When the IRS targeted conservative groups?
Ringing any bells?
Rings some bells for me, but they aren't your fake bells. As usual the gop 'scandal' it a big fat nothingberder. But it never stops their herd from keeping the fake scandals going. And so it continues. And you wonder why we all just shake our heads at the latest lie.
Tex, she's so cute. She thinks I pay attention to anything she says.
How cute.
Thanks for supplying facts as always Lib!
I am positive that Lois Lerner apologized for...….nothing at all?
Does that make sense?
And what about this from the report?
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that inappropriate criteria had been used by IRS personnel to select certain applications for tax exemption status for further review and that inappropriate procedures were applied against organizations based on their names or policy positions.[11] According to the audit, beginning early in 2010, front-line IRS agents violated IRS policy by failing to handle tax matters in an impartial manner that would promote public confidence:
The IRS used inappropriate criteria that identified for review Tea Party and other organizations applying for tax-exempt status based upon their names or policy positions instead of indications of potential political campaign intervention. Ineffective management: 1) allowed inappropriate criteria to be developed and stay in place for more than 18 months, 2) resulted in substantial delays in processing certain applications, and 3) allowed unnecessary information requests to be issued. Although the processing of some applications with potential significant political campaign intervention was started soon after receipt, no work was completed on the majority of these applications for 13 months.... For the 296 total political campaign intervention applications [reviewed in the audit] as of December 17, 2012, 108 had been approved, 28 were withdrawn by the applicant, none had been denied, and 160 were open from 206 to 1,138 calendar days (some for more than three years and crossing two election cycles).... Many organizations received requests for additional information from the IRS that included unnecessary, burdensome questions (e.g., lists of past and future donors).[11]
The Inspector General concluded, "although the IRS has taken some action, it will need to do more so that the public has reasonable assurance that applications are processed without unreasonable delay in a fair and impartial manner in the future."[11]
The Washington Post described the audit report as having found that some IRS employees were "ignorant about tax laws, defiant of their supervisors and blind to the appearance of impropriety".[77]
Did you actually read this?
So the IRS admitted targeting these groups, apologized, and settled a lawsuit.
What part of that do you imagine didn't really happen?
When confronted with the evidence, some will simply ignore it. If they don't look, maybe it really doesn't exist?
It just amazes me that a grown-ass adult can hear and see the IRS apologizing for wrong doing, read the report outlining the specific wrong doing, and then claim that nothing happened.
Must be an alternate reality world some inhabit.
Tex, where is you proof? Where are the indictments? What was the crime?
You probably shouldn't get your facts form opinion columns in something called "New York Magazine."
That op-ed is pure gaslighting.
Oh, FFS.
Post #7.1.3. How did you manage to miss that?
I didn't claim it was a crime. I claimed it was inappropriate, which I proved.
See how long it took to prove posts 7.1.5 and 7.1.7?
That does ring that loud bell of rightwing fake scandal-mongering. Turns out not a single rightwing 501(c) application was denied while several liberal ones were and that the IRS was using screening tools for both left and rightwing groups. Several investigations found no wrongdoing and even the Scumbag justice department dropped any further legal harassment of Lois Lerner, the fine IRS employee who was doing due diligence on all such applications but who was made a scapegoat for the tea party groups' false accusations.
Why is your source missing? So far all you've "proved" is that you can copy and paste something.
If you're going to use that term you need to learn what gas lighting means, Sean.
You didn't prove anything other than you can copy and paste stuff being sure to not cite the source.
The source was from Wikipedia, and you are certainly free to verify that fact for yourself if you are sincerely interested and not just arguing for the sake of arguing.
Here, since obviously some can not research on their own:
IRS targeting controversy - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy
Next?
You realize that your continued denial of reality in the face of facts doesn't actually change reality, don't you?
? He stated the facts very succinctly. You do know that Breitbart isn't a "fact check" site, right?
Eventually, IRS employees in Ohio, California, and Washington, D.C. applied closer scrutiny to applications from organizations that:
"the IRS essentially placed on hold the processing of applications for 501(c)(4) tax-exemption status received from organizations with "Tea Party", "patriots", or "9/12" in their names" "none of these organizations' applications were denied during this period"
"An affiliate of the liberal group Emerge America had its request for tax-exempt status denied"
"Do you remember "the IRS scandal"? If you do, you remember a lie. Granted, it was an elaborate, innuendo-driven lie that many people repeated endlessly, trying to get you to believe that there was a scandal."
Sad how easily fooled so many people were on this and apparently continue to be, harboring fiction in the recesses of their conservative brains where they desperately desire evidence of victimhood so they can justify their constant self-absorbed whining and complaining.
You realize that this constant work of fiction that you've ever dealt in fact or truth just gets confirmed every time you pretend to do so, right? I used that same Wikipedia source to prove just how bogus the rightwing claim of being unfairly targeted was. Maybe you didn't read the entire entry and missed this paragraph:
And this one:
Here's the kind of organizations this tax exemption were meant for under the law:
Clearly many of the groups on both sides applying for the exemption were not at all "promoting social welfare" but were set up to do lobbying. The truth is not a single rightwing group was denied the 501(c)(4) application despite the fact that the many of them names (including Tea Party) which strongly clearly indicating a political organization which was not permitted for that tax exemption. So they brought the scrutiny on themselves. But again, the bottom line is that no rightwing group was denied the exemption. But, as alway, they needed to create a victim myth in order to justify their worthless existence.
LEt me explain how dishonest far left pundits mislead their gullible readers into making nonsensical claims that defy reality because they know their readers won't actually read underlying materials and can be misled with simple goal post moving and logical fallacies.
The original claim was that the IRS was inappropriately targeting conservative 501 groups for heightened scrutiny and unreasonably delaying approval.
The IRS officials admitted they were doing so.
President Obama admitted they were doing so.
The treasury IG's audit found groups with conservative names received more scrutiny.
The Treasury Dept admitted treating conservative groups unfairly and paid millions to end lawsuits from conservative groups
Those are, of course, facts. Because dealing with facts aren't a strong suit of many on the left, they parrot back silly talking points their handlers give to them. The posts in this thread contains the more popular lies:
"Presidnet Obama didn't order it or know about it"
So what?
the liberal group Emerge America had its request for tax-exempt status denied
So what? It's as if they don't get relevance. Imagine old Sheriff Bull Conor justifying beating and torturing black murder suspects because he also arrested a guilty white murderer. That's how dumb you would have to be to claim that the fact the IRS actually caught a liberal group cheating somehow means they didn't apply improperly heightened scrutiny and delay conservative groups who did nothing wrong. It's baffling liberals can fall for such a transparently bogus defense.
Some Liberal groups were scrutinzed too!
Besides ignoring the crucial fact that the first BOLO issued by the IRS included only Tea Party connected names, liberals ignore the actual treatment of how different groups were treated. After about a year of targeting only Tea party groups, someone wizened up and added a few liberal connected buzzwords to the BOLO. But only a tiny, token percentage of liberal advocacy groups were actually given heightened scrutiny while almost every conservative one was. Amazing any educated person can't see through the charade as documented by the investigations, but some liberals still fall for it.
Yes, so damn fake that the IRS admitted it was wrong, and they paid out a cash settlement to those they wronged.
You need a better, more current, source for information.
3 sources all showing provable facts that the IRS was forced to admit it abused it's power, conducted improper practices, apologize, and pay settlements. No corruption there at all there. My only problem this with this is it only covers a minor loss of those involved. Lois Lerner, and her cohorts, won't be charged for the abuse of power.
Did I say the IRS did nothing wrong? No, I pointed out that the "woe is me, conservatives are under attack" nonsense was total bullshit. Lois Lerner, a Republican appointee to the IRS, was using improper methods to flag 501 c3 and c4 applicants, that's a fact. They just weren't doing so on "Obama's orders" as so many dishonest reprobates have implied, and they didn't just target conservative groups. The supposed "scandal" was nothing but a dud, but did expose some improper tools used to simplify their approval process for a very narrow category of applicants of which 99.9% of Americans were completely unaffected. Sadly, with so much misinformation I've even had debates with conservatives who thought other conservatives personal taxes were being targeted which just proves how misleading the false claims made by some partisan conservatives about the IRS scandal were.
Well....you would expect that from right wing fake news sources.... like NPR, for example..... (yes, that's sarcasm)
Facts won't be allowed in the left-wing echo chamber.
Too upsetting that something (GASP!) untowards might have happened under the Great One.
It's called selective blindness...
She was kept on by Barack Obama in the position. Why if she was such a staunch Republican?
By her own admissions against a vast majority of Republican groups. Funny how the apology to the IRS, and financial compensation awarded in the settlement was only to conservative groups. Why, because the amount of Democratic groups targeted was minute. If you wan't to argue that both were targeted equally, then provide proof. We already have Lerner's own apology, and the court settlement proving otherwise.
It occurred under his watch; just like so many other abuses of governmental power. He has that all powerful D behind his name; so that doesn't matter.
Only in the left's minds. Of course it happened with a D in charge; so again that makes it OK.
The left being just as massive purveyor of it as the right; as you have repeatedly proven.
When one sits around and wants a "Politician" to make their life better by Promising to "GIVE" other folks stuff to them, all Self has gone away !
I'd like to know....How the Fuck an elected "person" comes out of that cesspool with more net worth than they went in with !
Insider Trading ?
The "State" is "Deeply" corrupt !
I believe Barr sees himself as "The Ref". He sees himself as the referee between the administration and "leftists". Now, already he's a home town boy who wants to see his old team win, but still thinks of himself as honest and wouldn't do something criminal to make that happen. However, because he believes the "left" committed a foul, he feels they unfairly targeted Trump and his campaign, that even though he sees his team commit some fouls, he thinks of it as "balancing the game" by refusing to call them and letting the game continue. I don't really believe Barr doesn't see the obstruction, of course he does. He's simply dismissing it in an effort to correct a wrong as he sees it. That's how he justifies refusing to uphold the law and still think himself a patriot. This effort to open an investigation on the investigators is his attempt to validate his unethical partisan behavior.
Barr sees himself as more than he is. He thinks the office of the president is beyond reproach.
He was a part of covering up and shielding two republican presidents from scrutiny during the Iran-Contra affairs, as well as being part of giving pardons to those involved.
He is a partisan shill that thinks no matter what this president does that it would not be illegal because of his position.
That is dangerous thinking. I have been saying all along that people on the right are not going to like all these doors they are opening, all these norms they are breaking.
I don't disagree, I just think he himself justifies it in his mind as corrective "balancing" instead of the violation of his oath of office it is. I think many other conservatives do it as well. We see it here constantly. As soon as you point out right wing lies and cheats you get a half dozen false equivalencies presented as a justification for their vile behavior. You can't get through a reasonable debate on some recent republican being accused of sexual misconduct without being shotgun blasted by a dozen conservative tired "But Bill Clinton!!" comments. You'd think the entire right wing debate playbook looks something like this: "Bill Clinton",, Hillary Clinton", "Monica Lewinsky", "Benghazi", "Hillary email server", "IRS scandal", "Fast & Furious", "Secret Muslim Obama", "Secret Gay Obama", "Born is Kenya Obama", "Obamacare", "Religious freedom", "BLM" and "Antifa". Without those spurious debate topics many conservatives would have nothing to talk about and no defense of their shameful actions and support for Republican liars and cheats.
True.
I just think it is ironic. They are basically screaming for vindication, retribution.
I have to laugh at the ones that claim draining the swamp, when the guy they are pinning their hopes on has a history of putting a wall around said swamp.
Just had to add, so true. Just look at this article itself. A lot of the comments are about the IRS under Obama. It seems most of their arguments are deflection.
"nothing is happening... LOL
That meme was stupid last time you posted and it's stupid now.
you have been saying "nothing is happening for almost 2yrs... LOL
and now it is getting hard to deny huh?
that meme? is on the money
I think they actually want to destroy our country and they don't really care how they do it.
they are just pissed off the insurance policy failed and operation hurricane is now operation boomerang
That's quite true regarding the turd 'president' and his corrupt cabinet of grifters, thugs and thieves
nothing compares to the corruption in the democrat party.
trump is just going to laugh his way into a second term while the real traitors get arrested/
Perhaps Mueller desires to speak behind closed doors with the transcript being released because he ( Mueller ) is a patriot, professional, decorated Vietnam veteran and would rather not have to deal publicly with idiotic antics from certain legislators such as Jim Jordan or Louie Gohmert to name a couple. After all, would anybody want to deal with that infantile crap who possessed any sense of decency, intellect and integrity?
This too. Every question and answer on the transcript would be void of the camera antics some of the legislators are so fond of providing.
Possibly the best post on NT this week.
Exactly. R & D's both have their 'drama queens.'
"Barr has been reviewing the counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign for weeks now. Not only has he tasked Durham with reviewing the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation, but he has also enlisted the help of CIA Director Gina Haspel, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Although Trump said his order empowering Barr could lead to the declassification of "millions of pages of documents," Coats tamped down expectations about the scope of what can be made available to the public.
"Much like we have with other investigations and reviews, the Intelligence Community will provide the Department of Justice all of the appropriate information for its review of intelligence activities related to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election," Coats said in a statement Friday. "As part of that process, I am confident that the Attorney General will work with the IC in accordance with the long-established standards to protect highly-classified information that, if publicly released, would put our national security at risk."
If the identity of the CIA's informant is revealed as part of Barr's newly obtained declassification authority, it would follow last year's leak that the FBI had an informant in Stefan Halper, an American professor at Cambridge University who met with associates of Trump's campaign.
This happened after top House Intelligence Republican Devin Nunes, R-Calif., subpoenaed the Justice Department for documents concerning an American who was a confidential intelligence source for special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. The DOJ fought back, warning that providing the information would threaten the life of the source and jeopardize national security.
Halper is a focus of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's FISA abuse investigation. In April it was revealed a woman who said her name was Azra Turk and posed as an assistant to Halper when meeting with Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was working undercover for the FBI."
“Today, at the request and recommendation of the Attorney General of the United States, President Donald J. Trump directed the intelligence community to quickly and fully cooperate with the Attorney General’s investigation into surveillance activities"....