June 17, 2019

Did Trump say that Obama was behind a group of people who were trying to steal the election using the fake dossier?

From the unedited transcripts of Trump's interview with George Stephanopoulos (which aired in edited form on ABC last night). I'll boldface the crucial language:
TRUMP: [T]hey could not get the fake dossier printed prior to the election... But had that been printed before the election, that could have changed the whole election. And that's what they wanted to do: steal. And Comey and all these lowlives, they wanted to have that fake dossier, which was all phony stuff. They wanted it to go out before the election, George. And you know what? Had that gone out before the election, I-- I don't think I could've-- I don't think I would've had enough time to defend myself--

STEPHANOPOULOS: You clearly believe there was-- a group of people working against you. Do you think President Obama was behind it?

TRUMP: I would say that he certainly must have known about it because it went very high up in the chain. But you're going to find that out. I'm not going to make-- that statement quite yet. But I would say that President Obama had to know about it....

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you believe that President Obama spied on your campaign--

TRUMP: I don't know. But hopefully we're going to find out.
He ends with that "I don't know," but I think he revealed that he did know. Why would he say "I'm not going to make that statement quite yet" if he didn't already have a plan to make the statement in the future? To say "you're going to find that out" suggests that he has already found out.

Notice that Stephanopoulos asks his question 2 ways and gets different answers. When asked whether Obama was "behind" what was "a group of people working against" him, Trump says he's not ready to talk about that "quite yet," while indicating, I believe, that he himself already know. The follow up question has Obama directly involved in a specific activity — Did Obama spy? As to that, Trump says he doesn't know but hopes to find out.

131 comments:

rhhardin said...

Obama was always a piece of shit. Trump isn't ready to say that yet.

Bob Boyd said...

Whatever he's saying, its racist.

Henry said...

I think we need a Johari Window to figure this one out.

David Begley said...

Newt just said on Fox that Obama knew about Lynch and Bill meeting on the tarmac in AZ. And the FISA warrant. The unmasking. Biden too.

“Of course Obama knew about it.”

Mr. Forward said...

“Meep, meep”

Danno said...

Trump is just doing what our lamestream media do to him. Push a story that may or may not be false, but say it in a squishy way.

Temujin said...

If a light does get shone on this entire thing I'd be very surprised. There are a lot of very connected, powerful people involved in this 'project'. it's one thing to go after CIA or FBI key players like Brennan, Comey, Yates, Ohr, Strzok, Page, et. al. It's an entirely other thing to name Obama, even if his people (Samantha Powell and others) were prime initiators.

I don't think they (those in power on both sides) will let that happen. Especially not in the defense of Trump. What? You say it's in the defense of our nation? They don't care about that. If they did, our borders would be secured, and the mass illegal crossings would be ended. Would have ended- years ago.

No- they care about gaining and holding power. They can run this thing for another century if we'll only get out of their way and send them our money- as much as we can, as soon and often as we can.

Not that I don't hold our government in high regard.

Sean Gleeson said...

I don’t believe he meant “You’re going to find that out” in the sense that you are taking. I read it as “You [the press] are going to find [whether Obama knew about the scheme] out.”

rehajm said...

Why would he say "I'm not going to make that statement quite yet" if he didn't already have a plan to make the statement in the future?

I think like Sean- as in he'll make that statement when the investigation reveals what is what.

Also, he gets to float the innuendo and let people read in what they want. Let Ann...

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Let me guess, Obama didn't know about the spying until he read about it in the newspaper.

Wince said...

And that's what they wanted to do: steal. And Comey and all these lowlives...

I like Trump’s fervor.

tim in vermont said...

I can’t believe Trump said that. The plural of “lowlife” is not “lowlives,” it’s “lowlifes."

tim in vermont said...

Mayor Pete is the perfect kind of candidate for the deep state to lead around by the nose, and they knownhe will be happy enough just to have the job.

wendybar said...

Anybody that DOESN'T think Obama knew about it is either lying or ignorant.

iowan2 said...

Brennen, Comey, Lynch, Biden, Clapper, McCabe. Held meetings in the White House Situation Room. Usually a video feed, no audio was seen by outsiders in the White House. When this cabal would meet the video was black. Caused the White House personnel, to wonder what was so important to kill a video feed that was rarely if ever black.

Barr explains that counter intel operations don't garner involvement from the leadership, always done by counter intel specialist.

Biden involved (he reports to Obama because his office is in the White House). Yes Obama knew.

Lets us mark this interview, to understand that Steph???ous asked the question "if Obama knew," President Trump did not make the accusation. Also, the questions admits spying on the campaign did happen under direction of cabinet level persons. Not some well meaning, but misguided minion from the Cleveland office.
President Trump did the interview in order for that question to get asked. A three day full access interview. At the same time Sanders resigns and the media wails on about no daily press briefings and how awful she is. President Trump also does a 30 minute phone interview on FOX and Friends during the Steph???ous interview. The media wails on about how its been months since the President has for a "serious" interview. I guess 3 days with a Clinton operative is not a serious interview

cronus titan said...

Growing up in Brooklyn and Queens, I heard "you're gonna" quite often in the context of speculation. It is an outer boroughs idiom meaning "I am confident it is true, you may not, but it will be proven true." "We're gonna" means "I think it's probably true, you don't, and I expect definitive proof soon." Trump slips into outer borough idioms on occasion.

Leland said...

There's a difference from Obama knowing about the operation and managing the operation. I think Trump has seen enough evidence that Obama knew what was going on. What Trump doesn't have is evidence that Obama directed or managed it. It is sort of like Susan Rice's note about the meeting with Barack and the "by the book" comment. Indeed, many have speculated that letter was to protect Barack, as he can say "yeah I heard about the Trump spying based on the dossier, and I told them they needed to do it by the book".

Beasts of England said...

How could Barky not know about it?

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Beasts of England said...
How could Barky not know about it?

6/17/19, 7:23 AM

Well, Obama did say he only found out about things by watching TV....

tcrosse said...

How could Barky not know about it?

Whether or not he knew, it was his business to know what occurred on his watch.

Bob Boyd said...

Obama and his team knew what was best...for all of us.

Birkel said...

Alternative Althouse:
Did Trump just tell the obvious truth?

Did Obama ever have any clothes?
Was the sharp crease a mirage?

gspencer said...

"But I would say that President Obama had to know about it...."

Well, since Obama was heading up the effort to oust Trump of course Obama knew.

Democrats are for total power. Like communists (think USSR, China, the Norks) and Nazis.

narciso said...

Remember who Mueller is related to by birth and marriage, two of Dulles deputies, who hes done cleanup for with bcci and panam 103.

Birkel said...

gspencer,

Leftist Collectivists captures the whole group of miscreants.
And it has the value of being true.

Drago said...

Uh oh.

Criticism of the lefties/LLR's "magnificent" "Lightbringer".

Standby for massive obambi defense postings by all the ususal LLR-left/Lefty suspects.

narciso said...

What was that line from present danger, cutter doesn't brush his teeth without direction from the president, who was receiving info from that OP in his pbd

Birkel said...

Where are all the civil libertarians on the Left and Right coming out against domestic spying?

narciso said...

But they hide through front companies through a dia finance office for downer, through fusion and a whole host of others.

Sebastian said...

The meta question is whether O was "behind" anything "his" administration did.

Freder Frederson said...

"I'm not going to make that statement quite yet" if he didn't already have a plan to make the statement in the future?

After three and a half years of listening to Trump through the campaign and into his presidency, you are still trying to parse comments like this?

He says things like this because he thinks everyone, especially his base, is stupid. He can make statements that may or may not be true, pretend his has more information than he actually has, and then never follow up with the promised information.

Remember he had a better and cheaper alternative to Obamacare? What happened to that.

What happened to the tax plan that was going to make the hedge fund managers hate him?

He called NAFTA the worst deal ever and promised to negotiate a much better deal. The new NAFTA has some tweaks but it is pretty much the same agreement.

And just last week he claimed to have a secret deal with Mexico that would assure that they really did reduce the refugee flow. Whether or not there was anything written on the piece of paper he waved, there apparently isn't a "secret deal".

And just wait til he reveals his Middle East Peace Plan later this month (if he doesn't delay it again). I don't know what it will include, but I will bet anyone here that it sucks and is rejected immediately by everyone (except maybe the Israelis).

I could go on.

narciso said...

Remember the trump nsc official who had his clearance suspended for challenging the one heads priorities (his office was paying halper)

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Always Buy Clinton News.

Mr. D said...

He knows. It’s not time to say it yet. But it will be, soon.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Obama saying " I watch TV to find out" is his way of telling the masses to do the same.

Watch the hack-D press, and you'll get the info you need.

Birkel said...

USMCA is such a non-issue that Canada resisted with all its limited will.
And Pelosi hasn't scheduled a vote.

That's how much a non-issue it is.

Drago said...

Bundy Case Liar and Hoax Dossier/Collusion Truther Freder: "He called NAFTA the worst deal ever and promised to negotiate a much better deal. The new NAFTA has some tweaks but it is pretty much the same agreement."

Your entire comment is BS from top to bottom (per usual) but this hot take is especially stupid.

Trumps renegotiation removed the NAFTA fatal flaw that allowed China and Europe to sneak their products in through Mexico and Canada to avoid tariffs.

Freder is so hopelessly misinformed....again..assuming he's not just openly lying as in the Bundy case.

Not to worry though. LLR Chuck appreciates your lefty narrative efforts.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

ot: That SNL won't mock such comedy gold, proves SNL is pap-left.

Lovebirds Undercovers. The Strozk-Page affair
The play.
I'd go see it.

"Playing the adulterous FBI lovers, Cain and Swanson made the most of this material. Reading their text messages from binders on stage, they played the couple as smug, immature, smirking know-it alls, but Cain and Swanson also read aloud the couple’s emojis and exaggerated punctuation for added emphasis. Every reference to a text that ended with a “winky face” or “five exclamation points” was met with howls of laughter from the audience.LoveBirds - the play. "

Drago said...

Take a look at the moves China and Europe made vis a vis Canada after the negotiation was complete, which completely explains the panicked efforts by the Boy Trudeau and his dumb negotiating team in ryshing time and time again to DC to huddle with dems to try and scuttle the agreement.

So much effort and sturm and drang for a couple of modest changes!!

LOL

Freder is as consistent as Inga the Hopeless.

MikeR said...

I question whether close parsing of Donald Trump's words is a good use of our time.

Chuck said...

The NeverTrump conservative blogosphere has been laughing about this for a day or more.

Some kinda all-powerful anti-Trump "Deep State," eh? They couldn't even get out a Trump-damaging report in time to derail his campaign, is that right? Was the local Kinko's closed for a holiday?

Birkel said...

MikeR,
There is some truth to that.
We should watch what he does.
And then ignore the words offered in reaction.
We should watch what Democrats do in response.

For example, Trump reworked NAFTA and offered the USMCA.
Democrats say a bunch of stuff.
But they fight these changes incessantly and will not vote on the changes.

Parsing words is hard and likely unproductive.
Observing behavior is easier and worthwhile.

Birkel said...

NeverTrump = Always Hissy Fit = Chamber of Commerce Whores

Fuck those six guys in particular.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.reddit.com/r/funny/comments/5ifyjo/fuck_these_6_fish_in_particular_god/

pacwest said...

"The meta question is whether O was "behind" anything "his" administration did."

Agreed. My answer would be very little. VJ, Clinton and sycophants, Pelosi. Obama was just a front man, but I could never figure out for whom exactly. When a 30 year pol feels he needs to inform the President that nationalized healthcare is a BFD....

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Chuck - "to print" = get the hack press to run with it.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

There’s an election coming. Keeping your powder dry, especially if it has Obama/Biden written all over it, makes sense. You’re certainly not going to hand it to some Clintonite hack to hold onto.

Seeing Red said...

He called NAFTA the worst deal ever and promised to negotiate a much better deal. The new NAFTA has some tweaks but it is pretty much the same agreement.

You want to parse? Let’s parse. Since “it depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is.”

It’s still a much better deal for US.

Hagar said...

Obama was just a front man, but I could never figure out for whom exactly.

Because he was also, so to speak, his own 'front man'?
Between Obama and Bill Ayers, it is difficult to say who is the greatest manipulator.

Mike Sylwester said...

President Obama did not know that four members of Donald Trump's campaign staff were working as witting agents for Russian Intelligence in the Kremlin's operation to meddle in the Presidential election?

Nobody in the US Intelligence Community informed President Obama about that?

Roy Lofquist said...

Talk about who knows what - I'll bet you that Trump knows more about what happened than anybody on God's green earth. (I was going to say dollars to donuts but I guess they're not that cheap anymore).

Trump was a monster real estate developer in NYC and also built casinos. You don't do that without having to deal with a whole bunch of bad guys, like mostly bad guys. It's a fine line to walk and stay clean but he's apparently done that. With that you can't make enemies or they'll run you out of town. It's not just Trump. Anybody who is anybody in NYC has to make the same accommodations. He has, if not friends, working relations with people who survive by knowing things - lots of things. Those guys won't hesitate to drop a dime on people to do POTUS a favor. Can't hurt. Might help. Life in the Big Apple.

narciso said...

Remember the thing about the plumbers is they were funded from campaign contributions, this collection of assets which missed events in Colombo west minister Orlando was funded from dia accounts

Drago said...

Eric Swalwell "republican" Chuck: "The NeverTrump conservative blogosphere...."

LOLOLOLOLOL

All 20 of them?!!!

Are they laughing as hard as they did when Trumps candidacy was pronounced dead?

Too funny fake conservative boy. Too too funny.

Drago said...

Seeing Red: "The new NAFTA has some tweaks but it is pretty much the same agreement."

Nope. The loopholes were closed.

Birkel said...

Drago says 20.
I say 6.

Shall we set an over/under?

Birkel said...

Drago,
That was Seeing Red quoting Freder Frederson.

narciso said...

Like Wile with the exploding acme cigarette, so mifsud was working for an mi 6 bureau contractor, which raises the question why is he listed as a Russian asset.

James K said...

Nobody in the US Intelligence Community informed President Obama about that?

The irony is that if it was an entirely fake story concocted to enable spying on the campaign, Obama had no need to know. If they actually believed it then of course he needed to know. So which is it? It's lose-lose for Clapper and Brennan.

Mike Sylwester said...

Here was the situation.

All 17 US Intelligence agencies concurred that the Kremlin was meddling in the 2016 election, in order to cause the US population to lose faith in Democracy.

Trump employed on his campaign staff the following four witting agents of Russian Intelligence:

* Paul Manafort -- Campaign Chairman

* Michael Flynn -- foreign-policy advisor (former DIA Director)

* Carter Page -- foreign-policy advisor

* George Papadopoulos -- foreign-policy advisor.

The FBI was collecting and analyzing all of Page's past and current communications. The FBI was doing so within a two-hop scope, which would encompass much of the foreign-policy communications within Trump's campaign staff and personal sphere.

-----

President Obama was not informed about this?

He did not request frequent update briefings?

buwaya said...

Warning messages to Obama.
Why Im not sure.

All of this stuff is the usual little glimpses of things going on out of sight, maneuvers and battles behind the scenes. These are the usual problems with a democratic system that has exceeded its ability to scale.

Arguably the US has been at this point throughout the last century, but had the cultural unity to deal with it. Or at least to accept it, due to inherent credibility of its leadership.

narciso said...

Manafort was representing Ukraine like Craig (through akmatov) like Chertoff, (through fotash) like Podesta and Weber, but only one got pinched.

tim in vermont said...

If it didn't make ESPN, Obama didn't know.

narciso said...

Page had handled the Gazprom deal and it had gone smoothly, the rosneft one went through four different parties and went snafubar accordingly.

DarkHelmet said...

The most important question is, what happened to Obama's prop dog, Bo?

narciso said...

No they were in denial about hiss for 50 years, the one who would have been the red chancellor and maybe president, much like the Brits deny foot and benn were Soviet tools.

Bruce Hayden said...

“He says things like this because he thinks everyone, especially his base, is stupid. He can make statements that may or may not be true, pretend his has more information than he actually has, and then never follow up with the promised information.”

You know who are really the stupid ones? All of the leftists who are in such serious denial about the Obama Administration using National Security tools to spy on American citizens who were political opponents. Also, who believe that Crooked Hillary wasn’t protected by the Obama White House and AG from being tried for her myriad Espionage Act, Paper Work Act, and Obstruction of Justice Crimes. And finally. Who believe that the Mueller Report was the least bit objective, or that it disclosed that Trump or his family had colluded with the Russians to sway the election, or had Obstructed Justice. Those are the ones who are really stupid, and probably more important here, ignorant, most likely willfully so.

narciso said...

Straight the whitney heir who was the Soviets tool through the new republic, talbott was a mere useful idiot at time and the Clinton state department,

Fen said...

Notice that Stephanopoulos asks his question 2 ways and gets different answers. When asked whether Obama was "behind" what was "a group of people working against" him, Trump says he's not ready to talk about that "quite yet," while indicating, I believe, that he himself already know. The follow up question has Obama directly involved in a specific activity — Did Obama spy? As to that, Trump says he doesn't know but hopes to find out.

Not necessarily two different answers, if Trump is not ready to talk about it because the evidence is not yet conclusive (I don't know) enough.

Fen said...

Freder: He says things like this because he thinks everyone, especially his base, is stupid.

Yah, we're so stupid, yet somehow every time you run your mouth here you get your head handed to you. How does that keep happening, Smart Guy?

narayanan said...

BleachBit-and-Hammers said...

Obama saying " I watch TV to find out" is his way of telling the masses to do the same.
Watch the hack-D press, and you'll get the info you need.

And the Meta is - I WATCH to FIND OUT - if anybody has gotten out of line

(I have my own tinfoil thank you)

Birkel said...

Well, Fen, to be fair to Freder Frederson, he is too stupid and mal-informed to know how stupid he is.
To be fair.

narayanan said...

Stephanopoulos asks his question 2 ways and gets different answers.

Some people want to know what rocks have been turned over and sent in their errand wiseguy

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"Trump is not ready to talk about it because the evidence is not yet conclusive"

Something that baffles the Left.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

0bama wasnt about smidgens of corruption.

he went big.

Fen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fen said...

Well, Fen, to be fair to Freder Frederson, he is too stupid and mal-informed to know how stupid he is. To be fair.

To be fair, I would have to admit he is probably the smartest Lefty we have here.

Where do you guys go to debate with a liberal with sense? They are all mad these days.

narciso said...

And of course Ted Kennedy, who serves as close to Tony benn in this template,

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

not a smidgen:

Judicial Watch reveals that the same Henry Kerner who is calling for the firing of Kellyanne Conway previously colluded with top IRS officials to audit conservative non-profits until it is "financially ruinous."

Fen said...

Chuck: The NeverTrump conservative blogosphere has been laughing about this for a day or more.

While they are learning to code?

I still remember razzing Caleb Howe when he got fired from the "NeverTrump Blogosphere" (LOL) over at RedState. Changing the subject, I asked "So how many backup punters do you think the Cowboys will keep on this year? I don't know either, but I'm sure it's not 24!", as a callback to the lack of demand for 24 NeverTrump writers at RedState.

The Daily Beast confirmed that among those laid off by RedState and its parent company Townhall Media were top editors and writers Caleb Howe, Jay Caruso, Ben Howe, Patrick Frey (who writes under the pseudonym Patterico), Neil Stevens, and Susan Wright

Oh that makes perfect sense now. The guy who banned me for saying his moderator should enforce his CoC in an unbiased manner (ie. not just against Trump supporters) is over at the Bulwark making his Righteous Stand about getting unfairly shit-canned for his anti-Trump views. LOL.

What a hypocrite. Good riddance. I hope the Left gives you a Traitor's Welcome.

narciso said...

That's more dubious, the truth is kerner is coing to root out deep state players, which is his official job.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Mike Sylwester said..."President Obama did not know that four members of Donald Trump's campaign staff were working as witting agents for Russian Intelligence in the Kremlin's operation to meddle in the Presidential election?

Nobody in the US Intelligence Community informed President Obama about that?"


Yeah...

Bruce Hayden said...

“All of this stuff is the usual little glimpses of things going on out of sight, maneuvers and battles behind the scenes. These are the usual problems with a democratic system that has exceeded its ability to scale.”

Brief aside. I was reading a book late last night electronically, and it used the first person voice. And it had a teaser, with the narrator/protagonist saying that this was why her romantic interest shot her. Fine. Usually that sort of lead in means that something is about to happen. Except that it hasn’t yet. 50 pages, a week subjective, and the romantic interest is leaving for two weeks, ad they haven’t been shot yet. Switched to a different book for awhile. May go back tonight.

Now getting back to the subject at hand. Two years ago, Trump threw out the tidbit that he had been wiretapped. Or had been spid on, by the Obama Administration. It took much of the last two years to show that he was, of course, correct. But for most of the two years, as the details seeped out, he was called delusional or a liar by his opponents, esp in the MSM. And now that it is out, and fairly well known, they are essentially calling it old news. Which, is part of how they are justifying their abject refusal to cover the biggest political scandal and misuse of government power over probably the last century.

The way that I read Trump’s statement "I'm not going to make that statement quite yet" is that he knows the answer, but now realizes that the unfolding of the evidence has to unfold in a certain way, operationally and legally. There is a story arc, and to answer the question now by Stephenopolis now would be to get ahead of it. He’s chumming the water a bit, but won’t give the plot specifics away just yet. Too early.

And, I think that this shows maturing in office. No doubt, he expected to be able to get beyond the spying by mid 2017, with the perps safely behind bars. Nope. Doesn’t work that way with the Deep State. But this is a man who has serious experience laying out and executing story arcs, both from his wrestling days, as well as Apprentice days. And that is what I think he was doing there, giving away a teaser, without him walking over his story arc.

buwaya said...

All of these things are handled in a not-directly tracable manner.
This is not new, it is SOP for monarchs to keep their hands clean, or apparently clean, in all things of this nature.

US presidents behave much like ancient monarchs.

FDR never wrote down his policy to provoke war with Japan. Indeed, he hid his intentions very well. All of his policy development in that direction, the main focus of his personal efforts post-July 1940, are a blank. And FDR was intensely hands on on such matters.

We have glimpses of things that were ordered to be done in furtherance of this but no initiating directives. This extends to large and small parts of the effort.

What is well known, now, was his determination to bring the US into the war, against US public opinion. His military leadership got the message loud and clear, though not officially. They of course kept the secret of his intentions at the time. Through all this FDR was pledging peace, to the public.

There are severe limits to democracy if the public is uninformed. They have no basis on which to judge matters. The larger the polity and the more complex its affairs the worse the information problem. Modern technology has not helped matters, as it has increased the "chatter" to a degree that few can keep up, it is as if we see little but fogged radar screens. There is a great temptation to abuse this ability to avoid public scrutiny.

narayanan said...

narciso said... which raises the question why is he listed as a Russian asset.

listed as a "Russian asset."

I find it necessary to do double takes when Adjectives are used

can be parsed many ways

Russian = Russia's, controlled or working for
Russian = for matters relating to

buwaya said...

The takeaways from pieces such as these is to beware of them. What we are permitted to see is what someone has decided to let us see. The healthy attitude is complete skepticism. Everything is manipulation.

Big Mike said...

I'm not at all certain that Obama spent his eight years sufficiently engaged in governance to be aware of what was going on in his name.

As Bushman commented: "Let me guess, Obama didn't know about the spying until he read about it in the newspaper."

What if that's really been true for all eight years of his administration?

buwaya said...

Even if we are being told a true thing, ask yourself why this piece of truth is being revealed, and not some other. Why someone has decided this one thing out of a universe of facts has been selected for your attention at this time.

buwaya said...

My working assumption is that Obama was told, but did not give any orders. It was not even a Henry II "who will rid me..." . The Obama administration was run by a cabal, and he was mainly a figurehead.

Now, it may come out later, that Obama was Reagan-like, a hands on operator mischaracterized by a media that hated and despised him. But it seems unlikely.

narciso said...

Every bit of this story, has been omissions and outright lies to cover for the abuse of governmental agencies

Birkel said...

Let's all of us talk about Fourth Amendment violations.

404 Page Not Found said...

Of course Obama was behind it, we know that because Peter Strzok told his honey about it.

Leland said...

My working assumption is that Obama was told, but did not give any orders.

The whole thing seems like the foolish kabuki of the Clintons. I suspect they came up with the idea and she used the connections she made in State to get the "intelligence agencies" to agree. Obama likely was aware of her effort, and probably figured it was dumb, but as she had a good chance of being the next President, decided to let her run her Op. So Obama knew, didn't stop it, but figured Hillary's hand would be so dirty, Obama would avoid any chance of jail. To be sure, Obama did direct Susan Rice to write the CYA memo.

narciso said...

Well the tea party got hogtied, the guns went to el chapo and the murderers of ambassador Steven's, neither banamex nor Nxim nor Larry nassar were prosecuted the rest are detaild

mccullough said...

My take is Obama was hands off at this point. He gave an interview while Hillary was under investigation still and said she didn’t do anything wrong. The message was sent.

He hated Hillary and didn’t expect Trump to win. Guys like Comey and Brennan and Lynch were hoping to ingratiate themselves with Hillary. They are really stupid.

Trump will exonerate Obama. He’ll say Obama had no idea what was going on, much less authorize it. He’ll make him look like a figurehead

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Narciso@10:21AM Like that inquiry about Chernobyl, the big question- How did this happen and why?

Lies. Because of liars and lies.

Anonymous said...

"Trump will exonerate Obama. He’ll say Obama had no idea what was going on, much less authorize it. He’ll make him look like a figurehead."

That depends. I think that would be the worst thing you could do to the huge ego that is Obama, but less damaging to his historical legacy. But it's not very Trumpian to look for the thing that would most injure your opponent in his soul. Trump's more in-your-face, damage his opponent in as public a manner as possible. So if he can find a way to make it look like Obama was involved, he will.

Achilles said...

The follow up question has Obama directly involved in a specific activity — Did Obama spy? As to that, Trump says he doesn't know but hopes to find out.

We already know Obama knew about it.

Traitors should hang.

The question is whether we are still a Republic based on the rule of law or not.

narciso said...

Silly question:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2019/06/17/trump-drives-down-price-of-f-35-fighter-25-from-obama-level/amp/

Gospace said...

Of course Obama ordered the "Code Red". Give him a big contract for another book that no one will read and he'll likely brag about it.

Yancey Ward said...

The Democrats tried hard to get the Steele Dossier out in the media before the election- Steele and Simpson were meeting with practically every media operation on the Left briefing them on the matter and giving them actual copies of up-to-date versions, but the media with only really one exception (David Corn) didn't report on it in any direct matter.

I have long had a theory to explain that- the media people were smart and savvy enough to understand that the Steele Dossier was outlandish on its face, and that reporting it would almost surely backfire on the Clinton Campaign. Clinton herself could have used the dossier in campaign attack ads, but they didn't for the exact same reason. Additionally, the conventional wisdom throughout the campaign was that Clinton was sure to win, but that if Trump did win, it would be by only 1-10 electoral votes. I think the Dossier and Crossfire Hurricane were true insurance policies against only one thing- Trump winning the electoral college by less than 10 votes- if that happened, the plan was to reveal the existence of Crossfire Hurricane in mid-December and get enough electoral college defectors to elect Clinton anyway. Trump foiled that plan by winning 35 more electoral votes than he needed, so they fell back one more step and revealed the Dossier in January 3 weeks before the inauguration to try to intimidate Trump into not cleaning house the moment he was the President.

Yancey Ward said...

And, yes, Obama was involved every step of the way after about July 2016, and probably long before if, as I suspect, this was all started with abuse of the NSA databases.

narciso said...

It was only good to continue the surveillance, because there was no material of substance to be derived.

Bruce Hayden said...

@Achilles - I don’t think that Obama hangs, regardless of his knowledge or his culpability. He was the Executive at the time, with all of its power devolving from him. That means, that at the time, he was a coequal branch of our government, with his own power and duties. And being President at the time, that means that he may at times have to do things that would otherwise be illegal, if done by anyone else, in order to perform his duty to protect the country.

I don’t really like it, but the alternative is to set the precedent that a President can jail his predecessor for actions that were not prosecutable when the predecessor was in office, with the full amount of Executive discretion at his disposal. Do it once, and it becomes routine, with President Harris prosecuting former President Trump, and then she being prosecuted, in turn, by her successor.

That is, BTW, the beauty of maintaining what I consider the fiction that Obama had no part in the illegal spying on candidate Trump and his people. The result is that his legacy is tarnished, and his underlings go to prison, since he is no longer in a position to protect them. But you don’t get into the tit for tat prosecutions of predecessors that would likely happen if the Trump Administration can show that he was actively involved.

narciso said...

Only Republicans get removed, didnt get the mo
https://spectator.org/the-cia-is-running-scared/?fbclid=IwAR05MK6Z0AG8NbLv-15QFVKhyDLQ9Z5HxryOpn4eozYHrCRKQ_bm8xGwpB0#.XQfIo6MQRBc.facebook

tim in vermont said...

Only Hillary, of all of the players, seems dumb enough to have thought that this was a good idea.

n.n said...

Each actor in Water Closet performed one or a combination of Obama spied, Clinton colluded, Biden obstructed, DNC denied, and the press prosecuted a multi-trimester cover-up, including witch hunts and warlock trials, which are in progress, with an aspiration to burn or dunk the warlock, and perhaps some witches, too.

h said...

When reporters asked Obama what he knew, Obama replied .... Oh reporters never asked Obama, did they?

Original Mike said...

"I don’t really like it, but the alternative is to set the precedent that a President can jail his predecessor for actions that were not prosecutable when the predecessor was in office, with the full amount of Executive discretion at his disposal. Do it once, and it becomes routine, ..."

This is also why his underlings DO need to pay the price, to stop this from happening again.

walter said...

I think he's differentiating between Obama knowing about vs directing the efforts.
It's interesting that Dems are still wedded to the idea of big league Russian election interference while The One said quite clearly that wasn't possible.

Jim at said...

Meh. Personally, I think Obama was too lazy to know about it.

Michael K said...

they fell back one more step and revealed the Dossier in January 3 weeks before the inauguration to try to intimidate Trump into not cleaning house the moment he was the President.

That, plus Obama shifted a bunch of political hires to Civil Service. I don't know how that worked but it is still a problem.

The departments in the executive Branch are still full of them.

tcrosse said...

Obama was the piano-player in the whorehouse, who was unaware of what was going on upstairs. There, I said it.

Joe said...

As a possible Trump tactic, "going after Obama" may increase the probability of having people like Brennan and Clapper be thrown under the bus to divert/shift blame. That could be satisfying enough.

narciso said...

on another front:


https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/274003/how-buttigieg-entered-anti-israel-echo-chamber-daniel-greenfield

Achilles said...

Bruce Hayden said...
@Achilles - I don’t think that Obama hangs, regardless of his knowledge or his culpability. He was the Executive at the time, with all of its power devolving from him. That means, that at the time, he was a coequal branch of our government, with his own power and duties. And being President at the time, that means that he may at times have to do things that would otherwise be illegal, if done by anyone else, in order to perform his duty to protect the country.

I don’t really like it, but the alternative is to set the precedent that a President can jail his predecessor for actions that were not prosecutable when the predecessor was in office, with the full amount of Executive discretion at his disposal. Do it once, and it becomes routine, with President Harris prosecuting former President Trump, and then she being prosecuted, in turn, by her successor.



This could not be more wrong.

What Obama tried to do was destroy our republic.

He tried to completely undermine our lawful elections.

He completely demolished the 4th amendment.

He wanted to eliminate the 1st and 2nd amendment.

He allied with foreign intelligence agencies from several countries to do so.

He was pushing an agenda that eliminated our borders and gutted our economy for the benefit of wealthy foreigners.

The only reason Obama does not hang is because most "conservatives" are pussies and they wont fight for their freedom as hard as leftists fight to take it away. You people are all looking for excuses not to fight. If you people are allowed to you will allow them to destroy the republic.

Bilwick said...

Red Diaper Barry do something underhanded? Say it ain't so!

Achilles said...

walter said...
I think he's differentiating between Obama knowing about vs directing the efforts.
It's interesting that Dems are still wedded to the idea of big league Russian election interference while The One said quite clearly that wasn't possible.


Excuses.

Anyone who says Obama was not intimately involved did not pay attention.

Obama was right there in the middle of every step.

This started far earlier than anyone wants to admit.

Because it was George W. Bush that started it and because we were all were duped into supporting the patriot act and the FISA courts. Even if we opposed those policies at the time we supported the Republican party.

Our government in DC including both major parties has been fundamentally at war with us for decades.

Our country was founded because we had citizens that were wiling to go there. All I see in our country now are a bunch of pussies.

Trump will turn things around for a few years. Then we will end up with Pence or Haley for 4 years and they will go right back to the same globalist bullshit, lose to a democrat and we will be right back where we were if you people get their way.

DavidUW said...

people who don't think Obama ordered spying on Trump don't know or don't find curious how Ryan's sealed divorced documents got leaked before the election that put Obama in the US Senate.

Here's a hint: Obama hired Axelrod, who had his sources in the courts (from his reporter days) leak the divorce records. In fact, he also got his prior opponent's divorce records leaked too.

Obama is well-versed in dirty tricks, as is anyone in Chicago politics.

Michael K said...

The only reason Obama does not hang is because most "conservatives" are pussies and they wont fight for their freedom as hard as leftists fight to take it away.

You have a valid point but I'm not sure we want to live in a society, or lack of same, that is "Nasty, Brutish and Short."

I would suggest (if anyone asked me) that Obama's role be exposed but he be left alone legally. Hillary has such a long history of criminal behavior, going back to Arkansas ( cattle futures) that she should spend some time in a prison farm.

blnelson2 said...

Plausible deniability notwithstanding, I have no doubt that Obama knew.

narciso said...

The only ones who get the short end of the stick are conservatives:

https://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jun/17/william-tisaby-fbi-agent-eric-greitens-probe-indic/?fbclid=IwAR1lZFu-YduNlh4PDWaxbR-ihraVtBE4beIHwXrxH2P2Q2YxeR9ePV_O-_Y

TJM said...

Obozo belongs at Guantanamo

TJM said...

Any theories as to why Trump spoke with the Shrimp and Clintoon operative, Little Georgie?

Anonymous said...

Becky Beckyson’s expertise in trade agreements is right up there with his understanding of retail management in poor neighborhoods.

readering said...

Althouse hasn't been following Trump long enough to know he spins conspiracy theories that change every time he speaks? Nothing can be presumed from what he says about what he knows because when he is not lying he can't remember. Forgotten why he was not permitted to be interviewed by special counsel!

narciso said...

Like a cat playing with string,

Original Mike said...

"Forgotten why he was not permitted to be interviewed by special counsel!"

Maybe cuz there was no crime (aka collusion) to talk about?

Just spit ballin' here.

Drago said...

readering: "Forgotten why he was not permitted to be interviewed by special counsel!"

He was interviewed. He answered written questions.

Mueller knows the criteria necessary to have a sit down with the President and Mueller and his team of hacks knew they met NONE of conditions for an in person interview.

Mueller could have subpeonaed Trump...but Mueller knew he would be laughed out of court.

And is there anything funnier than hoax dossier/collusion conspiracy Truther leftists calling others conspiracy theorists?!

LOL

Achilles said...

readering said...
Althouse hasn't been following Trump long enough to know he spins conspiracy theories that change every time he speaks? Nothing can be presumed from what he says about what he knows because when he is not lying he can't remember. Forgotten why he was not permitted to be interviewed by special counsel!

Readering has been telling us for 3 years that Trump is a Russian asset because Russia was blackmailing him over paying hookers to pee on a bed Obama slept in based on a dossier that democrats paid for, the FBI/CIA knew was fake, and used to get warrants to spy on political opponents anyways.

These are just not good people. They will continue to lie after they have been proven liars repeatedly. They support obvious frauds and coups.

Leigh said...

Another relevant "factoid" regarding whether Obama was involved, and to what extent: Johnson at DHS and Clapper at DNI were almost giddy about their big October 7, 2016, joint intelligence release -- "Russia is meddling! Russia is meddling!" You can't miss their excitement in this Yahoo production, entitled "64 Hours in October: How one weekend blew up the rules of American politics." So at least as early as 10/7/16, Obama believed (or he wanted us to believe) Russia was meddling and the public should be alerted. (Recall: the only evidence of this meddling came from the CrowdStrike outfit -- not the FBI -- and CrowdStrike gave the FBI only redacted reports on the so-called hack of the DNC.)

Google is starting to push this Yahoo video production (w/equally important transcripts) down in searches, and YouTube has squelched it altogether, best I can tell. But it's a must-watch, in my view. All of the actors appear completely unguarded in their remarks, presumably because these interviews were given before the election and they still assumed Hillary would win.

In any event, the big, huge motherlode of October surprises that DHS and DNI had teed up for Hillary was totally eclipsed by the Access H-Wood tape, which was released within an hour of the DHS/DNI announcement on 10/7. Hillary's people were aware of, and primed and ready for the Russian meddling announcement. They were ready to run with it, as you'll see. Jennifer Palmieri was absolutely devastated when the tape was released -- so much so, she actually suspects the TRUMP campaign released the H-wood tape to distract from the "Russian meddling" bombshell announcement. (That nugget is in the transcript.)

Here's link to the story, while it's still around. The interviews are fascinating. https://news.yahoo.com/64-hours-october-one-weekend-blew-rules-american-politics-2-162827162.html

Other nuggets: Palmieri is told WaPo is running "THE" Access H-wood story, not "a" story -- suggesting she was long aware that tape existed. Clapper says he and DHS had to tell "the American people" about Russian meddling because if the election "went south" there'd be hell to pay. South? SOUTH?!? Yep, that sure sounds like "insurance" to me.

Achilles said...

Michael K said...
The only reason Obama does not hang is because most "conservatives" are pussies and they wont fight for their freedom as hard as leftists fight to take it away.

You have a valid point but I'm not sure we want to live in a society, or lack of same, that is "Nasty, Brutish and Short."

I would suggest (if anyone asked me) that Obama's role be exposed but he be left alone legally. Hillary has such a long history of criminal behavior, going back to Arkansas ( cattle futures) that she should spend some time in a prison farm.


Garbage.

Life was brutish, nasty, and short for people that died overseas fighting for the freedom Obama tried to take from us.

They didn't serve and die so that you people would let democrats/LLR traitors repeal the 1st, 2nd, and 4th amendments.

Leigh said...

PS -- this is the only link I can find that has any audio with the video (maybe it's just my computer, but if not, you can watch the video w/audio here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10156373587416037&id=338028696036&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F&_rdr)

Transcripts are included in the first link I posted.