NYT: Trump Didn’t Know How FISA Worked Before Making Obama Wiretap Claim

United States President Donald J. Trump gestures after disembarking Marine One walking on the South Lawn towards the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 05 March 2017. Trump returned to Washington ... United States President Donald J. Trump gestures after disembarking Marine One walking on the South Lawn towards the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 05 March 2017. Trump returned to Washington from a weekend at his Palm Beach. Florida, Mar-a-Lago club. Credit: Erik S. Lesser / Pool via CNP Photo by: Erik S. Lesser/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images MORE LESS
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President Donald Trump waited until after publicly accusing his predecessor of wiretapping his campaign headquarters to ask aides how Barack Obama would have been able to obtain a warrant to do so, the New York Times reported Thursday.

According to the Times’ article, which chronicled Trump’s steep learning curve in the Oval Office, the President did not understand the system that governs the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Obama would have needed to ask his Justice Department to request a FISA warrant to eavesdrop on a U.S. building like Trump Tower, which the court would have only granted if there was substantial evidence that the individuals that would be under surveillance were working as agents of a foreign power.

In his explosive pre-dawn tweets on March 4, Trump alleged that Obama had his “wires tapped” ahead of the election.

Despite a total lack of evidence, Trump’s aides backed that wild claim, with White House counselor Kellyanne Conway telling “Fox and Friends” that as President, Trump “has information and intelligence that the rest of us do not.”

The administration’s story evolved over time, with Trump later saying he didn’t mean that he was literally wiretapped, and that it didn’t necessarily happen before the election.

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Notable Replies

  1. Trump Didn’t Know how/that/if/when/why/where. Apply that to anything a president does.

  2. Trump Didn’t Know How FISA Worked Before Making Obama Wiretap Claim

    Who’d have thought otherwise?

  3. Avatar for ryp ryp says:

    Trump didn’t know__________ before _________, can be applied to everything he’s said or done as president.

  4. Avatar for dcd dcd says:

    I believe that. Next question: Anyone believe he knows how it works now?

  5. I bet he still doesn’t know…

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