Experts battle over wiretap: ‘They did get a FISA warrant, so Trump doesn’t have to prove it’

Dismissing denials from former Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, who was branded “the designated liar for President Obama,” a national security expert insisted the Obama administration DID wiretap Trump Tower.

“The bottom line is, they did wiretap Trump Tower,” said Jim Hanson. “They tapped a server they thought was communicating somehow with Russia.

“This is a legitimate charge and we need a serious investigation.”

The executive vice president of the Washington-based conservative think tank The Center for Security Policy, appeared on Fox News Saturday in response to a series of tweets from President Donald Trump that accuse former President Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower ahead of the 2016 election.

Hanson, who served in US Army Special Forces and conducted counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations, said the surveillance was approved over suspicions of connections with a Russian bank.

“They asked for that warrant and were denied, went back again [and] got the warrant, found out nothing was happening and went ahead and continued monitoring it,” the national security expert said.

As for Trump proving his claim, Hanson countered: “They did get a FISA warrant, so he doesn’t have to prove that they wiretapped him. They did wiretap him.”

A countering viewpoint is that if a warrant was issued, it would have been by a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge, who’s limited by specific requirements. Not only would federal authorities have to demonstrate probable cause, they’d have to provide ample evidence to warrant surveillance, according to Wired.com.

More from the technology news magazine:

Trump’s wiretap claims, then, carry presumably inadvertent implications. First, based on previous reporting and the nature of FISA courts, any wiretaps within Trump Tower are legal. And they stem from overwhelming evidence that the Trump campaign, or someone within it, has unsavory ties to Russia or another foreign power. Otherwise, it’s unlikely those wiretaps would exist at all.

If federal authorities did have cause to listen in on Trump Tower, though, and they provided enough evidence for a FISA court to approve the snooping, Obama is not the one who ought to worry.

 

In a play on words Rhodes responded to Trump’s tweet to say a president cannot order a wiretap… he didn’t mention that he can instruct his administration to pursue one.

The Obama minion wrote: “No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you.”

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