During his hyper-politicized testimony Monday, F.B.I. director James Comey — who for some bizarre reason will publicly testify he is looking into Trump/Russia ties but won’t say whether or not he is looking into all these felonious leaks — also went to great pains to shoot down the idea that the Obama administration spied on Team Trump.
“No evidence,” Comey told us.
“Ridiculous,” the NSA said.
BUT….
As of right now, The BBC, The New York Times, Heat Street, The Guardian, and McClatchy continue to stand by their stories — all of which were reported contemporaneously — that the Obama administration not only requested and received a surveillance warrant (FISA) against Team Trump in October, but that the Obama White House itself was looking at intelligence based on actual “wiretaps.”
For the record, “wiretaps” is not my word. It is the word used by The New York Times in its story and print headline. And The New York Times has not retracted its story.
So square this circle for me…
How is it that the very same national media crowing over the fact that Comey shot down Trump’s claim of being spied on by the Obama administration, is the very same national media standing by its reports that — wait for it, wait for it — the Obama administration spied on Trump and/or his campaign/transition team?
If our media truly believes the Obama administration did not spy on Trump, where are the retractions of these half-dozen stories that claim the Obama administration spied on Trump?
If that isn’t baffling enough, on top of its January 19 report about the Obama White House looking at “wiretap” intelligence related to Trump, just a couple days ago, in an op-ed, The New York Times went even further by publishing the news that the F.B.I., which was overseen by Obama’s Attorney General Loretta Lynch, obtained a FISA warrant “to examine” the “communications” of members of the Trump campaign:
In November, I broke the story that a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court had issued a warrant that enabled the F.B.I. to examine communications between “U.S. persons” in the Trump campaign relating to Russia-linked banks.
So now we have no less than The New York Times, not only reporting that the Obama White House was looking at Trump “wiretap intel,” but also publishing the news that a branch of the Obama administration’s Justice Department obtained a warrant to examine the communications of a number of people on the Trump campaign.
FACT: According to numerous media reports, the Obama administration spied on Team Trump.
FACT: According to President Trump himself, the Obama administration spied on Team Trump.
And yet, today’s Media Narrative is that Trump lied about the Obama Administration spying on his team.
If the media wants Trump to retract this claim…
…shouldn’t the media go first?
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