Was the president ‘vindicated’ on his ‘wiretap’ claims?
Mar 23, 2017, 6:48 AM
The president said there would be more information coming out about him being wiretapped, and sure enough, Wednesday afternoon, the head of the House Intelligence committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, said someone – he didn’t say who – showed him transcripts of intercepted conversations.
“I recently confirmed on numerous occasions the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition,” Nunes said.
Related: Trump controversy began with a dangling pronoun
Does this vindicate the tweet saying “Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower …”?
“I know there was incidental collection regarding the president-elect and his team,” Nunes said. “I don’t know if it was actually physically a phone call.”
Nunes was asked: “And you don’t know if it was the president himself, his communication?”
Response: “I do not know that.”
“Incidental collection” – that term refers to when other people not suspected of a crime are picked up by a legal intercept. In a case like that the names are supposed to be hidden, unless those people are under suspicion.
So to sum up: We know there was some kind of investigation going on, and that there was a legal intercept of an incidental conversation with members of the Trump transition, and the documents mention the names.
I think it’s fair to say that what we just heard is exactly the kind of leak that FBI Director Comey was trying to avoid during his testimony Monday when he kept not answering questions.
“I’m trying very hard not to talk about anything that relates to a U.S. person,” Comey testified. “Trying to be studiously vague here to protect the integrity of the investigation.”
So much for the “Integrity of the investigation.”
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