Allegations of Barack Obama spying on Donald Trump
President of the United States Donald Trump and some of his supporters allege that his predecessor as president, Barack Obama, and his administration conspired to politically surveil Trump's presidential campaign and presidential transition via inappropriate U.S. Justice Department legal investigations, the United States Intelligence Community and the United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Trump has nicknamed the series of events, which he calls a major scandal and his critics call an unfounded conspiracy theory, Obamagate.[1][2][3][4]
Spying allegations
Major elements involved
- FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation[5]
- Russia investigation origins counter-narrative
- Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation[6]
- Trump Tower wiretapping allegations[7]
- Spygate (conspiracy theory)[8]
- Deep state in the United States[9]
- Steele dossier, written by former Mi6 Agent Christopher Steele[10]
- Inspector General report on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation[11]
- Unmasking by U.S. intelligence agencies[12]
- United States v. Flynn[13]
Major figures from the Trump campaign allegedly spied upon
- Sam Clovis, national co-chair[14]
- Carter Page, foreign policy advisor[15]
- George Papadopoulos, foreign policy advisor[16]
- Michael Flynn, campaign advisor and future National Security Advisor[17]
Major figures from the Obama administration allegedly involved
- John Brennan, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency[18]
- James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence[19]
- James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation[20]
- Stefan Halper, FBI Informant[21]
- Susan Rice, National Security Advisor[22]
- Peter Strzok, FBI Counterintelligence Division[23]
- Sally Yates, United States Deputy Attorney General[24]
Investigations launched
Trump administration officials or its allies involved
- William Barr, United States Attorney General[25]
- Doug Collins, former Ranking Member of the United States House Committee on the Judiciary[26]
- John Durham, United States Attorney[27]
- Lindsey Graham, Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary[28]
- Michael E. Horowitz, United States Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General[29]
- Ron Johnson, Chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs[30]
- Jim Jordan, Ranking Member of the United States House Committee on the Judiciary[31]
- Devin Nunes, Ranking Member of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, via the Nunes memo[32]
Yates testimony during Senate Judiciary Committee's investigation
The concept underlies in part a 2020 U.S. Senate investigation[33][34] into the 2016–onward FBI's Crossfire Hurricane investigation.[35] Former deputy attorney general Sally Yates on August 5, 2020, testified before the Committee that investigators were concerned that the national security adviser to president elect Trump, Michael Flynn, was conversing in private with the Russian ambassador. According to Yates, Obama was interested in whether Flynn ought to be considered a safe recipient for sensitive briefings and Obama "did not in any way attempt to direct or influence any kind of investigation. Something like that would have set off alarms for me."[36][37] (According to news reports, a belief that Flynn may have violated the Logan Act – a rarely prosecuted and vague law which constrains individuals from countervailing the existing foreign policy of the United States by way of secretive meetings – that supplied the initial rationale for the FBI to target Flynn.[38][39])
Johnson comments and accusations of political motives
Accusations have been leveled that Senate Republicans are using investigations of "Obamagate" to help provide the Donald Trump 2020 presidential campaign with talking points.[40][41]
Sen. Ron Johnson received criticism for stating "the more that we expose of the corruption of the transition process between Obama and Trump, the more we expose of the corruption within those agencies, I would think it would certainly help Donald Trump win reelection and certainly be pretty good, I would say, evidence about not voting for Vice President Biden"[42]
References
- ^ CongressEmailEmailBioBioFollowFollow, Amber PhillipscloseAmber PhillipsReporter for The Fix analyzing. "Analysis | What is 'Obamagate,' anyway? And how does it involve Michael Flynn?". Washington Post.
- ^ Corasaniti, Nick (May 19, 2020). "New Conspiracy Theory, Familiar Path" – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ Hagle, Courtney; Staff, Media Matters. "Ex-Fox reporter Catherine Herridge's reporting at CBS lends legitimacy to deep state conspiracy theories". Media Matters for America.
- ^ "Opinion: Obamagate is not a conspiracy theory". Detroit News.
- ^ https://www.vox.com/2020/5/15/21257299/obamagate-trump-flynn-unmasking-conspiracy
- ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-has-no-concept-of-the-public-interest-neither-does-william-barr-apparently/2020/05/15/7707b368-96d8-11ea-9f5e-56d8239bf9ad_story.html
- ^ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-obamagate-explainer-idUSKBN22Q1JL
- ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/20/shape-shifting-genius-obamagate/
- ^ https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/13/politics/trump-obama-obamagate-russia/index.html
- ^ https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/499755-heres-why-reporters-are-not-asking-the-white-house-about-obamagate
- ^ https://www.swtimes.com/opinion/20200521/in-sort-of-debunking-obamagate-barr-actually-boosts-trumps-conspiracy-theory
- ^ https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/13/donald-trump-obamagate-conspiracy-theory-biden-flynn-unmasking
- ^ https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obamagate-flynn-trump-election-campaign-theory-a9516286.html
- ^ https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/trump-uncovers-biggest-scandal-in-u-s-history-yet-again.html
- ^ https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/senate-republicans-approve-subpoenas-ex-obama-officials-russia-probe-origins-n1224896
- ^ https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/05/trump-uncovers-biggest-scandal-in-u-s-history-yet-again.html
- ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/05/14/what-is-obamagate-how-does-it-involve-michael-flynn/
- ^ https://www.startribune.com/the-president-s-obamagate-theory-there-s-something-there/570627352/
- ^ https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-politics/what-obamagate
- ^ https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/11/senate-republicans-trump-obamagate-249734
- ^ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/stefan-halper-the-cambridge-professor-the-fbi-sent-to-spy-on-trump
- ^ https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/20/susan-rice-slams-dishonest-accusations-declassified-email/5226879002/
- ^ https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/07/06/is_strzok_memo_the_rosetta_stone_of_obamagate_143628.html
- ^ https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/05/sally-yates-obama-biden-flynn-investigation-391817
- ^ https://news.yahoo.com/obamagate-barr-appoints-prosecutor-review-080000740.html
- ^ https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/video/durham-probe-will-lead-to-indictments-rep-doug-collins/vi-BB16YKpR
- ^ https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/18/obamagate-is-all-about-your-definition-freedom/
- ^ https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-judiciary-to-request-obama-officials-related-to-russia-probe-testify-could-subpoena-testimony
- ^ https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/fbi/498873-fbi-director-stuck-in-the-middle-with-obamagate
- ^ https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/04/obama-officials-probe-subpoena-300970
- ^ https://www.foxnews.com/media/jim-jordan-john-durham-james-comey-russia-probe
- ^ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/sebastian-gorka-at-cpac-nunes-memo-has-led-to-obama-gate-scandal
- ^ Schwartz, Mattathias (June 1, 2020). "William Barr's State of Emergency" – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ politicsEmailEmailBioBioFollowFollowColumnist, Dana MilbankcloseDana MilbankOpinion columnist covering national. "Opinion | Our nation is in a free fall. But sure, let's talk about Hillary's emails again". Washington Post.
- ^ Inspector General Report, December 2019, p. 2: "On August 16, 2016, the FBI opened a fourth individual case under Crossfire Hurricane on Michael Flynn, who was serving at the time as the Trump campaign's National Security Advisor."
- ^ Fandos, Nicholas (August 5, 2020). "Sally Yates, Under Attack by Republicans, Defends Flynn Investigation" – via NYTimes.com.
- ^ reporter, Aaron BlakecloseAaron BlakeSenior political; FixEmailEmailBioBioFollowFollow, writing for The. "Analysis | 'Obamagate' suffers another significant, predictable blow". Washington Post.
- ^ Board, The Editorial (August 7, 2020). "Opinion | Sally Yates Can't Remember" – via www.wsj.com.
- ^ "Lawyers: Peter Strzok's Handwritten Notes Expose Biden and Comey's Involvement in Michael Flynn Case".
- ^ https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/16/trump-mitch-mcconnell-obamagate-261781
- ^ https://www.wpr.org/election-looms-wisconsins-ron-johnson-readies-investigation-joe-biden
- ^ https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/13/dems-ron-johnson-probe-trump-win-reelection-394987