HOROWITZ VS BLUMENTHAL ON “SPYING”. YES FBI DID IT.

In March 2018 the Justice Department  Inspector General—Michael Horowitz took up an investigation of the July 2016 FBI “Crossfire Hurricane” probe into the Trump campaigns alleged ties with Russia and how the FBI conducted this sensitive report.  His report came out recently and the Senate hearing on his findings was televised Wednesday (December 11,2019).

The President has charged that the FBI investigation was biased and that the Obama Administration’s FBI  was tapping his phones during the campaign.  (Trump Tweet “They are spying on my campaign” ) That claim was “poo pooed” roundly by the press and the media when Mr. Trump made the charge.

During the Wednesday Senate Hearing the Democrats’ Sen Richard Blumenthal (D CT) attempted and succeeded in getting Horowitz to respond to that charge—that the Obama FBI were spying on candidate Trump as early as July 2016.  (See  “ Horowitz tells Blumenthal there was “no” FBI “spying” on Trump campaign. CT Mirror Wed 12-11-19 Anna Radelat)

The dialogue went like this.

Blumenthal: “Did you put spies in the Trump  campaign?”

Horowitz: We call them “Confidential Human Resources (CHR) ..We did not find evidence that the FBi sought to place CHR in the Trump campaign.”

Blumenthal: So the answer is “no”.  Horowitz nods .

The media world giddily greeted the answer as confirmation of their past false allegations. They all agreed with Blumenthal and reported that the IG did not support candidate Trump’s charge that the FBI was spying on his campaign.  That was of course a lie the Democrats, as well as the Yellow Press wanted to get out there .  Senator Blumenthal was effective as an interlocutor.  He is very familiar with this kind of half truth and inuendo which obscured the truth (Recall that he is the person who during the Vietnam War era served in safe splendor, state side in Washington DC  a US Marine Reserve officer, but who continued to claim that he served overseas in Vietnam—until the NYT nailed him on it. ).

Perhaps IG Horowitz—if he was to be perfectly candid would have answered Blumenthal this way:

“Well Senator Blumenthal there would have been no need to “tap Mr. Trump’s telephone in Trump Tower, or place a “spy “ or a CHR on his team.  You see  Senator Blumenthal —that was why the FBI was so persistent in getting the FISA warrant (many times over) for Carter Page.  The FBI had a phone tap on Carter Page’s telephones, they monitored his emails, and had listening devices placed in his home and office  and we had a CHR tailing him—so the FBI could listen in on all of his conversations especially those with Mr. Trump and anyone else on the campaign he spoke  with.

Thus there was no need to tap Mr Trump’s phones—the FBI  could listen to Trump via Carter Page’s phone—.

Bluementhal murmurs “ahhhh. My time is up”

So that is how candidate Trump thought his phones were tapped —when he happened to tell Carter Page in a telephone conversation that he (Trump) was suffering from a boil on his rump and could not sit to take the call.   And the next day he reads in the NYT that he has a carbuncle in his rump.   You just think someone js tapping your phones.

Trump was right the FBI was listening in to his conversations/-/illegally.