Difference between revisions of "Obamagate timeline 2009-2014"

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:<center>''This is a timeline. For updated events see '''[[Obamagate timeline]]'''. For a detailed presentation,<br> see [[Barack Hussein Obama]] and [[Barack Obama Controversies]].''</center>
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:<center>''This is a timeline. For updated events see '''[[Obamagate timeline]]'''. For a detailed<br> presentation, see [[Barack Hussein Obama]] and [[Barack Obama Controversies]].''</center>
 
[[File:Obama-brennan-white-house-540.jpg|right|350px|thumb|Obama and CIA Director John Brennan meet in the White House to discuss the Torturegate coverup.<ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/11/john-brennan-torture_n_6310704.html </ref> Brennan had been heavily involved in the CIA's torture program,<ref>https://www.ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/american-impunity-shielding-officials-involved-torture-has-decades-long-precedent </ref> and when the Congress investigated,<ref>https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/01/does-it-matter-if-john-brennan-was-complicit-in-illegal-torture/266918/ </ref> the CIA spied on and hacked into its Senate overseers computers who were investigating the CIA's use of torture.<ref>
 
[[File:Obama-brennan-white-house-540.jpg|right|350px|thumb|Obama and CIA Director John Brennan meet in the White House to discuss the Torturegate coverup.<ref>http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/11/john-brennan-torture_n_6310704.html </ref> Brennan had been heavily involved in the CIA's torture program,<ref>https://www.ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/american-impunity-shielding-officials-involved-torture-has-decades-long-precedent </ref> and when the Congress investigated,<ref>https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/01/does-it-matter-if-john-brennan-was-complicit-in-illegal-torture/266918/ </ref> the CIA spied on and hacked into its Senate overseers computers who were investigating the CIA's use of torture.<ref>
 
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/01/05/bob-baer-if-russian-hacking-story-is-political-there-should-be-a-criminal-investigation/?utm_source=akdart </ref> Brennan needed Obama's assurance the Justice Dept. would not prosecute himself or anyone else involved in the torture program.]]
 
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/01/05/bob-baer-if-russian-hacking-story-is-political-there-should-be-a-criminal-investigation/?utm_source=akdart </ref> Brennan needed Obama's assurance the Justice Dept. would not prosecute himself or anyone else involved in the torture program.]]

Revision as of 22:41, March 28, 2017

This is a timeline. For updated events see Obamagate timeline. For a detailed
presentation, see Barack Hussein Obama and Barack Obama Controversies.
Obama and CIA Director John Brennan meet in the White House to discuss the Torturegate coverup.[1] Brennan had been heavily involved in the CIA's torture program,[2] and when the Congress investigated,[3] the CIA spied on and hacked into its Senate overseers computers who were investigating the CIA's use of torture.[4] Brennan needed Obama's assurance the Justice Dept. would not prosecute himself or anyone else involved in the torture program.

The Obamagate scandal refers to President Barack Obama and his administration's misuse of government agencies, media manipulation, illegal wiretaping, and domestic spying on American citizens to harass political opponents and critics.

In 2017 abuses again came to light when Mark Levin cited mainstream press reporting of Obama administration leaks about government agencies spying on the presidential campaign of Donald Trump and surrogates, including then U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions, who is presently the Attorney General of the United States.[5]

2009

  • August. Responsibility for interrogations of terror suspects shifted away from the CIA, and the White House assumes direct control.[6] John Brennan, a holdover from the Bush torture program,[7] placed in charge. Unlike executive departments and agencies such as the FBI, CIA, or Department of Justice, the National Security Council is on the personal staff of the president, is not subject to Congressional oversight, and functions outside of public view.[8] This arrangement was based on the model of Iran Contra headed by Col. Oliver North of the NSC. The American Civil Liberties Union called attention to this before Obama appointed the NSC staff to serve an operational role.[9] The Tower Commission Report specifically criticized a major abuse in the Iran Contra affair was the President using his personal staff to carry out operations.[10]

2010

  • 21 January. Citizens United overturned.
  • 27 January. Obama insults the Supreme Court in his State of the Union address over the Citizens United ruling.[11]
  • March. IRS employees in Cincinatti instructed from Washington to scrutinize tax-exempt applications using the words "Tea Party" or "Patriots" in the name.
  • May. Sixty documents go missing from Senate Intelligence Oversight Torture Review investigation. Chairwoman Feinstein said CIA personnel at first denied that the documents were missing, then blamed the IT contractors, then said it was at the behest of the White House.[12]
  • August. The IRS distributes its first BOLO (Be on the Lookout) list to examiners nationwide. The criteria on the BOLO list were Tea Party organizations applying for section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status.[13]
  • 26 October. In a campaign speech, Obama promises to "punish our enemies and reward our friends."[14]
  • 2 November. Republicans sweep Midterms. GOP gained 63 seats in the House and took control, the largest for any midterm election since 1938 in the Great Depression. All 63 seats came from wins over Democrats who voted on a straight partyline for Obamacare. The GOP also gained six seats in the U.S. Senate. In state legislatures the GOP gained 680 seats.[15][16][17] to break the previous majority record set by Democrats in the immediate post-Watergate Scandal Midterms of 1974.[17] Republicans controlled 26 state legislatures, compared to 15 still by Democrats, and 29 of 50 Governorships. Obama referred to this outcome as his "shellacking".

2011

  • June. Terminology on the BOLO list is increased to include additional names (Patriots and 9/12 Project) as well as specific policy positions such as government spending, government debt, or taxes; or involved advocating or lobbying to "make America a better place to live"; or criticized how the country is being run; or advocated education about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; or focused on challenging the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare.
  • 12 July. Obama administrations targets Iraqis with new visa and background checks after terrorists residing in Bowling Green, Kentucky were discovered.[18]

2012

  • February. IRS abuses hit the media for the first time but attract little attention.
  • 22 March. IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman testifies before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight that there was "absolutely no targeting" by the IRS of conservative and/or Tea Party organizations.
  • 19 April. National Organization for Marriage Human Rights Campaign announced that IRS disclosed copies of their tax returns to Obama political allies. IRS later admitted to theft of government property and paid damages for illegal disclosure to unauthorized persons of a citizen's confidential information.[19]
  • 12 May. The Associated Press publishes a story based on leaks of FISA information about a CIA operation which foiled a terrorist plot to detonate an explosive device on a commercial airline.[20]
  • 4 June. Inspector General informs Treasury Department general counsel he will be investigating the IRS's targeting of conservative groups.[21]
  • July. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) inquiry begins.
  • 11 September. White House puts out fake news story about Benghazi massacre
  • 6 November Obama elected to second term. His opponent Mitt Romney does not allege any improper surveillance of Romney's campaign. Republicans retain control of House Oversight Committee investigating IRS abuse.
  • 11 November Shulman steps down as IRS Commissioner.

2013

  • 21 January. Obama re-inaugurated for second term.
  • 29 January. FBI press release on convictions of two Bowling Green terrorists. “Using our growing suite of investigative and intelligence capabilities, FBI agents and analysts assigned to our Bowling Green Office were able to neutralize a potential threat." The FBI is the only federal agency able to match fingerprints on an exploded IED found in Iraq with a person residing in Bowling Green, KY.[22]
  • March. CIA awards a $600 million contract to Amazon Web Services for a computing cloud system which would allow all 17 agencies of the US intelligence community to coordinate and share information.[23] The General Accounting Office found the deal violated the open bidding process, but a federal court stood by CIA's action.
  • 7 March. Senate confirms John Brennan as CIA Director. Brennan is now in charge of writing the CIA's response to torture allegations in the Senate Intelligence Oversight Torture report which implicates Brennan.[24]
  • 12 March. In public testimony before the Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden asked Obama Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper, "Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions, or hundreds of millions, of Americans?" Clapper replied, “No sir. Not wittingly."[25]

May

  • 10 May. Brennan meets with Obama in the White House to discuss CIA's response to the Torture Report.[26]
  • 13 May. The AP announced telephone records for 20 of their reporters had been subpoenaed by the Justice Department. News sources reported the US Attorney's office for the District of Columbia was conducting a criminal investigation into publication of a foiled May 2012 terrorist plot. While journalists are protected, leakers in the government are subject to prosecution. The Justice Dept. subpoenaed the phone records of AP from Verizon and other service providers.[27] The AP claimed these acts were a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into news-gathering.[28][29] The "intrusion" is the frightening off of government sources, the bread and butter of the Washington news gathering industry. CEO Gary Pruitt of AP stated: "These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know;"[30][31] a "conceivable right to know" would be a hunt for leakers of FISA information within the administration.
  • 13 May. Obama states publicly he first heard of IRS targeting conservatives only days before "from the news."
  • 14 May. Inspector General issues initial report of IRS abuse; FBI begins investigation.
  • 17 May. New York Times reports Obama lied about when he first knew of IRS targeting conservative groups.[32]
  • 22 May. IRS Commissioner pleads the 5th Amendment against self-incrimination during opening statement before Congressional oversight committee.

June

  • 6 June. The UK Guardian reveals NSA unlimited metadata collection under FISA protection. Data collection on millions of Verizon customers are collected daily.[33]
  • 7 June. Guardian reveals NSA tapping into user data of Apple, Google, Facebook and others.[34]
  • 7 June. Obama defends NSA wiretapping.[35] The Guardian story, soon to be known as the Snowden leaks, evidence Obama Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper may have misled the Congress and public about the true nature and extent of domestic intelligence gathering in his 12 March sworn testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
  • 9 June. Edward Snowden identifies himself as source of NSA leaks published in The Guardian.[36]
  • 10 June. Wall Street Journal reports FISA Court has rejected only 11 of 33,900 warrant requests in the 33 years the law has been in existence.[37]
  • 12 June. IRS suspends use of the BOLO list.
  • 20 June. News is made public that two former IRS Commissioners who oversaw the abuse of Tea Partiers, the one who initiated it and the 'fall guy' who resigned over the program, were paid bonuses of $42,000 and $100,000, respectively.
  • 27 June. CIA responds to Torture Report, attacks Committee; Sen. Mark Udall issues a statement alleging intelligence officials leaked "inaccurate information" critical of the Committee report. Udall states that the CIA and the White House "repeatedly rejected requests to discuss the Committee's report."[38]
  • 1 July. Daniel Ellsberg calls for Congressional probe of “abuses of American intelligence agencies” and to “restore the protections in the Bill of Rights."[39]
  • 5 August. Reuters runs an article on how the NSA shares information, collected under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with other agencies to frame criminal cases against American citizens using a process called "parallel construction" to manufacture probable cause, violating a person's due process rights.[40]
  • October. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com purchases the Washington Post for less than half of his ongoing contract for cloud service with the CIA.[41] The Institute for Public Accuracy releases a statement condemning the move.[42] Washington Post begins promoting Hillary Clinton as their preferred candidate for President in 2016.[43]
  • 27 October. Der Spiegel reports Obama personally approved wiretapping German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cell phone conversations.[44]
  • 20 November. ABC News reports on terror suspects arrested in Bowling Green, KY.[45]

2014

  • 6 January. Sen. Mark Udall writes to President Obama asking the President to compel the CIA to comply with Congressional Oversight requests, and "a public statement from the White House committing to the fullest possible declassification of the Committee's study."[46] CIA refuses to comply.[47]
  • 6 January. Bernie Sanders pleads for leniency for Edward Snowden.[48]
  • 17 January. Obama makes a speech at US Justice Dept. about his new directive allowing internet and telephone service providers to disclose to the public FISA court rulings and NSA requests for surveillance in aggregate volume. (Note: in National Security parlance an NSA request = FISA court order).[49]
  • 17 January. At some point during the dispute between Brennan and the Oversight Committee, the CIA Inspector General filed a "crimes report" with the the US Justice Department about the CIA spying on the Senate; in retaliation, the CIA's general counsel filed a "crimes report" alleging Senate staffers pilfered copies of the Panetta review.[50]
  • 18 February. Ukrainian coup begins.[51][52]

March

  • 4 March McClatchy reports on CIA spying on its Congressional oversighters.[53] Sen. Mark Udall again writes the President: "As you are aware, the CIA has recently taken unprecedented action against the committee in relation to the internal CIA review and I find these actions to be incredibly troubling for the committee's oversight responsibilities and for our democracy," he writes. "It is essential that the committee be able to do its oversight work – consistent with our constitutional principle of the separation of powers – without the CIA posing impediments or obstacles as it is today."[54]
  • 10 March. Award winning News Anchor Sharyl Attkisson resigns from CBS alleging the network was spiking news stories that were unflattering to Barack Obama.[55] In her Best Seller, Stonewalled: One Reporter's Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama's Washington,[56] Attkisson tells how her work and personal computers had been hacked for more than two years after she began filing stories about the Benghazi massacre.[57] CBS News investigated and found evidence of multiple unauthorized accesses by a third party in late 2012.[58] The hackers were identified by experts as a US Government intelligence agency.[59] In March 2015, Attkisson and her family initiated suit against Eric Holder, Patrick R. Donahoe and unnamed agents of the US Department of Justice, the US Postal Service and the United States claiming to have been subjected to illegal surveillance activities.[60][61]
  • 11 March. Senate Democrat Intelligence Committee Chair Diane Feinstein takes to the Senate floor to accuse the Obama CIA of violating "the Fourth Amendment, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, as well as Executive Order 12333, which prohibits the C.I.A. from conducting domestic searches or surveillance," and "breaching a constitutional boundary" of intimidation and spying on the US Senate.[62]
  • 20 March. Majority Leader Harry Reid backs investigation into Obama CIA hacking of the Senate Intelligence Oversight Committee's computers,[63] and notifies Brennan and Attn. Gen. Eric Holder that the Capital Police will investigate charges that the CIA accessed the Intelligence Oversight Committee’s computer network.

April

June

  • 9 June. Islamic State captures Mosul;[67] Obama calls ISIS "the Junior Varsity team."[68]
  • 13 June. IRS notified House Republican investigators that it had lost emails from January 2009 to April 2011.[69] The emails were under subpoena.[70] NSA megadata collection makes the loss of data impossible.
  • 19 June. IRS said that a damaged hard drive containing the missing emails had been disposed of more than two years prior.[71] Legal commentators raised questions how the IRS handled these federal records.[72][73][74] A National Archives and Records Administration spokesperson said: "The Office of the Chief Records Officer for the U.S. Government has contacted the IRS to explore specifics of the situation.[73]
  • 9 July. House Republicans released an April 13, 2013 email from the Commissioner in which she cautioned colleagues to "be cautious about what we say in emails," citing congressional inquiries. Congressional investigators said this email suggested that the Commissioner tried to hide evidence.[75]
  • 31 July. CIA admits to hacking into Oversighter's computers and spying on the Senate.[76] Democratic Sen. Mark Udall calls for Director Brennan's resignation.[77]
  • 5 August. Public release of the Senate Torture Report is put on hold when the Senate objects to CIA trying to redact evidence that the agency misled congressional investigators, a key finding of the report. The report is already nearly one full year overdue.[78]
  • 5 September. The IRS said it lost additional emails of five workers under congressional investigation.[79] These five workers include two people based in Cincinnati who worked on Tea Party cases.[80]
  • 4 November. Midterm elections. Republicans take control of the Senate, 54-46. Overall, the elections resulted in the largest Republican majority in the entire country in nearly a century, 247 House members, 31 governorships, and 68 state legislative chambers. GOP gains in the House were the largest majority since 1928, as well as the largest number of state legislatures since 1928.[81][82][83]
  • 22 November. A spokesman for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Republican majority stated that TIGTA investigators told Congress that they had recovered up to 30,000 emails to and from a past Commissioner.[84]
  • 23 December. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa's staff releases a report that found that "[t]he IRS's inability to keep politics out of objective decisions about interpretation of the tax code damaged its primary function: an apolitical tax collector that Americans can trust to treat them fairly."

2015

  • January. The new Republican Senate requested that the White House produce all communications it has had with the IRS since 2010.[85]
  • 17 January. Feinstein slams CIA's internal review of hacking and interference with Congressional Oversight, the Panetta review, as a whitewash.[86]
  • 29 January. Washington Times publishes audio recordings of wiretaps from 2011 of Congressman Dennis Kucinich and other Pentagon officials refuting Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's claim a genocide was about to take place in Libya and US intervention was needed.[87]
  • 22 February. British Secretive Court rules NSA-UK sharing of bulk metadata before December 2014 was illegal, however, after the Snowden leaks, now that the practice is publicly known, US-UK intelligence metadata sharing is legal.[88] Legal intelligence sharing with foreign agencies is a convenient way for law enforcement in both countries to circumvent constitutional restrictions and obtain information without probable cause or a search warrant. Under a reciprocal agreement, the US can ask the UK to spy on a US citizen or vice-versa (as in the case of Lady Diana Spencer) as a national security prerogative. The UK doesn't need a warrant in the US, nor the US in the UK, and a person's civil rights may be "legally" violated under this loophole. The practice was originated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 by Executive Order allowing British intelligence to wiretap American citizens that Britain feared were monitoring ships leaving harbor in New York and New Jersey, making them vulnerable to U-boats.[89]

References

  1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/11/john-brennan-torture_n_6310704.html
  2. https://www.ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/american-impunity-shielding-officials-involved-torture-has-decades-long-precedent
  3. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/01/does-it-matter-if-john-brennan-was-complicit-in-illegal-torture/266918/
  4. https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2017/01/05/bob-baer-if-russian-hacking-story-is-political-there-should-be-a-criminal-investigation/?utm_source=akdart
  5. Investigate Obamagate, The American Spectator
  6. New Unit to Question Key Terror Suspects - Move Shifts Interrogation Oversight From the CIA to the White House, Anne E. Kornblut, Washington Post, August 24, 2009.
  7. https://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2008/11/no-way-no-how-no-brennan/208302/
  8. National Security Council Reloaded, J. E. Dyer, Commentary blog, 08.25.2009.
  9. ACLU Urges Congress to Examine White House National Security Council as Central Decision-Maker on Torture, ACLU Press Release, (6/10/2008).
  10. Tower Commission Report, p. 13.
  11. https://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/mary-kate-cary/2010/01/29/obama-was-wrong-to-criticize-the-supreme-court
  12. https://projects.propublica.org/graphics/torture-report
  13. http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2013reports/201310053fr.pdf
  14. https://youtu.be/TeT67BvYzo4
  15. In Redistricting Year, GOP Gains a Big Edge (November 4, 2010).
  16. Four More Lessons from the GOP Landslide (November 4, 2010).
  17. 17.0 17.1 Devastation: GOP Picks Up 680 State Leg. Seats (November 4, 2010).
  18. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/world/middleeast/13baghdad.html
  19. http://www.nomblog.com/39390/
  20. Ingram, David (May 13, 2013). Associated Press says U.S. government seized journalists' phone records. Reuters Canada.
  21. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/us/politics/irs-scandal-congressional-hearings.html?hp&_r=1&
  22. https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/louisville/press-releases/2013/former-iraqi-terrorists-living-in-kentucky-sentenced-for-terrorist-activities
  23. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/07/the-details-about-the-cias-deal-with-amazon/374632/
  24. https://www.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324034804578346692855187354
  25. https://youtu.be/nsmo0hUWJ08
  26. https://theintercept.com/2014/03/13/president-obama-covering-presidencys-role-torture-4-years/
  27. Gallagher, Ryan (May 16, 2013). Verizon Wireless Secretly Passed AP Reporters' Phone Records to Feds. www.slate.com.
  28. Sanchez, Raf (May 13, 2013). US Justice Department secretly seizes Associated Press phone records. The Telegraph.
  29. Washington (AP) (May 13, 2013). US government secretly obtained Associated Press phone records. The Guardian.
  30. Matt Smith and Joe Johns (May 14, 2013). AP blasts feds for phone records search. CNN.
  31. Gary B. Pruitt (May 13, 2013). AP letter to Eric Holder on seizure of phone records. USA Today. Retrieved on June 1, 2013.
  32. http://nypost.com/2016/10/30/obama-told-us-hes-honorable-but-hes-just-another-liar/
  33. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/nsa-phone-records-verizon-court-order
  34. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data
  35. https://usnews.newsvine.com/_news/2013/06/07/18824941-obama-nobody-is-listening-to-your-telephone-calls?lite
  36. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-secret-surveillance-lawmakers-live
  37. https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324904004578535670310514616
  38. http://web.archive.org/web/20140627161317/http://www.markudall.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=3536
  39. http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/01/daniel-ellsberg-issues-call-for-a-new-church-committee-to-probe-nsa.html
  40. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-dea-sod-idUSBRE97409R20130805 <
  41. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/washington-post-closes-sale-to-amazon-founder-jeff-bezos/2013/10/01/fca3b16a-2acf-11e3-97a3-ff2758228523_story.html?utm_term=.8fea51fb3097
  42. https://medium.com/@SarahRRunge/amazon-the-washington-post-and-the-cia-d68a4ee802e#.406uub5gw
  43. http://www.mockingbirdpaper.com/content/leaked-dnc-emails-prove-washington-post-both-fundraiser-and-attack-dog-clinton-and-national
  44. http://dailycaller.com/2017/03/17/flashback-barack-obama-wiretapped-german-chancellor-angela-merkel-in-2010/ <
  45. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/al-qaeda-kentucky-us-dozens-terrorists-country-refugees/story?id=20931131
  46. https://www.scribd.com/doc/196596920
  47. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/11/dianne-feinstein-cia-senate-statement-full-text
  48. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/09/nsa-secret-surveillance-lawmakers-live
  49. https://www.thenation.com/article/what-obama-didnt-say-his-speech-nsa-spying/
  50. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-senate-cia-idUSBREA2H25W20140318
  51. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-26079957
  52. What the Democrats tried to do today was to criminalize everyone who works for better relations between the US and Russia. To be for peace between the nuclear powers is to be a Russian agent and to be put on a list. The Democrats insisted that Russia was an enemy out to get us, and the Democrats had no difficulty getting Comey and Rogers, both Obama appointees, to agree. Comey and Rogers said that Russia was the main threat to the US, was working against our interests, and intends to harm us. Harming us includes opposing US hegemony and unilateralism. In other words, if the Russian government acts in the interests of Russia, the Russian government is harming the US. From the testimony it clearly emerged that any kind of opposition to anything Washington does is against American interests. Both Comey and Rogers declared, falsely, that Russia had invaded Ukraine and seized Crimea by force. If Comey and Rogers are so poorly informed that they believe this, they are unfit for office. Crimea has been a part of Russia for 300 years. The population is almost entirely Russian. When the Soviet Union collapsed and Washington broke it apart, the Ukraine became independent for the first time in history. Crimea, which had been transferred by Khrushchev in 1954 from the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, was included in the transfer on the condition that Russia had a long term lease on the naval base in Crimea. When Washington’s coup overthrew the democratically elected government in Ukraine, the Russian populations in Crimea, and in the new republics of Luhansk and Donetsk, were attacked and threatened by the neo-nazi elements in eastern Ukraine that had fought for Hitler against the Soviet Union. The populations of these areas voted overwhelmingly to reunite with Russia, from whence they had come. The votes were fair and open. As Crimea is the Russian Navy’s Black Sea base, Crimea was already occupied by Russian forces. For Comey and Rogers to call this an “invasion” displays either ignorance or a lack of integrity. http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2017/03/20/conspiracy-president-trump/
  53. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article24764752.html
  54. http://www.scribd.com/doc/210597656/Udall-Challenges-White-House-to-Support-Fullest-Possible-Declassification-of-Intelligence-Committee-s-Torture-Study
  55. Macneal, Caitlin. "CBS Investigative Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Resigns From Network", March 10, 2014. 
  56. "Best Sellers: Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction", The New York Times]], November 23, 2014. 
  57. Mirkinson, Jack (May 21, 2013). CBS' Sharyl Attkisson: My Computers Were Compromised, 'Could Be Some Relationship' To DOJ Scandals. The Huffington Post. Retrieved on November 1, 2014.
  58. CBS News Confirms Sharyl Attkisson's Computer Breached. The Huffington Post (June 14, 2013).
  59. Smith, Kyle; Golding, Bruce (October 27, 2014), "Ex-CBS reporter: Government agency bugged my computer", New York Post, http://nypost.com/2014/10/27/ex-cbs-reporter-government-related-entity-bugged-my-computer 
  60. Attkisson sues government over computer intrusions, Washington Post; Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  61. Editorial Opinion re Attkisson, Washington Post; Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  62. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/a-brief-history-of-the-cias-unpunished-spying-on-the-senate/384003/
  63. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/31/cia-admits-spying-senate-staffers
  64. https://www.forbes.com/sites/melikkaylan/2014/04/16/why-cia-director-brennan-visited-kiev-in-ukraine-the-covert-war-has-begun/#248cdd8510cb
  65. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/head-of-pentagon-intelligence-agency-forced-out-officials-say/2014/04/30/ec15a366-d09d-11e3-9e25-188ebe1fa93b_story.html?utm_term=.45a637102303
  66. http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/michael-flynn-isis-memoir/2016/07/10/id/737937/
  67. Iraq army capitulates to Isis militants in four cities | World news | The Guardian
  68. https://youtu.be/-wCqcWDZOjE
  69. Joachim, David S.. "I.R.S. Commissioner to Testify on Ex-Official's Lost Emails", The New York Times, June 16, 2014. 
  70. "IRS says it's unable to recover subpoenaed Lerner e-mails in computer crash", CNN, June 14, 2014. 
  71. Error on call to template:cite news: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted"The IRS THREW AWAY and recycled Lois Lerner's hard drive containing incriminating Tea Party targeting emails", June 19, 2014. 
  72. The IRS's stunning and shameful record-keeping hypocrisy. The Week (June 18, 2014).
  73. 73.0 73.1 Did IRS Violate the Law on Lerner's Email?. The Fiscal Times (June 16, 2014).
  74. Issa, Camp seek IRS hard drives. The Hill (June 19, 2014).
  75. Bade, Rachael. "Lois Lerner cautioned against email chatter amid lawmaker probes", Politico, July 9, 2014. 
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  77. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/31/cia-admits-spying-senate-staffers
  78. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/senate-cia-clash-over-redactions-in-interrogation-report/2014/08/05/2f904f04-1ce0-11e4-ab7b-696c295ddfd1_story.html?utm_term=.cac6fd6648f9
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  80. Bade, Rachael. "More IRS employees lost emails", September 5, 2014. 
  81. Pierog, Karen. "Republicans gain big in state legislative elections | Reuters". 
  82. "Nearly half of Americans will now live in states under total GOP control". 
  83. The Other GOP Wave: State Legislatures &#124.
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  85. Bade, Rachael. "Repatriation? Not so fast—Letters galore bring bad news for IRS—Kasich proposes tax cuts", January 20, 2015. 
  86. http://thehill.com/policy/technology/230857-feinstein-slams-report-clearing-cia-of-spying-on-senate
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