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Using govt powers to investigate political opponents. Nothing wrong with that. /S

• afterburner 10y ago
  Using government powers to protect the government from foreign subversion, more like. Seems like the intelligence community's exact mission, whatever you may think of the methods.
  • rokosbasilisk 10y ago
    Yea. I cant wait until Trump uses that reasoning to have Bernie or Warren investigated in 4 years. Either way Obama set many terrible precedents that will be used.
    • afterburner 10y ago
      It was an executive order. Trump could have done the exact same thing in five days. Not a great precedent, sure, but don't think Trump is afraid to break new ground. It's likely though that Trump would like to quash any investigation into his foreign connections. It's an ugly time all round.
  • Zhenya 10y ago
    IF that's true, what does the executive branch have do with this? That's the intelligence community's mission, they should just be doing it already.
    • afterburner 10y ago
      Are you asking in the broader sense I guess? In a narrow sense, the executive branch expanded the intelligence agencies' power, presumably to help them achieve their mission. If you're wondering about the timing, if you assume my premise is correct, to investigate Trump's Russia connections, it's to give them elevated power to investigate that before Trump hampers their ability to do so when in power. He's been openly hostile towards them when they've brought up the connections. In the broader sense? It's a debate about how much the executive branch should expand surveillance powers, and I'm probably on the same side as you in that respect (privacy is at risk, persecution is a risk if we increase surveillance too much).