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I'm glad to see the Trump administration rolling back these Obama era privacy violations.

by danjoc 9y ago

wbhart 9y ago
I think that the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3123(d)(2) were introduced by Bush as part of the Patriot act, after September 11, not by Obama. One might argue that Obama abused them, of course.
- pc86 9y ago
  Certainly there are some unjust laws for which it is just as bad to leave them in place as it is to have enacted them in the first place. These may not rise quite to that level, but just because he did not sign them himself doesn't absolve Obama.
- danjoc 9y ago
  It's pretty easy to argue abuse when the Obama administration was wiretapping the opposition party just before a presidential election, http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/politics/paul-manafort-government-wiretapped-fisa-russians/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/politics/paul-manafort-governm... In March the Obama administration denied it for months. Now it is a matter of fact.
  - ouid 9y ago
    Criminal investigations are non-partisan. You don't get structural immunity from espionage charges just because you are "of another political party" than the current president. The wiretap was authorized by a judge. The Whitehouse also never denied wiretapping Manafort, but if they HAD done so, it would have been proper. Wiretaps are secret, by their nature. This also occurred after Manafort had been removed from his position on the Trump campaign.
    - gozur88 9y ago
      >Criminal investigations are non-partisan. Sniff. I remember when I was young and idealistic. The Obama administration was clever enough to investigate people around Trump such that they would have pretty much everything he said in the can. What was highly irregular, and arguably illegal, was Susan Rice at the NSC authorizing the "unmasking" of the people involved as well as a wide intergovernmental distribution. She really had no business doing that, and it effectively leaked every aspect of the investigation.

I'm glad to see the Trump administration rolling back these Obama era privacy violations.

by danjoc 9y ago

I'm glad to see the Trump administration rolling back these Obama era privacy violations.

I think that the provisions of 18 U.S.C. § 3123(d)(2) were introduced by Bush as part of the Patriot act, after September 11, not by Obama. One might argue that Obama abused them, of course.

pc86 9y ago
Certainly there are some unjust laws for which it is just as bad to leave them in place as it is to have enacted them in the first place. These may not rise quite to that level, but just because he did not sign them himself doesn't absolve Obama.
danjoc 9y ago
It's pretty easy to argue abuse when the Obama administration was wiretapping the opposition party just before a presidential election, http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/politics/paul-manafort-government-wiretapped-fisa-russians/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/politics/paul-manafort-governm... In March the Obama administration denied it for months. Now it is a matter of fact.
- ouid 9y ago
  Criminal investigations are non-partisan. You don't get structural immunity from espionage charges just because you are "of another political party" than the current president. The wiretap was authorized by a judge. The Whitehouse also never denied wiretapping Manafort, but if they HAD done so, it would have been proper. Wiretaps are secret, by their nature. This also occurred after Manafort had been removed from his position on the Trump campaign.
  - gozur88 9y ago
    >Criminal investigations are non-partisan. Sniff. I remember when I was young and idealistic. The Obama administration was clever enough to investigate people around Trump such that they would have pretty much everything he said in the can. What was highly irregular, and arguably illegal, was Susan Rice at the NSC authorizing the "unmasking" of the people involved as well as a wide intergovernmental distribution. She really had no business doing that, and it effectively leaked every aspect of the investigation.