#wire tapping

[uppityfemale]

He always blames people to be what he actually is.

[micdotcom]

Devin Nunes explicitly states that Trump wasn't wiretapped

House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) continued the ongoing saga of Donald Trump's wiretapping claims against Obama by declaring on Friday: 

"There was no wiretapping of Trump Tower. That didn't happen."

This stance appears somewhat at odds with his press conference two days prior. Nunes alleged on Wednesday that some members of Trump's transition team may have incidentally had their communications intercepted by government surveillance. Read more (3/24/17 12:33 PM)

[funnyordie]

[forfamilygatherings]

[veritas-aequitas-zeke]

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4_HCBakGYg)

[insearchofeldorado]

Executive reasoning (A Haiku)

Wire taps are great When used on private people Just not presidents

[micdotcom]

A bipartisan Senate Intel Committee duo just shut down Trump’s wiretapping claim

Trump's explosive accusation that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower during the campaign was dealt a death blow on Thursday by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which said there is no evidence whatsoever to back up that claim.

"Based on the information available to us, we see no indication that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016," Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in a statement.

Their statement comes a day after the House Intelligence Committee said there was no evidence that Trump Tower was wiretapped. Read more (3/16/17 2:18 PM)

[micdotcom]

6 numbers sum up Trump’s collapsing agenda:

2 — the number of federal court decisions striking down President Donald Trump's newest travel ban.

After the president's first executive order banning travel and immigration from certain Muslim-majority countries was struck down, the White House had hoped the second, narrowed order would not face a similar fate. But hours before the ban was to go into effect, a judge in Hawaii said the order should not be implemented. The judge's decision relied heavily on past public statements made by Trump and his advisers. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson wrote, "the executive order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion, in spite of its stated, religiously neutral purpose." Read more from Watson's decision.  

On Thursday, a federal judge in Maryland also ruled against Trump's revised order.

5 — the number of times Trump's two bans have lost in federal court.

So Trump's latest ban has lost twice in court — that's on top of the three times his original order faced comprehensive legal blows. The lead attorney in the Hawaii case told MSNBC that presidents rarely lose cases on national security grounds. "There's only been a handful of presidents that have lost cases on national security grounds in an entire history," Neal Katyal said. Trump's losses are "not a good omen for the future."

24 million — the number of additional people who will lose or go without health insurance by 2026 under the American Health Care Act.

The Congressional Budget Office estimate, released Monday, immediately raised alarms that the Republican health insurance plan was in trouble. A little more than a week after the bill's release, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) is now saying the AHCA will need changes to pass the House. A dozen Republican senators have already criticized the legislation, making passage of its current form doubtful. The CBO score will allow the House to "make some necessary improvements and refinements," Ryan said Wednesday — a break from his earlier comment that voting on the bill was a "binary choice." Vice President Mike Pence also told House Republicans the bill could change.

So did Trump. "It's very preliminary," Trump said of the AHCA on Wednesday night. The president also told reporters on a flight back to Washington from a rally in Nashville, Tennessee, "We will get something through."

28% — the proposed reduction in funding for the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development under the president's budget.

Among all the numbers in the Trump's proposed budget blueprint, the $10.1 billion cut to America's diplomatic infrastructure may attract the most opposition on Capitol Hill. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) have said they will not support a budget with such a deep cut to the agencies overseeing foreign policy.

Read more on the budget proposal, full of cuts to federal agencies, below.

2 — the number of Congressional Republicans leading investigations into Russian hacking who are demanding proof of wiretapping.

Graham and Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican, have both joined with their Democratic colleagues to demand the Justice Department show proof President Barack Obama had Trump wiretapped during the campaign.

Nunes, the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said Wednesday, "I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower." If the FBI does not respond to his inquiry, Graham said he will subpoena the agency to tell his Senate committee whether a warrant was issued to wiretap Trump.

40% — the portion of Americans who approve of Trump's presidency.

Near its lowest point since Trump took office in January, a majority of Americans have not approved of the president since he took office, according to Gallup. A RealClearPolitics aggregation of all polls shows a similar level of dissatisfaction, reporting an average 43.9% approval rate. Polling on the AHCA has found the voters do not like specifics of the Republican proposal — and are supportive of some of the core tenets preserved from the Affordable Care Act.

Nearly two months into the presidency, Trump's agenda is on the rocks. Read more (3/16/17 10:41 AM)