https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...owing-aides-to-listen-to-foreign-leader-calls Trump May Stop Allowing Aides to Listen to Foreign Leader Calls Call With Ukrainian leader prompted whistle-blower complaint Trump says staffers applauded when Vindman removed from NSC President Donald Trump said he is considering blocking administration officials from listening to his telephone calls with foreign leaders, after a whistle-blower complaint about his conversation with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy led to his impeachment. “That’s what they’ve done over the years, when you call a foreign leader, people listen,” Trump said in a radio interview with Geraldo Rivera that was broadcast on Thursday. “I may end the practice entirely, I may end it entirely.” Presidential phone calls with top world leaders are routinely monitored by national security aides at the White House as well as top officials at the State Department and intelligence agencies so that government officials are aware of what the president discussed. Among other purposes, the practice helps protect the president should foreign countries issue distorted or misleading accounts of the conversations. Trump said Thursday that as many as 25 people within the administration have listened in on his calls. But the president has expressed frustration with the monitoring after details of his calls have prompted scrutiny within the government or occasionally been leaked to the press. Earlier: Trump Adviser Says He’s ‘Reforming’ Staff After Vindman Ouster Early in his administration, transcripts of his calls with former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and former Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto were published by the Washington Post. And the whistle-blower whose complaint prompted Trump’s impeachment reported that multiple White House officials with direct knowledge of the call said Trump had used the conversation to advance his personal interests. The White House already moved to restrict the number of administration officials allowed to listen to calls or read transcripts of the discussions in the aftermath of the Ukraine scandal, CNN reported in December. National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien now serves as gatekeeper, with new restrictions largely affecting career staffers who some in the White House believe aren’t sufficiently loyal to the president. Trump said he was considering a total ban in response to a question about the removal of Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman from the White House National Security Council last week. Vindman, who returned to the Army, reported concerns about the call -- in which Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter -- to NSC lawyers. Trump said he saw Vindman’s actions as “very insubordinate” and claimed that when Vindman was removed from the White House “many people in the building started applauding.” David Pressman, an attorney for Vindman, said in a statement Thursday: “By using the power of his office to repeatedly humiliate and punish those following the law, the president is encouraging breaking the law.” Vindman was escorted from the White House along with his twin brother, Yevgeny, who worked as a senior lawyer and ethics official on the NSC. Trump also ousted U.S. ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, who also testified in the impeachment investigation.
Obviously if Trump knows 25 people or so routinely listen to his phone calls, he is not going to intentionally violate the law so Congress can impeach him. Intent is an important element in many crimes as far as guilt or appropriate punishment to levy. In any conversation where Trump says something illegal, conflicts with other treaties, or is unenforceable, those people in on the conversation who are aware of these issues need to inform the President so appropriate adjustments can be issued. It sounds like the whistleblowers were, at best, insubordinate when they did not go to the President or through appropriate members of the chain of command. Rather, the whistleblowers appeared to have an agenda to get Trump down. What you call someone who works for someone, but who has loyalty to a third party? That’s right. A spy. What is the nationality of some of the whistleblowers? Ukrainian, aka Russian? And the third party was members of Congress? Collusion, anybody? How about a Russian spy ring that has worked its way deep into our Government? Probable cause and initiating the emergency powers act seem in order here. It seems fundamental that appropriate departmental heads be aware of Trump’s conversations who might be affected by them. The President has a right to demand loyalty by those who listen into his conversations. There may be times our National security may depend on it. What about certain situations that call for a bluff, a technical violation of a treaty, or even an illegal act that is necessary to protect the vital interests of the United States? Our elected President has been given then authority by the people, not Congress, to act in our best interests. A third party does not necessarily know the President’s overall plan, is privy to all the information the President may have, and certainly does not have the authority to second guess the President on executive orders. There are multiple aspects of a power grab by Congress as shown by impeachment and intimidation. Sounds worthy of an investigation by Barr, Presidential executive orders, as well as voter action.
All of Trump’s corruption is built in to his presidency. It’s constant and redundant at this point and there is very little reason to extensively debate and argue it beyond the latest outrage and undermining of the rule of law. Voters know. You’re either for this or against it. Denial is a form complicity. We’ll see what this country is about in November.
Nobody expects you to recognize wrongdoing by Trump. It’s the world we live in. Drop the charade. Unless you really are a sucker then by all means continue to blame the press and democrats or the deep state. Whatever.
It's amazing how much you believe in one of the most prolific liars the world has ever known. Many of his lies have been documented and refuted with real data and research. Don't shoot the messenger because you want to believe in your religion of Trump. Is this really the man you want to emulate ? So much to dislike about him on so many levels.
That's the point really many Americans are suckers when it comes to politics and they continually buy all the crap about how well the US is doing. Realty is less important then the need to believe it's all great.
“UsualName, post: 5014187, member: 501368"]Nobody expects you to recognize wrongdoing by Trump. It’s the world we live in. Drop the charade. Unless you really are a sucker then by all means continue to blame the press and democrats or the deep state. Whatever. Looks like you and a couple Leftists ETers are in the minority versus what most people believe in the United States. I would imagine Tony Stark would have a few polls on that somewhere, not that he would post them. Where would you say off hand Democratic political leaders stand according to national approval polls? Polls on US voter opinion on the media in general or believability of media show what, in your mind? Most people I’ve talked over the years, regardless of political affiliation, age group, or occupation have overall decisively negative opinions of the press and politicians. How do reelected politicians almost universally become multimillionaires during their careers? Why has Mueller basically sat on his hands as far as investigations are concerned with one notable exception: the Trump Administration? Why do false accusers, media lies, and even violence and vandalism by ANTIFA go unchallenged or even supported by the Democrats, including Liberal ETers? Why is the Epstein Investigation going nowhere? The Democrat New York District Attorneys have video tape evidence of politicians and business leaders having sex with minors who were sex trafficked by Epstein, right? Why has the media not publicly made the connection between Epstein, a CIA operative, and a possible motive for making video tapes of the powerful having sex with children? Would not blackmail or influence be a reason? If that were the case, would not this also imply there is an entity that has concentrated power through their control of these compromised powerful individuals? Would it not be in our national best interest to find out who these compromised individuals are, but nothing is happening. As you can now (Hopefully) see, there is cause to believe in a deep state, biased and corrupt media, biased and corrupt law enforcement, and corrupt politicians. Career politicians have to be the worst offenders. The know the system the best and the people they can “trust” to not turn them in or interfere. Trump is not one of those people, hence the all-out attack on him. Today I realized there is an even bigger concern facing Americans that even endemic political corruption. While the media has its glaring eye on Trump, Bernie Sanders is getting almost kid gloves treatment in comparison. The Bernie Sanders campaign seems to be turning their young voters hostile to anyone who is not a Bernie Sander’s supporter. The disposition of many of these supporters, especially among young men, ranges from “Pointed aloofness” to outright hostility. There are few greater evils I can think of than someone turning our kids against us. This is why we need to all make an earnest effort and pay attention to what’s going on. You need to try to open your eyes. Once we go Socialism, we will lose the freedoms and the niceties of our current way of life forever. I say forever, because once in, Socialists will never be voted out. What about civil war? Nope. Our guns will taken day one, just like Virginia is currently starting to implement. Which brings up the final argument for today: He who takes your rights away is not your friend. Trump is better by far than the alternative and has the track record to prove it.