https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...magate-and-why-is-trump-so-worked-up-about-it The US president spent Mother’s Day diving into the rightwing fever swamps and unleashing a barrage of tweets and retweets assailing his predecessor 'You know what the crime is': Trump stumped on 'Obamagate' details – video What started ‘Obamagate’? On Friday, former US president Barack Obama expressed disquiet at the justice department dropping charges against Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was fired in early 2017 for lying about conversations with the Russian ambassador. On a recording obtained by Yahoo News, Obama warned that the “rule of law is at risk”. He also described Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as “an absolute chaotic disaster”. So Trump took the moral high ground and kept a dignified silence? Not quite. He spent Mother’s Day diving into the rightwing fever swamps and unleashing a barrage of tweets and retweets assailing his predecessor. One said simply “OBAMAGATE!” (the suffix “gate” is a frequently used play on the Watergate scandal that toppled President Richard Nixon). Another linked to a post that declared, “Barack Hussain Obama is the first Ex-President to ever speak against his successor, which was long tradition of decorum and decency.” Trump added: “He got caught, OBAMAGATE!” Got caught doing what, exactly? Trump also retweeted Buck Sexton, a rightwing podcaster who asserted that “the outgoing president used his last weeks in office to target incoming officials and sabotage the new administration”. The president then added his own commentary: “The biggest political crime in American history, by far!” In other remarks on Thursday last week, Trump claimed without evidence that Flynn had been targeted by the Obama administration in an attempt to take down Trump himself. He bandied around terms such as “treason” and “human scum”. Flynn, a retired general, pleaded guilty to making false statements in a charge brought by then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller. He now insists he did not lie and wants to back out of the plea. Trump and his supporters have seized on recently disclosed FBI documents from interviews with Flynn, claiming they show he was the victim of “dirty cops”. One handwritten note from the FBI’s then-director of counterintelligence said: “What’s our goal? Truth/Admission or to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired?” Can this really be pinned on Obama? A fact check by the Associated Press concluded: “It is true that the investigation into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign, and into Russia in particular, began during the Obama administration. But it continued well into Trump’s own administration. The investigation into Flynn was taken over by a special counsel who was appointed by Rod Rosenstein, Trump’s own deputy attorney general. “The internal FBI correspondence that has emerged in the last two weeks also doesn’t reveal agents saying that the goal of the investigation was to take down a president.” So what exact crime is Trump accusing Obama of committing? The president himself does not seem to know. “‘Obamagate’,” he ruminated in the White House rose garden on Monday. “It’s been going on for a long time. It’s been going on from before I even got elected. And it’s a disgrace that it happened.” Asked by a Washington Post reporter for the second time to name Obama’s exact offence, Trump replied cryptically: “You know what the crime is. The crime is very obvious to everybody. All you have to do is read the newspapers, except yours.” Clear as mud, then. Could this be a distraction from something? Some critics believe Trump is desperately trying to deflect attention from his confused and faltering response to the pandemic, as the US death toll tops 80,000 and the economy suffers the worst job losses since the Great Depression. They could also be a way of undermining Obama’s vice president, Joe Biden, whom Trump will face in November’s presidential election. And they are indicative of a longstanding obsession. Trump effectively began his political career by pushing the “birther” conspiracy theory that Obama was not born in the US and therefore should not be eligible for the presidency. He has devoted huge efforts to undoing his predecessor’s legacy, for example attempting to kill the Affordable Care Act, pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate accords and slashing environmental and other regulations.
Why is Obama becoming more and more visible and vocal? That sound you hear is his sphincter puckering.
Senate Republicans break with Trump over ‘Obamagate’ https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/11/senate-republicans-trump-obamagate-249734 President Donald Trump’saggressive campaign to encourage sweeping investigations of his predecessor Barack Obama met a unanimous response from Senate Republicans: No thanks. Trump’s Senate allies on Monday stopped short of echoing Trump’s claim that Obama acted illegally when the Justice Department began probing incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn in late 2016. And they indicated that the Senate would pass on investigating the former president as they conduct their own investigations that could soon ensnare other senior Obama administration officials.
Trump's 'Obamagate' comments and Barr's Flynn meddling suggest troubling new pivot https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opini...-flynn-meddling-suggest-troubling-ncna1204856 Trump can't pull off this ruse by himself, of course, but he has a partner. Barr is riding shotgun during this scorched-earth joyride against justice. ByFrank Figliuzzi, former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence and NBC News/MSNBC analyst In my 25 years as an FBI special agent and (now retired) head of the bureau's counterintelligence, I learned the value of predictive analysis. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI transitioned from an investigative agency adept at investigating what happened after the fact to an intelligence agency capable of forecasting and preventing harm from happening in the future. Forecasting is a lot easier when there are clear clues. And when it comes to assessing the trap Attorney General William Barr and President Donald Trump appear to be setting for us, the warning signs are plentiful. We don't need to read tea leaves for this. We only need to review tweets. On Saturday, Trump retweeted a fantastical fiction of a theory from The Federalist asserting that former President Barack Obama's White House intelligence discussions about, in part, the trustworthiness of incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn and members of the Trump transition team were proof that Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden were malevolently conspiring against the Trump administration. Trump later retweeted a Fox News legal analyst's opinion that without Flynn, the entire Russia investigation is meaningless and perhaps should be thrown out, as well. Those cues are only the latest of a multitude of similar warnings that point to where the president and the attorney general may be venturing next. Trump is clearly still sensitive about the 2016 election, and especially about concerns that he may not have beaten former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fairly. He therefore has a special interest in undermining accusations of Russian meddling, something he has done since entering the Oval Office. What better way to do this than to flip the script? He didn't have an advantage; in fact, he was the victim. As other commentators have pointed out, attempting this bait and switch would likely involve efforts to censure, discipline or even criminally charge current and former government officials, such as former CIA Director John Brennan, fired FBI Director James Comey, former national security adviser Susan Rice, former National Intelligence Director James Clapper and perhaps even Obama and Biden. During his Monday news conference in the Rose Garden, a reporter asked Trump what crime he might accuse Obama of committing. Trump responded: "Obamagate, it's been going on for a long time. It's been going on from before I got elected, and it's a disgrace that it happened. You look at, now, all of this information that's being released, and from what I understand, that's only the beginning." The kind of truth-twisting required to launch such false allegations is alluring to Trump-supporting conspiracists who are already throw around groundless terms like "Deep State." But for these theories to transition from mere social media innuendo to formal accusations would be a chaotic and divisive development. Moreover, any criminal investigations would require cooperation from Barr. And the president's strategy might not end with useless, polarizing investigations into members of the previous administration. What if he tried to convince Americans that the indictments of 26 Russian nationals for their efforts meddling in our country's election should never have been brought? This approach could then be used to justify overturning U.S. sanctions against Russia. Such a reversal would certainly appease President Vladimir Putin, which brings us to another breadcrumb. On May 7, the same day that Barr moved to dismiss proven charges against Flynn, Trump had a call with Putin. Although the official White House summary of the call didn't include a discussion of what Trump has called the "Russia hoax," Trump disclosed to reporters that he and Putin talked about the repercussions of the special counsel's investigation. Trump explained that the "Russia hoax" was "very hard" on the U.S. and Russia's foreign relations, "and we discussed that." Predictive analysis doesn't put much credence in coincidences. Barr's attempt to make the special counsel's Russia-related Flynn case disappear, and Trump's chat with Putin about the special counsel inquiry the same day, should be treated as indications of a potential shift in strategy ahead. We already know that the president has been hellbent on invalidating the work of the special counsel's office. That investigation resulted in 34 total indictments, including those of the 26 Russians and three Russian organizations. Other individuals were convicted when their cases were spun off to other prosecutors. The convictions of loyal associates like Flynn and Roger Stone clearly needle Trump. But the special counsel found no chargeable criminal conspiracy between them and Russia. The elements of Mueller's investigation that seem to really cut the deepest are the findings about election interference. And it's those findings that Trump may now be seeking to nullify. In Trump's mind, the evidence of Russian meddling, confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee, tarnishes his victory. And that bruises his ego. Trump can't pull off this ruse by himself, of course, but he has a partner. Barr is riding shotgun on Trump's scorched-earth joyride against justice. Barr already said he believes the Russia inquiry was designed to "sabotage" Trump's campaign. He's ignored the findings of his own inspector general and appointed a hand-picked U.S. attorney to try to put flesh on the bones of a convoluted conspiracy theory. As this staged farce unfolds, the truth will be trampled, reputations ruined and a foreign adversary empowered. We don't need a crystal ball to see the harmful trap ahead. Don't fall for it.
The unraveling is coming at a frenetic pace. How ironic. https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-demands-fast-furious-gun-005325903.html
Hell yeah, it's troubling. But not how you perceive it. It would be heaven for Obama to become Big Leroy's girlfriend in the can.
dude's going full Stalin, he'll start fabbing charges to put people in Jail if he makes it past November. Avenatti was merely a taste as dude had crimes to go by & DOJ only needed a nudge.