Q What the President calls “Obamagate,” what is it? What are the elements of that crime?
MS. MCENANY: Yeah, I’m really glad you asked because there hasn’t been a lot of journalistic curiosity on this front. And I’m very glad that you asked this question.
Look, there were a number of questions raised by the actions of the Obama administration. The Steele dossier, funded by the Democratic National Committee, an opposition political party to the President, was used to attain FISA warrants to listen in on conversations of people within the Trump campaign.
There was the unmasking the identity of Michael Flynn. And we know that in a January 5th meeting in the Oval Office with President Obama, Sally Yates from the Department of Justice learned about the unmasking not from the Department of Justice or for the FBI, she learned about it from President Obama and was stunned and can barely process what she was hearing at the time because she was stunned of his knowledge of that.
We know that there was a lot of wrongdoing in the case of Michael Flynn. The FBI notes, for instance, that said, “Should we,” quote, “get him to lie,” as they pontificated their strategy. We know that the identity of this three-decade general was leaked to the press — a criminal leak to the press of his identity in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.
These are very serious questions. They’ve been ignored by the media for far too long. And I’m very glad that I think that is the second question that I have fielded on Lieutenant General Michael Flynn, because justice does matter. Those questions, they matter.
Q To be clear, I heard you mention one thing you said was criminal. And that was what?
MS. MCENANY: The one thing that I said that was criminal?
Q Right.
MS. MCENANY: The leaking of his name and the very real questions that have been raised.
But if you want to start talking about wrongdoing in the administration, I’m happy to go through Andy McCabe leaking to The Wall Street Journal and then lying about it; happy to talk about James Clapper lying before Congress, saying the NSA does not monitor phone calls. That was an inaccuracy, to say the least, if not a lie. And John Brennan telling Congress that the bogus Steele dossier played no role in the Russia probe, when, in fact, we know it did and was the basis of attaining FISA warrants.
So there’s a lot of mistruths there that were said, many of them under oath, so I would point you to those and the many other real questions that I hope you all will pursue.
Q So it’s the President’s view that those people should be jailed — the people you just mentioned?
MS. MCENANY: I never said that. Those are your words, not mine.
Q The President said —
MS. MCENANY: But perhaps you should look into it and get me some answers. That is, after all, the job —
Q The President did say that people should be jailed. So I’m wondering —
MS. MCENANY: — that is, after all, the job of reporters, to answer the very questions that I’ve laid out, and I hope you guys will take the time to do it. And —
(het gebrek aan) Intellegentie van Trumpfans, het blijft me elke dag verbazen.
