(16.2.2017) A wave of leaks from government officials has hobbled the Trump administration, leading some to draw comparisons to countries like Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan, where shadowy networks within government bureaucracies, often referred to as “deep states,” undermine and coerce elected governments.

So is the United States seeing the rise of its own deep state?

Not quite, experts say, but the echoes are real — and disturbing.

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What Congressman Nunes confirmed this week is what so many Americans who have been paying attention have long believed – we are being surveilled in this country at every turn. What was once illegal for the federal government to carry out has now become all too common practice, and figures like Elijah Cummings have willfully allowed that expansion of surveillance powers over U.S. citizens.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) is calling for an investigation into House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) after the Intel Committee chair gave information to a White House under investigation.

Chaffetz and Cummings are trying to figure out, among other things, if Flynn disclosed this payment when he applied for a security clearance to be Trump’s national security adviser. Flynn resigned from the post last month after it became clear he misled his colleagues about his pre-inauguration phone calls with Russia’s ambassador.

Laut dem Chef des Geheimdienstausschusses waren Trump-Mitarbeiter möglicherweise indirekt von einer Überwachungsaktion betroffen. Der US-Präsident sieht sich bestätigt.

Vor dem Amtsantritt von US-Präsident Donald Trump sind offenbar etliche seiner Mitarbeiter – vielleicht sogar der Wahlsieger selbst – ins Visier der amerikanischen Sicherheitsbehörden geraten. Das sagte der republikanische Vorsitzende des Geheimdienstausschusses im Abgeordnetenhaus, Devin Nunes, am Mittwoch. Er habe erfahren, dass Personen aus Trumps Umfeld „überwacht“ worden seien, so Nunes. Wie diese Überwachung im Detail ausgesehen hat, wer sie aus welchem Grund durchgeführt hat und wer betroffen war, sagte Nunes nicht.

The real story here, according to Krauthammer, is the unmasking of U.S. citizens recorded during the broader surveillance.

“There appears to have been for sure illegal, if not illegal improper, unmasking of Americans,” he said. “We know that is so because of the Flynn unmasking.”

“We now know that is a yes,” Krauthammer continued. “But we don’t know if this is listening in on Trump operatives, on Trump himself, or whether it’s chatter by others about the Trump transition.”

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday said House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes‘s (R-Calif.) move to bypass his own committee to brief the president on information related to U.S. surveillance of his transition team was „very disturbing.“

„No, I have not seen anything like that,“ McCain said on NBC‘s „Today“ show.

(4.5.2017) The ongoing FBI investigation about Trump administration officials and Russia raises questions not just about the administration’s behavior but also about the behavior of the Deep State. Ring of Fire’s Mike Papantonio & Sam Seder talk about the White House leak scandal.

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(15.3.2017)

Rep. Jackie Speier, a Democrat on the committee, said that Nunes apologized at their meeting Thursday morning.

Nunes also promised to provide the same information he‘s viewed to the committee members but did not offer a specific timeline.

A former CIA chief of staff lit into House Intelligence Committee Chair Devin Nunes over his actions following the press conference on his briefing of President Donald Trump over the finding of “incidentally collected” communications of Trump transition members.

Dass der Republikaner Nunes Chef des Geheimdienstausschusses wurde, ist per se fragwürdig: Nunes arbeitete im Team Trump mit, ehe dieser die Präsidentschaft übernahm. Mit seinem Gang ins Weisse Haus hat Nunes die Untersuchung im Geheimdienstausschuss entwertet, der überparteilich und unparteiisch arbeiten sollte. Insofern ist es eigentlich für Mitglieder des Gremiums unzulässig, den im Zentrum der Untersuchung stehenden Personen – unter ihnen Präsident Trump –über deren Verlauf zu berichten.

Although congressional Democrats and the mainstream media will never admit it, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ statement yesterday that the personal communications of the Trump campaign and possibly Trump himself were collected by U.S. intelligence agencies through „incidental collection“ is a bombshell.

All it means is that a person on watch is talking to a U.S. person,“ Robert Deitz, a former top lawyer for the CIA and the NSA, told NBC News.

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, cast doubt on Nunes’ claims in a fiery statement and blasted the chairman for not first sharing the information with him or other committee members.

Schiff also slammed Nunes for briefing the White House on Wednesday afternoon given that the Intelligence Committee is in the middle of an investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, including possible collusion with the Trump team.

Reporter: So you said that the president’s communications were incidentally collected, but then you said it’s also possible, so was it collected or is it possible it was collected?

Nunes: I just don’t know the answer to that yet.

Reporter: So you don’t know if the president’s communications were—

Nunes: Look, I know that there was collection, regarding the President-elect and his team. I don’t know if it was actually, physically a phone call.

Reporter: You don’t know if it was the president himself, his communication?

Nunes: I do not know that.

Reporter: Mr. Chairman, did the president’s conversations or anything about the president appear in intelligence reports, is that what you’re saying?

Nunes: I have seen intelligence reports that clearly show, that, uh, the President-elect and his team were I guess at least monitored and disseminated out in intelligence, in what appears to be raw—well I shouldn’t say raw—but intelligence reporting channels. As best as I can say that until I can actually get all of the information that we’ve requested.

There was some master-level word salad–speak going on here.

Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Wednesday hailed a US anti-ISIS summit.
„I give an excellent judgement,“ he told the Italian press on the margins of the summit, hailing the fact that „the Trump administration decided to start from anti-terrorism because it is a point that unites“.

At least 200 people have been killed in air strikes in the Mosul al-Jadida neighborhood of Mosul, most of them believed to be civilians.
Rudaw correspondent in Mosul Hevidar Ahmed said that 130 of the people were killed inside one house alone.

During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump said he had a „secret plan“ to defeat Isil and pledged to „bomb the hell out of“ the terror group.

He has ordered his administration to „develop a comprehensive plan“, but is yet to reveal the details.

Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, yesterday hosted the first full meeting of the international coalition against Isil since 2014.

But Trump’s plan to slash 28 percent from the State Department’s budget for diplomacy and foreign aid suggests fewer resources for post-conflict stabilization — a proposal that has raised eyebrows.
European diplomats told media they expect Washington to reaffirm its commitment to a longer-term plan to secure the region after a battlefield victory.

Seit 2014 seien insgesamt 22,2 Milliarden Dollar geflossen, teilte das US-Außenministerium mit. Deutschland beteiligt sich an der Allianz unter anderem mit Erkundungsflügen durch Awacs-Maschinen und Recce-Tornados.

Washington: Die Spionage-Affäre um F.B.I., N.S.A. und C.I.A. einerseits, sowie den neu ins Amt gelangten Präsidenten Donald Trump andererseits, gewinnt an Fahrt und beleuchtet Praxis und Schleichwege der „versehentlich“ absichtlichen Massenüberwachung, in deren Raster nun offenbar auch der „mächtigste Mann der Welt“ gefallen ist.