UPDATE: NBC News retracted its exclusive story alleging that Michael Cohen’s phones were being wiretapped. According to the network, Cohen’s phones were being “monitored” by a pen register, not a wiretap. Pen registers capture “to and from” calling and texting information, but not the content.
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President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, had his phones wiretapped by the FBI, and at least one phone call with the president was intercepted, according to a report on Thursday.
NBC News reported Thursday, citing two people with knowledge of legal proceedings involving Cohen, that federal investigators had wiretapped Cohen’s phone lines, but it is not clear how long it has been authorized.
The network said the wiretap was in place in the weeks leading up to the raids on Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room in early April.
Rudy Giuliani, former New York City mayor and newest member of his legal team, learned after the raid the president had made a call to Cohen, and advised him to never call again, out of concern the call was being recorded by prosecutors, according to the report.
The FBI conducted the raid on Cohen after Special Counsel Robert Mueller referred a criminal investigation on Cohen to the U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing the special counsel probe after Attorney General Jeff Session’s recusal from the investigation, authorized the referral.
Cohen is reportedly under investigation for bank fraud and campaign violations, possibly related to a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the days before the 2016 election to keep her from going public about an alleged affair, which he has denied.
On Wednesday, Giuliani told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that payment to the actress did not involve any campaign funds, and was later reimbursed through Trump’s $35,000 per month retainer payments to Cohen, paid out of his personal finances.
This is the second known wiretap on a Trump associate. The FBI obtained a wiretap on former Trump campaign aide Carter Page in October 2016, using the infamous “pee dossier” as an essential part of the surveillance warrant application.
That wiretap was authorized and renewed four times.
Trump claimed in March, based on a Breitbart News article by Joel Pollak, that his campaign was being wiretapped — for which he was initially mocked. However, later, the Washington Post confirmed the wiretap on Page.
There are still questions over whether his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was also wiretapped
Why Are We Allowing The Chinese To Build Smartphone That The Military Is Using?
The three military exchange services pulled all smartphones made by Chinese electronics manufacturers Huawei and ZTE from stores around the world and banned their sale because of the security risks the devices pose, the Pentagon said Wednesday.
The Defense Department’s undersecretary for personnel and readiness issued a ban of “all Huawei and ZTE cellphones, personal mobile internet modems and related products from locations worldwide,” DOD spokesman Maj. Dave Eastburn said an email to Stars and Stripes.
“Given the security concerns associated with these devices, as expressed by senior U.S. intelligence officials, it was not prudent for the Department’s exchange services to continue selling these products to our personnel,” Eastburn said. He added that DOD is “evaluating the situation” to see if any additional security measures are needed, including an outright ban on use of the phones by servicemembers.
Stars and Stripes first reported last week that an Army and Air Force Exchange Service concession at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, had been selling the mobile electronic devices on base. The products were also found for sale at U.S. bases in other overseas locations.
In February, the director of national intelligence, along with the heads of the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency all testified before a Senate committee that Americans should not use Huawei or ZTE products because of security concerns.
Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, is a private company started by a former People’s Liberation Army officer. U.S. intelligence officials say the company has very close ties to China’s government.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testified that Huawei products give the Chinese government the ability to gather or alter sensitive corporate and military information undetected.
The concern about Huawei first focused on routers, switches and other high-bandwidth commercial products; it later expanded to consumer mobile phones. They are already banned for official government use in most cases.
Huawei has been the target of numerous U.S. regulations and laws meant to address national security concerns, such as a 2013 law that required federal law enforcement agencies to sign off on certain purchases of its products by government agencies.
Huawei spokesmen have repeatedly denied claims the company’s devices pose any security risks. Huawei phones are used commonly throughout Europe, and the company is in the middle of a worldwide promotional campaign for its latest phone series, the P20, released last month.
Still, the Chinese devices “may pose an unacceptable risk to (the) department’s personnel, information and mission,” Eastburn said.
New rules proposed by the Federal Communications Commission would bar U.S. telecommunications companies that receive FCC subsidies from buying products from foreign companies with security concerns. Companies have yet to be named, but Huawei and ZTE are both expected to make the list of banned manufacturers. A bill introduced in January by Rep. Michael Conway, a Republican from Texas, would make it illegal for U.S. government contractors to use any Huawei equipment.
Huawei also makes personal mobile Internet modems, called “pucks,” which in recent years have been sold to U.S. troops at a coalition base near Irbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdish region. Some soldiers may have purchased similar devices made by ZTE.
ZTE was sanctioned by the U.S. government for violating trade embargoes by sending U.S.-made components to Iran inside its devices. Huawei is currently the subject of a similar investigation by the Justice Department.
Eastburn said the Pentagon deferred to command officials for additional guidance on operational security matters, but he said troops should watch out for news of potentially compromised electronics.
“Servicemembers should be mindful of the media coverage about the security risks posed by the use of these devices, regardless of where they were purchased,” he said.
Can Maxine Try To Tell Anyone They Should Not Be In Politics?
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) reportedly blasted musician Kanye West on Monday evening for talking “out of turn” when asked about West’s recent praise for President Donald Trump.
“Kanye West is a very creative young man who has presented some of the most revolutionary material in the African-American community. … But we also think that sometimes Kanye West talks out of turn and perhaps sometimes he needs some assistance in helping him to formulate some of his thoughts,” Waters reportedly told Politico at an Oakland event with members of the Congressional Black Caucus that pushed for more diversity in Silicon Valley. “We don’t think that he actually means to do harm, but we’re not sure he really understands the impact of what he’s saying, at the time that he’s saying it and how that weighs on, particularly the African American community – and for young people in general. … And I think maybe he should think twice about politics, and maybe not have so much to say.”
West created a firestorm last week when he tweeted that the “mob” cannot make him not love his “brother” Trump.
“You don’t have to agree with trump but the mob can’t make me not love him. We are both dragon energy,” West tweeted. “He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.”
Trump thanked West for his complimentary tweet soon after Breitbart News White House Correspondent Charlie Spiering asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week at a press briefing whether Trump had recently communicated with the musician.
Trump also praised West over the weekend, saying that West has done a “very important thing” for his legacy, and touted the record-low unemployment numbers for black Americans under his presidency.
“In all fairness, Kanye West gets it,” Trump said on Saturday at a Washington, Michigan, Rally. “He gots it. He gets it! And he saw that. When he sees that African-American unemployment is the lowest in history, you know, people are watching. That’s a very important thing he’s done for his legacy. It’s a very important thing.”
In a Monday video, West said he finds Trump “inspiring” even though he does not agree with “half the shit Trump does.”
Kanye West has performed a great service to the Black Community – Big things are happening and eyes are being opened for the first time in Decades – Legacy Stuff! Thank you also to Chance and Dr. Darrell Scott, they really get it (lowest Black & Hispanic unemployment in history).
You don’t have to agree with trump but the mob can’t make me not love him. We are both dragon energy. He is my brother. I love everyone. I don’t agree with everything anyone does. That’s what makes us individuals. And we have the right to independent thought.
What In The Hello Has Condoleezza Rice Accomplished?
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday morning that President Donald Trump should not engage directly in the details of negotiation with North Korea.
“First of all, don’t try to negotiate the details with Kim Jong-un,” Rice told Fox & Friends. “Leave that for people who understand all the nuances of the situation.”
Condoleezza Rice Said her childhood experience with segregation in the South helped her understand the Palestinian experience. WTF?
Rice noted that she was the last American to negotiate with the North Korean regime, when she was dealing with Kim Jong-un’s father, Kim Jong-il.
“You have to give the [Trump] administration a lot of credit,” she said, for pressuring China to rein in the Kim regime and for using the threat of military force to isolate North Korea.
However, she said, the president should leave the nuts-and-bolts of diplomacy to others, even though he would be meeting directly with Kim Jong-un at a summit in the coming weeks. And she warned that the Kim regime was still a murderous one with a track record of breaking its promises.
Rice said she supported the Trump administration’s move toward pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.
“I actually think if we pull out now, it is not going to be the disaster everybody is talking about,” she said. “I would not have signed this deal. I don’t think it was a very good deal. I think we were in a hurry to get a deal and we left a lot on the table. … If we get out of this deal, it is going to be just fine.”
Asked whether she wanted to leave the Iran deal, Rice said: “I would probably have stayed in for alliance management purposes but … if the president decides to pull out of the deal I have no argument with that.”
This Means Barack Obama And John Kerry Should Be In Prison Right?
TEL AVIV — In a dramatic press conference in Jerusalem aimed at the international community, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday unveiled a cache of secret files he says were obtained from inside a hidden Iranian site and clearly demonstrate that Tehran maintained a secret nuclear weapons program despite declarations to the contrary.
Netanyahu explained that the structure of the U.S.-led international nuclear agreement was in part based on deceptive Iranian descriptions of its previous nuclear work. He said Iran’s failure to disclose its secret program while misleading the world shows the nuclear deal is “based on lies based on Iranian deception.”
The Israeli leader presented evidence that Iran continued research for a nuclear weapons program even after signing the 2015 nuclear deal.
“Iran’s leaders repeatedly deny ever pursuing nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu began. “Tonight I’m here to tell you one thing: Iran lied.”
“After signing the nuclear deal in 2015, Iran intensified its efforts to hide its secret files,” he said. “In 2017 Iran moved its nuclear weapons files to a highly secret location in Tehran.”
Netanyahu said the secret nuclear files prove the following:
Iran lied about never having a secret nuclear program. Second, even after the deal it continued to expand its nuclear program for future use. Third, Iran lied by not coming clean to the IAEA. Finally, the nuclear deal is based on lies based on Iranian deception.
The prime minister’s speech was based on 55,000 pages of documents and 183 CDs that Netanyahu said were smuggled out of an “atomic archive” painstakingly preserving Iran’s secretive nuclear program so that the country would have the option of restarting its nuclear weapons activities after the nuclear deal expires or in the case of Tehran prematurely bolting the agreement. Israel’s ability to acquire the archive marks a massive intelligence coup for the Jewish state.
“Iran lied. Big time,” Netanyahu said of the half-ton of material obtained by Israel.
The trove, Netanyahu added, contains “incriminating documents, incriminating charts, incriminating presentations, incriminating blueprints, incriminating photos, incriminating videos and more.”
He said Israel shared the material with the U.S., and that “the United States can vouch for its authenticity.”
The “atomic archive” was compiled by Iran with the express purpose of preserving its secretive nuclear weapons plan known as Project Amad, which aimed to “design, produce and test… five warheads, each with a 10 kiloton TNT yield, for integration on a missile.”
“That is like five Hiroshima bombs to be put on ballistic missiles,” asserted Netanyahu.
Netanyahu outlined Project Amad as containing five key elements described by the Times of Israel thusly: “Designing nuclear weapons, developing nuclear cores, building nuclear implosion systems, preparing nuclear tests and integrating nuclear warheads on missiles.”
Netanyahu said that in 2003, Iran shut down the version of Project Amad that existed at the time and instead divided its nuclear program into both covert and overt components. Besides archiving the material for future use, Netanyahu said Iran continued to research nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu called on President Donald Trump to “do the right thing” as the May 12 deadline to recertify the nuclear agreement approaches.
“The right thing for the United States. The right thing for Israel. And the right thing for the peace of the world,” he concluded.
Rap megastar Kanye West released a new song on Saturday sending what could be considered one of the boldest political statement’s in rap history — questioning black Americans’ near-monolithic support of the Democratic Party.
The fiery track, “Ye vs the People,” sees the Chicago crooner in a back-in-forth lyrical debate about the merits of thinking freely and the political and economic state of black Americans, as well as addressing the fallout from West’s seeming embrace of President Donald Trump, with actor-rapper T.I.
“Bruh, I never ever stopped fightin’ for the people. Actually wearin’ the hat’ll show people that we equal,” West says of posting a picture online this week of him wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat — a hat which the rapper says “stayed in my closet like ’bout a year and a half.”
“Then one day I was like, ‘Fuck it, I’ma do me, I was in the sunken place and then I found the new me,” West says to a defensive T.I. “Not worried about some image that I gotta keep up. Lot of people agree with me, but they too scared to speak up.”
“See that’s the problem with this damn nation. All blacks gotta be Democrats, man, we ain’t made it off the plantation,” West argues.
T.I.’s verses confront West’s willingness to align himself with President Trump, questioning is West’s “selfish agenda” will “stop police from murderin’ niggas.”
“This shit is stubborn, selfish, bullheaded, even for you. You wore a dusty ass hat to represent the same views as white supremacy, man, we expect better from you,” says T.I., who last year called President Trump a “poster child for white supremacy.”
“Have you considered all the damage and the people you hurt?” T.I.’s rhyme continues. “You had a bad idea, and you’re makin’ it worse. This shit’s just as bad as Catholic preachers rapin’ in church.”
“Ye vs the People” comes after Kanye West’s wild week in which he received criticism for calling President Trump his brother.
The fashion mogul is reportedly gearing up to launch an initiative to help revitalize the lives of hundreds of thousands of Chicago, Illinois, residents.
