<div dir="ltr">Hi Roger,<div><br></div><div>We know for sure that Obama did not order any wire taps during his 96 months in office.  They can only be proposed by the FBI and then they require a court order.  Furthermore, it is against the law to wire tap U.S. citizens.  </div><div><br></div><div>If there were taps placed on Trump Tower phones, it was because a judge agreed that Trump's Russian associates were up to no good. It is a relief to hear that the FBI and NSA will be called to testify about Trump's friends before the House Intelligence Committee.</div><div><br></div><div>Yours for a Trump-free White House,</div><div><br></div><div>Nick</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 2:29 PM, Debi Smith <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Debismith@moscow.com" target="_blank">Debismith@moscow.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
  
    
  
  <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
    <p>Roger is a pretty smart guy. He will research this, not be
      suckered by the smoke and mirrors, and figure it out! He isn't
      really a "march in lockstep" sort like some others on the
      political right.....Having respect for the Office of the President
      means calling into question a president who has no respect for the
      office!<br>
    </p>
    <p>Debi R-S<br>
    </p><div><div class="h5">
    <br>
    <div class="m_686733509305227649moz-cite-prefix">On 3/7/2017 12:45 PM, Saundra Lund
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite">
      
      
      
      
      <div class="m_686733509305227649WordSection1">
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a">Roger,
            is this the article you are referring to?<u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/us/politics/trump-russia-associates-investigation.html" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2017/<wbr>01/19/us/politics/trump-<wbr>russia-associates-<wbr>investigation.html</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a">The
            article <b>does not state</b> that Manafort was wire tapped
            in Trump Towers but rather that some of his Russian contacts
            were under surveillance.  If you, me, or anyone else has
            contact with foreign operatives under legitimate
            surveillance by US intelligence agencies, our communications
            with those targets will – hopefully – be captured, whether
            we are in Trump Tower or not.  That is a <b>far, far</b>
            different thing than claiming you or I were the <b>subject</b>
            of a wire tapped.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a">Oh,
            and Trump Tower is <b>not</b> mentioned in the article at
            all.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a">I’m
            not sure where your misunderstanding comes from, but I have
            seen that incorrect spin from several biased sources.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a">With
            the rise of the dangerous alt-right and Trump’s “alternative
            facts” nonsense, it’s incumbent on each of us to work
            diligently to avoid being suckered.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a">HTH,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a">Saundra<u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a">
            <u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">The
                moral test of government is how it treats those who are
                in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the
                twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the
                shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the
                handicapped.<u></u><u></u></span></i></b></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1f497d">~
            Hubert Horatio Humphrey<u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#44546a"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">
            <a class="m_686733509305227649moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com" target="_blank">vision2020-bounces@moscow.com</a>
            [<a class="m_686733509305227649moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:vision2020-bounces@moscow.com" target="_blank">mailto:vision2020-bounces@<wbr>moscow.com</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>lfalen<br>
            <b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, March 7, 2017 11:49 AM<br>
            <b>To:</b> Nicholas Gier <a class="m_686733509305227649moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ngier006@gmail.com" target="_blank"><ngier006@gmail.com></a>;
            vision2020 <a class="m_686733509305227649moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank"><vision2020@moscow.com></a><br>
            <b>Subject:</b> Re: [Vision2020] Trump can be impeached for
            his charge about Obama Wire Tapping<u></u><u></u></span></p>
        <p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
        <div>
          <div>
            <div>
              <p class="MsoNormal">I do not know if the Obama
                administration wire taped Trump or not. The New York
                Time in January had an article that said The Obama
                Administration Wire taped Monafort  in the Trump Tower.<u></u><u></u></p>
            </div>
            <div>
              <p class="MsoNormal">Is this true or not. If it false,
                what is their liability?<u></u><u></u></p>
            </div>
            <div>
              <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">Roger <br>
                <br>
                <br>
                <u></u><u></u></p>
            </div>
            <div style="border:none;border-left:solid #777777 2.25pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 4.0pt;margin-left:3.75pt">
              <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt">-----Original
                Message----- <br>
                Subject: [Vision2020] Trump can be impeached for his
                charge about Obama Wire Tapping <br>
                From: "Nicholas Gier" <<a href="mailto:ngier006@gmail.com" target="_blank">ngier006@gmail.com</a>>
                <br>
                To: vision2020 <<a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">vision2020@moscow.com</a>>
                <br>
                Date: 03/07/17 18:14:10 <u></u><u></u></p>
              <div>
                <div>
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;background:#fafafa;vertical-align:baseline"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-03-06/trump-s-wiretap-tweets-raise-risk-of-impeachment" target="_blank"><span style="color:black">www.bloomberg.com/view/<wbr>articles/2017-03-06/trump-s-<wbr>wiretap-tweets-raise-risk-of-<wbr>impeachment</span>
                      </a></span><u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-top:3.75pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><b><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Trump's
                        Wiretap Tweets Raise Risk of Impeachment</span>
                    </b><u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div>
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:1.2pt">MARCH
                      6, 2017 1:42 PM EST</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div>
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">By
                      <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/contributors/AFZ_b1F72Xw/noah-feldman" target="_blank"><span style="color:black">Noah Feldman</span> </a></span><u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The
                      sitting president <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-03-04/trump-calls-obama-sick-claims-trump-tower-was-wiretapped" target="_blank"><span style="color:black">has accused</span> </a>his
                      predecessor of an act that could have gotten the
                      past president impeached. That's not your ordinary
                      exercise of free speech. If the accusation were
                      true, and President Barack Obama ordered a
                      warrantless wiretap of Donald Trump during the
                      campaign, the scandal would be of Watergate-level
                      proportions.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">But
                      if the allegation is not true and is unsupported
                      by evidence, that too should be a scandal on a
                      major scale. This is the kind of accusation that,
                      taken as part of a broader course of conduct,
                      could get the current president impeached. We
                      shouldn't care that the allegation was made early
                      on a Saturday morning on Twitter.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The
                      basic premise of the First Amendment is that truth
                      should defeat her opposite number. "Let her and
                      Falsehood grapple," wrote the poet and politician
                      John Milton, "who ever knew Truth put to the worse
                      in a free and open encounter?"</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">But
                      this rather optimistic adage only accounts for
                      speech and debate between citizens. It doesn't
                      apply to accusations made by the government. Those
                      are something altogether different.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">In
                      a rule of law society, government allegations of
                      criminal activity must be followed by proof and
                      prosecution. If not, the government is ruling by
                      innuendo.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Shadowy
                      dictatorships can do that because there is no need
                      for proof. Democracies can't.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Thus,
                      an accusation by a president isn't like an
                      accusation leveled by one private citizen against
                      another. It's about more than factual truth or
                      carelessness.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The
                      government's special responsibility has two bases.
                      One is that you can't sue the government for false
                      and defamatory speech. If I accused Obama of
                      wiretapping my phone, he could sue me for libel.
                      If my statement was knowingly false, I'd have to
                      pay up. On the other hand, if the president makes
                      the same statement, he can't be sued in his
                      official capacity. And a private libel suit mostly
                      likely wouldn't go anywhere against a sitting
                      president -- for <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-11-11/supreme-court-never-imagined-a-litigant-like-president-trump" target="_blank"><span style="color:black">good reason</span> </a>,
                      because the president shouldn't be encumbered by
                      lawsuits while in office.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The
                      second reason the government has to be careful
                      about making unprovable allegations is that its
                      bully pulpit is greater than any other. True, as
                      an ex-president, Obama can defend himself publicly
                      and has plenty of access to the news media. But
                      even he doesn't have the audience that Trump now
                      has. And essentially any other citizen would have
                      far less capacity to mount a defense than Obama.</span>
                    <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">For
                      these reasons, it's a mistake to say simply that
                      Trump's accusation against Obama is protected by
                      the First Amendment.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">False
                      and defamatory speech isn't protected by the First
                      Amendment.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">And
                      an allegation of potentially criminal misconduct
                      made without evidence is itself a form of serious
                      misconduct by the government official who makes
                      it.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">When
                      candidate Trump said Hillary Clinton was a
                      criminal who belonged in prison, he was exposing
                      himself to a libel suit. And the suit might not
                      have succeeded, because Trump could have said he
                      was making a political argument rather than an
                      allegation of fact.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">But
                      when President Trump accuses Obama of an act that
                      would have been impeachable and possibly criminal,
                      that's something much more serious than libel. If
                      it isn't true or provable, it's misconduct by the
                      highest official of the executive branch.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">How
                      is such misconduct by an official to be addressed?
                      There's a common-law tort of malicious
                      prosecution, but that probably doesn't apply when
                      the government official has no intention to
                      prosecute.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The
                      answer is that the constitutional remedy for
                      presidential misconduct is impeachment.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">That
                      would have been the correct remedy if Obama had
                      "ordered" a wiretap of the Republican presidential
                      candidate's phones. The president has no such
                      legal authority. Only a court can order a domestic
                      wiretap, and that only after a showing of probable
                      cause by the Department of Justice and the Federal
                      Bureau of Investigation.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Breaking
                      the law by tapping Trump's phones would have been
                      an abuse of executive power that implicated the
                      democratic process itself. Impeachment is the
                      remedy for such a serious abuse of the executive
                      office.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">That
                      includes abuse of office in the form of serious
                      accusations against political opponents if they
                      turn out to be false and made without evidence.
                      These, too, deform the democratic process.</span>
                    <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">The
                      Constitution speaks of impeachment for "high
                      crimes and misdemeanors." A lot of ink has been
                      spilled over these words, which date back at least
                      to impeachment <a href="http://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/abs/10.1484/J.MSS.3.1152" target="_blank"><span style="color:black">proceedings</span> </a>in
                      the 14th century. This isn't the place for a
                      detailed analysis.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Suffice
                      it to say that what makes crimes "high" is that
                      they pertain to the exercise of government office.
                      That's exactly what accusations by the executive
                      are: actions that take on their distinctive
                      meaning because they are made by government
                      officials.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">What's
                      more, government acts that distort and undercut
                      the democratic process are especially serious and
                      worthy of impeachment. The Watergate break-in to
                      the Democratic National Committee headquarters was
                      part of an effort to steal the 1972 election. A
                      wiretap of Trump's campaign would've had political
                      implications.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">And
                      accusing the past Democratic president of an
                      impeachable offense is every bit as harmful to
                      democracy, assuming it isn't true. Obama is the
                      best-known and most popular Democrat in the
                      country. The effect of attacking him isn't just to
                      weaken him personally, but to weaken the political
                      opposition to Trump's administration.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div style="margin-bottom:15.0pt">
                  <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:black">Given
                      how great the executive's power is, accusations by
                      the president can't be treated asymmetrically. If
                      the alleged action would be impeachable if true,
                      so must be the allegation if false. Anything else
                      would give the president the power to distort
                      democracy by calling his opponents criminals
                      without ever having to prove it.</span> <u></u><u></u></p>
                </div>
                <div>
                  <p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
                </div>
                <p class="MsoNormal">-- <u></u><u></u></p>
                <div>
                  <div>
                    <div>
                      <div>
                        <div>
                          <div>
                            <div>
                              <p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
                            </div>
                          </div>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                    <div>
                      <div>
                        <div>
                          <div>
                            <div>
                              <div>
                                <div>
                                  <div>
                                    <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">A
                                        society grows great when old men
                                        plant trees whose shade they
                                        know they shall never sit in. <br>
                                        <br>
                                        -Greek proverb </span><u></u><u></u></p>
                                  </div>
                                  <div>
                                    <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><br>
                                        "Enlightenment is man's
                                        emergence from his self-imposed
                                        immaturity. Immaturity is the
                                        inability to use one's
                                        understanding without guidance
                                        from another. This immaturity is
                                        self- imposed when its cause
                                        lies not in lack of
                                        understanding, but in lack of
                                        resolve and courage to use it
                                        without guidance from another.
                                        Sapere Aude! 'Have courage to
                                        use your own
                                        understand-ing!-that is the
                                        motto of enlightenment. <br>
                                        <br>
                                        --Immanuel Kant <br>
                                        <br>
                                      </span><u></u><u></u></p>
                                  </div>
                                </div>
                              </div>
                            </div>
                          </div>
                        </div>
                      </div>
                    </div>
                  </div>
                </div>
              </div>
              <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center" align="center">
                <hr align="center" size="2" width="100%"></div>
              <p class="MsoNormal">==============================<wbr>=========================
                <br>
                List services made available by First Step Internet, <br>
                serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br>
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                         mailto: <a href="http://index.html?_n%5Bp%5D%5Bmain%5D=win.main.tree&_n%5Bp%5D%5Bcontent%5D=mail.compose&to=Vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">Vision2020@moscow.com</a> <br>
                ==============================<wbr>=========================<u></u><u></u></p>
            </div>
          </div>
        </div>
      </div>
      <br>
      <fieldset class="m_686733509305227649mimeAttachmentHeader"></fieldset>
      <br>
      <pre>==============================<wbr>=========================
 List services made available by First Step Internet,
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
               <a class="m_686733509305227649moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.fsr.net" target="_blank">http://www.fsr.net</a>
          <a class="m_686733509305227649moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</a>
==============================<wbr>=========================</pre>
    </blockquote>
    <br>
  </div></div></div>

<br>==============================<wbr>=========================<br>
 List services made available by First Step Internet,<br>
 serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.<br>
               <a href="http://www.fsr.net" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://www.fsr.net</a><br>
          mailto:<a href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">Vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>
==============================<wbr>=========================<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>   <div style="height:auto;width:auto">   <div> <div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10pt"><div><span style="font-size:13.3333330154419px">A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. </span><br style="font-size:13.3333330154419px"><br style="font-size:13.3333330154419px"><span style="font-size:13.3333330154419px">-Greek proverb</span></div><div><br>
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. 
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance 
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not 
in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it 
without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your 
own understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.<br>
<br>
--Immanuel Kant<br>
<br><br></div></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>