Magicians must love the mainstream media.  Magic depends on misdirection.  “LOOK HERE!  Because we don’t want you to watch what we are doing OVER THERE!”  If and when there is a second sequel to the film Now You See Me, the “Four Horsemen” will be played by Donald Trump, Devin Nunes, Paul Ryan and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Their latest act is the release of a memo which suggests the FBI and Department of Justice tricked the judges charged under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to issue a warrant to listen into conversations of Carter Page, a one-time foreign policy advisor to the Trump campaign.  And right on cue, most media outlooks assumed the purpose of their performance was to discredit individuals associated with the investigation into Russian meddling into the 2016 elections.  All afternoon, the question on cable news and in digital editions of virtually every newspaper was, “Will Donald Trump use the memo to justify firing Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel?  And by extension, name a new deputy attorney general who will shut down the investigation?”

Yet everyone admits there is nothing in the memo which incriminates either Rosenstein or Mueller.  The target of the memo is the FISA warrant itself.  C’mon folks.  All of the cable news networks have very qualified legal correspondents with years of experience as prosecutors and/or defense lawyers.  What do you do when the opposition has a “smoking gun?”  You attempt to discredit the evidence in hopes the jury will never see it.

This was not the White House’s first attempt to cast a shadow over the entire FISA process.  On January 11, 2018, Trump tweeted:

House votes on controversial FISA ACT today. This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others.

I will admit I have no hard evidence for what I am about to suggest except what has been reported about how Trump spends his so-called “executive time.”  CNN reported on January 17, 2018, “executive time” is spent largely talking on the phone with advisors, lawmakers and staff.  Axios reporter Jonathan Swan described “executive time” as a rebranding of the mornings Trump spends in the residence (rather than the Oval Office) watching TV, tweeting and making phone calls.

One thing we have learned from presidential historians, the occupant of the White House does not change patterns of behavior on inauguration day.  They tend to conduct business in the same manner in which they behaved in their former lives.  Therefore, “executive time” was most likely something Trump did in his private life and as a candidate.  Which leads to only one conclusion.

There are two types of people in Washington this morning.  Those claiming the original FISA warrant and the three renewals were politically motivated and, this is key, have NOT seen the underlying documentation.  This includes Devin Nunes.  And those who suggest the memo is inaccurate and (drum role) actually have the security clearance to have read that documentation.

Remember, the impetus for the warrant was partially evidence from U.S. and foreign intelligence sources that Americans were intercepted talking to Russians who were under surveillance.  The FISA warrant allowed direct surveillance of Carter Page, including conversations with other Americans.  Individuals who have seen the warrant and possibly some of the products of the subsequent surveillance, know who is has been on the other end of Page’s conversations.  One can only guess who those individuals might be.  But if any are either members of the Trump campaign or Donald, himself, as his defense attorney, I would do whatever I could to ensure that evidence never sees the light of day.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP