On March 14th Judge Andrew Napolitano said:

“Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command. He didn’t use the NSA. He didn’t use the CIA. He didn’t use the FBI, and he didn’t use Department of Justice. He used GCHQ. What the heck is GCHQ? That’s the initials for the British spying agency. They have 24/7 access to the NSA database. So by simply having two people go to them saying, ‘President Obama needs transcripts of conversations involving candidate Trump, conversations involving president-elect Trump,’ he’s able to get it, and there’s no American fingerprints on this.”

~ Judge Andrew Napolitano

On March 20th Fox News suspended Napolitano for making those remarks.  The British government and British intelligence community was furious at Napolitano and Fox News.  At the time Rupert Murdoch was attempting to purchase SkyNews, which might have aided in the severity of his response to Napolitano.

However, today CNN is confirming much of the construct for what Napolitano was previously saying: 

CNN – British and other European intelligence agencies intercepted communications between associates of Donald Trump and Russian officials and other Russian individuals during the campaign and passed on those communications to their US counterparts, US congressional and law enforcement and US and European intelligence sources tell CNN.

The communications were captured during routine surveillance of Russian officials and other Russians known to western intelligence. British and European intelligence agencies, including GCHQ, the British intelligence agency responsible for communications surveillance, were not proactively targeting members of the Trump team but rather picked up these communications during what’s known as “incidental collection,” these sources tell CNN.

The European intelligence agencies detected multiple communications over several months between the Trump associates and Russian individuals — and passed on that intelligence to the US. The US and Britain are part of the so-called “Five Eyes” agreement (along with Canada, Australia and New Zealand), which calls for open sharing among member nations of a broad range of intelligence. (read more)

Against the backdrop of President Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice finally admitting she was the White House entity who unmasked the names of U.S. people contained within U.S. intelligence reports, the prior substantive concerns of Judge Andrew Napolitano appear confirmed.

It would appear the justification for the early 2016 President Obama surveillance program was, in part, constructed by utilizing information from British intelligence sources.

Earlier we considered that NSA Director Mike Rogers didn’t want to participate in, or give aid in relationship to, the surveillance scheme.  Consequently, the Obama White House worked around Rogers with another source, British Government Communications Head Quarters (GCHQ), for the same information.

In 2013 Edward Snowden released information the UK GCHQ was being party funded by the U.S. NSA to the tune of over £100 million:

[…]  The funding underlines the closeness of the relationship between GCHQ and its US equivalent, the National Security Agency. But it will raise fears about the hold Washington has over the UK’s biggest and most important intelligence agency, and whether Britain’s dependency on the NSA has become too great. (link)

January 23rd, 2017, three days after President Trump’s inauguration, the head of the U.K. General Communications Head Quarters (GCHQ) unexpectedly resigns:

Robert Hannigan, the director of GCHQ, has resigned from his job as head of one of the three Government intelligence agencies after just two years.

GCHQ would only say that Mr Hannigan had left his post for “personal reasons” and that he was not sacked or subject to disciplinary proceedings.  (link)

[Previously] In hindsight, NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers may have notified Team Trump of Obama’s Intelligence Community (James Clapper and John Brennan) involvement or engagement in surveillance activity.

As you look at the dates below, it’s important to note that NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers would be keenly aware of both the June FISA request – Denied, and the October request – Granted.  Pay specific attention to the October request. “October”!.

June 2016: FISA request. The Obama administration files a request with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to monitor communications involving Donald Trump and several advisers. The request, uncharacteristically, is denied.

October 2016: FISA request. The Obama administration submits a new, narrow request to the FISA court, now focused on a computer server in Trump Tower suspected of links to Russian banks. No evidence is found — but the wiretaps continue, ostensibly for national security reasons.

Andrew McCarthy at National Review later notes. The Obama administration is now monitoring an opposing presidential campaign using the high-tech surveillance powers of the federal intelligence services.

♦ On Tuesday November 8th, 2016 the election was held.  Results announced Wednesday November 9th, 2016.

♦ On Thursday November 17th, 2016, NSA Director Mike Rogers traveled to New York and met with President-Elect Donald Trump.

♦ On Friday November 18th The Washington Post reported on a recommendation in “October” that Mike Rogers be removed from his NSA position:

The heads of the Pentagon and the nation’s intelligence community have recommended to President Obama that the director of the National Security Agency, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, be removed.

The recommendation, delivered to the White House last month, was made by Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., according to several U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

[…]  In a move apparently unprecedented for a military officer, Rogers, without notifying superiors, traveled to New York to meet with Trump on Thursday at Trump Tower. That caused consternation at senior levels of the administration, according to the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel matters. (link)

Remember, historically The Washington Post is the preferred outlet for the CIA and Intelligence Community within Deep State to dump their “leaks” and stories.  [The State Department “leaks” to CNN for the same purposes.]

♦ On Saturday November 19th Reuters reported on the WaPo Story and additional pressure by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and DNI James Clapper to fire Mike Rogers.

[…]  The Washington Post reported that a decision by Rogers to travel to New York to meet with Trump on Thursday without notifying superiors caused consternation at senior levels of the administration, but the recommendation to remove him predated his visit.  (link)

If you just look at the timeline of activity a picture emerges:

1. The Intelligence Community -at the direction of President Obama- made a request to a FISA court for the NSA to spy on Donald Trump in June 2016.  It was denied.
2. In October the Intelligence Community (NSA) -at the direction of President Obama- made a second request to the FISA court for the NSA to spy on activity around Donald Trump.  It was approved.
3. At around the same time (October), as the second request, (Def Sec) Ash Carter and (DNI) James Clapper tell President Obama to dump NSA Director Mike Rogers.
4. A week after the election, Director Mike Rogers makes a trip to Trump Tower without telling his superior, James Clapper….
5. …Which immediately brings about new calls (November media leaks to WaPo) for President Obama to dump Admiral Mike Rogers.

President Trump and Defense Secretary Mattis both gave almost identical responses today when asked about the future administration policy toward Syria.   Secretary Mattis speaking from the Pentagon stated:

…”I think what we have to look at here is a policy decision by the United States.  There is a limit to what we can do.  And when you look at what happened with this chemical attack we knew that we could not stand passive on this.  But it was not a statement that we could enter full-fledged, full-bore, into the most complex civil war probably waging on the planet at this time.”  (link)

President Trump speaking to the New York Post stated:

(Via New York Post) Amid complaints that his aides are saying different things about Syria and his policy is confusing, President Trump emphatically cleared the air.

“We’re not going into Syria,” he told me yesterday in an exclusive interview. “Our policy is the same — it hasn’t changed. We’re not going into Syria.”

The president, speaking by phone Tuesday, called Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a “butcher” and a “barbarian” for using sarin gas on his own people, but said last week’s successful missile strike was not the start of a campaign to oust the dictator.

“Our big mission is getting rid of ISIS,” Trump said. “That’s where it’s always been. But when you see kids choking to death, you watch their lungs burning out, we had to hit him and hit him hard.”

He called the attack, which involved 59 cruise missiles fired from two Navy destroyers, “an act of humanity.”  (read more)

[Via Michael Goodwin] When I asked the President Tuesday afternoon if he still has confidence in Steve Bannon, who took over the campaign in mid-August, I did not get a definitive yes.

“I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.”

He ended by saying, “Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will.” (link)

President Trump is the wave, the Tsunami wave.  Steve Bannon is the surfer…. you already know how this story ends:

The conspiracy nutters and cruz-bots are going to go bananas when surfer Bannon falls into the rocks.  It’s clear now, the fall is coming.  Oh well.

Good to remind yourself that Steve Bannon was the political strategist of billionaire Robert Mercer supporting Ted Cruz in 2014 and 2015.

Never forget Steve Bannon at Breitbart put together the data-collection strategy consisting of the presidential support polling for more than a year; and delivering the user-data to the Ted Cruz campaign which they then combined with with Mercer’s Cambridge Analytica to fundraise on behalf of Ted Cruz. –Full Background–

Steve Bannon was campaigning for Ted Cruz for a long time, and sent donor solicitation on behalf of Ted Cruz’s campaign using Breitbart letterhead and email banner headings.

Despite the small base appeal of the preaching, Bannon, Robert and Rebekkah Mercer, saw Ted Cruz as the best candidate to beat Jeb Bush.  Until Donald Trump squished Ted.

Robert Mercer, Steve Bannon and Kelly-anne Conway were part of Team Cruz all the way through the GOP convention.   It wasn’t until Senator Cruz embarrassed himself with his self-righteous and sanctimonious convention speech that financial backers Robert and Rebekkah Mercer dumped Cruz and directed all resources they controlled -including Bannon and Conway- to assist the Trump campaign.

It was Jared Kushner’s (and Ivanka) counsel with Donald Trump that advised his father-in-law to hire Steve Bannon and Kelly-Anne Conway as a useful strategy.  The social media moonbats who tried to force the hand of President Trump to remove Kushner are loons for thinking such a position would be even considered.

Then again, the antisemitic crowd and Cruz supporters are just that – loons.