Obama White House was privy to FBI spying on Trump campaign

Evidence that the Obama White House was privy to the FBI spying on the Trump 2016 Presidential campaign is borne out in the four heavily-redacted Verified Applicationsmade by the FBI to the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Court to spy on Carter W Page – an American citizen and identified in the Applications as a former member of Trump's campaign Committee.

The first Application was made in October 2016 by a person whose name is redacted – but who is identified in Paragraph 1 as:

A Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) whose official duties at FBI headquarters include supervision of the FBI's investigation of the above captioned target [Ed: Carter W Page] based on information officially furnished to [redacted].

Who officially furnished the information to the FBI?

Paragraph 2 of the Application provides the answer:

The target of this Application is Carter W Page a US person and an agent of a foreign power described in detail below. The status of the target was determined in or about October 2016 from information provided by the Department of State.

John Kerry was the then Secretary of State and one of President Obama's most trusted advisors and confidantes. It would be incredulous if the information supplied to the FBI was done without Kerry's authorization beforehand after having first discussed its release with the President.

Under Paragraph 6 of the Application:

The certification of the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs or an Executive Branch official duly designated by the President as a certifying official in Executive Order Number [ redacted] as amended is set forth below.

The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs was Susan E Rice – who did not certify the Application. James B Comey Director of the FBI - apparently a duly authorized Executive Branch official – did. It is inconceivable that Rice would not have been informed by Comey of the Application.

In certifying the Application – Comey declared:

Based on the foregoing information it is the Government's belief that the authorities requested herein targeting Page are critical investigative means for obtaining the Foreign Intelligence information identified herein.

The Application asserted that Page was publicly identified by Trump as part of his foreign policy team in March 2016.

Targeting Page would give the FBI access to all his emails - past and present, sent and received - whilst a member of the Trump campaign committee and perhaps even after he ceased to be a member until his removal from the circular chain of communications to members of the campaign committee.

Approval to the filing of the Application was required from the Attorney General. The Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates – deputizing for Attorney General Loretta Lynch – signed her approval. Again it is highly unlikely the Attorney General was kept in the dark about this Application.

An official in the Department of Justice – name redacted – requested the Court to authorize the activities described in the Application - which were redacted.

The Judge who heard the first Application – Rosemary M Collier –stated:

The Application has been made by a Federal Officer and approved by the Attorney General.

This Application to spy on an American citizen was therefore:

• Initiated by the Department of State
• Certified by an authorized signatory designated by President Obama
• Approved by the Attorney General
• Approved by the Department of Justice

Carter Page has never been charged with any offence.

Those in Obama's White House, Department of State, Attorney General's Office and Department of Justice may not be so lucky as Page - when current Attorney General William Barr concludes his own investigation.