They cannot legally wiretap a US citizen without a warrant (4th A)
But they can tap non-citizens overseas
Obviously, US citizens can easily get caught up in those taps because of the two-way (or more) nature of those communications
The NSA, by law, is supposed to redact (or "mask") the American's names/identities of the transcripts of those calls/communications.
Here, there appear to be multiple failures to mask the US persons' identities. One example of this is what happened to Mike Flynn. But it sounds like more are involved.
Further, all intercepts of this type are classified (there may be nuance to the exact classification, but broadly, all of it is classified).
Here, someone(s) released these transcripts (in what sounds like print outs of tapped communications). Released without prior, proper authorization. This is a felony.
For now, it sounds like the person(s) responsible are Obama holdovers. But we do not yet know for sure. From my perspective, it looks like they thought they could get away with it if they brought Trump down first, before the details of what they did came out. Which is what all this is about (I think). But they failed (I think of it as a failed soft coup). They took a big chance. And lost. And so now somebody (or somebodies) has to face the music for their crimes.
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Last edited: Mar 22, 2017