Mainstream Media Unsure How to Best Discredit Itself Over Wiretapping Situation

As you've likely heard, Trump has accused the Obama administration of wiretapping his campaign during the general election. The response of the media has been something like this:

The media, which has run for months on hysteria of collusion between Trump and Russia during the election despite not one iota of evidence, is rapping Trump's knuckles for tweeting without evidence. Don't you love when the double standard is in open display? Apparently news organizations are permitted to run stories without evidence, but a 140-character tweet must be properly cited. I don't think anyone really expects tweets to be held to some high level of journalistic rigor, so the implication being made is that there is no evidence to support Trump's claims. Other headlines spread the same implication. Politico tells us that lawmakers are "stunned, baffled" by the comments. Allegedly many are left scratching their heads over the statements.

Let's look at this case from the point of view of a criminal investigator.

Motive

Obama has said the following about Trump's presidential bid.

I think the Republican nominee is unfit to serve as president.

He is woefully unprepared to do this job.  

 Everything that we've done over the last eight years will be reversed with a Trump presidency.

I would fear for the future of our country.

If somebody can’t handle a Twitter account, they can’t handle the nuclear codes. 

It smells like motive to me. Obama commented openly and frequently his grave concerns about the dangers a Trump presidency posed to the nation.

Behavioral patterns

This is not the first wire-tapping scandal under the Obama administration.

1. Edward Snowden revealed massive warrantless wiretapping against American citizens. (source)
2. Angela Merkel's personal devices were wiretapped, causing a huge diplomatic roe. (source)
3.  Mexico summoned the US Ambassador over revelations he was wiretapped by the US. (source)
4. The Brazilian president was so enraged at being wiretapped by the US that she canceled a state visit with Obama. (source)
5. Fox News reporter James Cohen was wiretapped. (source)
6. They wiretapped more than 20 AP journalists. (source)
7. The Obama administration was sued by former CBS journalist Sharyl Attkisson for wiretapping her computer and cell phone. (source)
8. The Obama administration twice sought FISA warrants against Trump. In June 2016 they were denied. It was the first FISA refusal in six years! In October they again applied for a warrant with a reduced scope and it was granted. (source, not sure if verified. The Washington Post refutes it.)

Update: this was laid out more thoroughly at TheGatewayPundit.

Evidence

There actually is evidence to support Trump's claim.

1. The FISA warrant was pursued and obtained by the Trump administration.
2. Michael Flynn was almost certainly wiretapped. (source)
3. The NY Times reported on the leaks two months ago. (source)

A screen grab from that article shows they specifically use the term wiretapping.

And that brings us to the point I really want to make: media absurdity. Mark Levin made the case this morning on Fox News using the media's own previous reporting on the subject.

The MSM is insinuating that Trump is running reckless with accusations that have no supporting evidence. Yet the MSM also previously reported on it. Only one of the following conclusions can be made.

• The current reporters are unaware of the previous reporting
• The media is being intentionally deceitful in insinuating there is no supporting evidence
• The media is confessing that it runs stories with no supporting evidence

Any case leads to the same result: the MSM does not engage in real journalism. It is fake news.


Update: here is a good piece from Breitbart along the same lines