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Conservatives last week devoured a story by John Solomon and Sara Carter at Circa with this title, Obama intel agency secretly conducted illegal searches on Americans for years. The Obama administration, noted the story, had routinely violated American privacy protections while scouring through overseas intercepts and failed to disclose the extent of the problems until the final days before Donald Trump was elected president last fall.

That sort of misfeasance merited followup by the mainstream media, according to various voices on the right. NewsBusters scolded, Nets Blackout Massive Constitutional Violations by Obamas NSA. PJ Media: Shock: Complete MSM News Blackout on NSA Illegal Spying Bombshell. Mollie Hemingway of the Federalist did a social-media roundup of the un-coverage:

Fox News correspondent James Rosen also pushed the mainstream-media blackout notion on the evening news program Special Report with Bret Baier. On Thursday, he credited Circa for being the first to obtain the documents related to the NSA story, and then said this about the amount of pickup the revelations have triggered: The sheer scale of the Fourth Amendment violations disclosed is staggering as was the sternness of the rebuke to the Obama administration delivered by the FISA court which ordinarily approves 99.9 percent of the governments request for surveillance, said Rosen. As of a few minutes ago, however, Bret, the story had not been covered on The Washington Post, New York Times, nor any of the three nightly news broadcasts on the three broadcast networks.

Baier responded, Amazing.

Amazing might describe the corrections that Rosen has since issued on Fox News airwaves.

On Friday, he attempted to correct the record in this manner:

Finally, I was in error when I stated on this program yesterday that the New York Times and the Washington Post had not reported on the FISA courts admonition of the NSA for its own Fourth Amendment violations. Both newspapers covered the change in NSA practices instituted by the Trump administration. And the Times published nine words from the documents weve explored in much greater depth here in the ninth paragraph of a story that ran on page A-21 two weeks ago. I regret the error.

So thats an insult wrapped in a correction. Clearly, someone out there perhaps an enraged staffer or two at the New York Times alerted Rosen to the snottiness of his correction. Because on Monday nights program, Rosen corrected the correction:

Last week, we reported on recently declassified documents in which the FISA court sternly admonished the FBI for violations of Americans Fourth Amendment rights during the Obama era. I made two errors. I said the Web site Circa broke the story and I said the New York Times and Washington Post hadnt covered it. And my last attempt at a correction didnt do it justice.

So here is take two. In fact, it was the New York Times Charlie Savage who first broke the NSA violations and the FISA courts intervention in an exclusive that was published on Page A-1 on April 28. The Washington Post followed with an article that cited the Times reporting.

Then on May 11, after the FISA court documents were declassified on the Website of the Office of Director of National Intelligence, Charlie Savage again reported on the matter for the Times, including quotations from the FISA court documents.

I regret those errors.

To recap, the New York Times: didnt fail to cover the story. And didnt cover the story only in slight detail. It broke the story and then explained it.

How did Rosen come up with this notion about the New York Times in the first place? Too much Twitter? He issued this statement to this blog:

I decided to issue a second, fuller correction because I recognized that my first attempt had not conveyed to our viewers that Charlie Savage of the New York Times had in fact broken the story well before the news outlet Circa, which I had inaccurately credited as having done so. The chief reason why the first correction proved inadequate was that I misguidedly tried to cram the relevant information into fifteen seconds time; ultimately, that concision sacrificed comprehensiveness, and so I decided, after some thoughtful exchanges with Charlie a colleague I respect deeply, and a former guest of mine on The Foxhole to take a second stab at it. This was the right thing to do in terms of both comprehensiveness and collegiality. I also posted both corrections on my Twitter feed, with all appropriate tags. Issuing corrections is never fun as even the Erik Wemple Blog can attest and I am grateful to be so inexperienced at it.

A nod to Rosen for extensive self-correction as well as for answering the question of the Erik Wemple Blog.

Charlie Savage, the New York Times reporter who broke the story, has among the most difficult jobs in Beltway journalism. It falls to him to detail in comprehensible terms how the National Security Agency implements Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which authorizes intelligence officials to target the communications of non-U.S. persons located outside the United States for foreign intelligence purposes. A key limitation on Section 702 surveillance is that it cannot be used to intentionally target U.S. citizens and even people known to be in the United States.

That very tension the need to surveil foreign threats without scooping up U.S. citizens is at the heart of Savages April 28 article. Under the headline N.S.A. Halts Collection of Americans Emails About Foreign Targets, Savage brought to light some surveillance developments with a long history. As the article explained, the tentacles of this surveillance extend all the way back to 2001, when the administration of George W. Bush birthed the Stellarwind program, which, as Savage noted, bypassed statutes and court oversight.

By 2007, when the Bush administration started implementing the program with the blessing of Congress and the oversight of a FISA court, it insisted on a broad application of its surveillance powers a sentiment thats hardly a surprise given the inclinations of then-Vice President Dick Cheney. The Bush people wanted to sweep up not only direct communications by foreign targets, but also communications among others that referenced those targets so-called about communications. Under the proposed method of conducting electronic surveillance, then, N.S.A. will be in a position not only to learn information about the activities of its targets, but also to discover information about new potential targets that it may never have otherwise acquired, according to a 2007 statement from an NSA official cited by the New York Times.

All of this activity relates to NSAs upstream surveillance. Whats that? Its data supplied by backbone communications companies such as AT&T and Verizon. Cross-border communications featuring so-called selectors like an email address used by targets are forwarded to NSA. Heres a slightly more involved explanation that comes from an NSA inspector general report:

The practice of vacuuming up about communications has spawned complications and excesses. In 2011, as Savage notes, the NSA disclosed to the FISA court that a byproduct of upstream about-style collection meant the agency was also sucking in thousands of purely domestic emails each year without a warrant. The court decided that practice violated the Fourth Amendment, then agreed to a fix that permitted it to continue. The solution included a rule that analysts would not be permitted to search for information about Americans within the raw repository of emails gathered from Internet switches. A report by the NSA inspector general found that the agencys controls on this front have not been completely developed.

Rosemary M. Collyer, a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, hammered the NSA for lack of candor and cited the search problems as a a very serious Fourth Amendment issue. Even so, she reauthorized the program after NSA ended about collections.

Though Savage had explained all the foregoing in stories dated April 28 and May 11, a big chunk of the American newsphere treated Circas story of May 24 as something explosive and new. Part of the reason stems from the signposts installed by the Circa reporters. Sample this sentence: More than 5 percent, or one out of every 20 searches seeking upstream Internet data on Americans inside the NSAs so-called Section 702 database violated the safeguards Obama and his intelligence chiefs vowed to follow in 2011, according to one classified internal report reviewed by Circa. Bolding added to highlight language suggesting top-secret exclusivity.

Asked about that matter, Solomon told the Erik Wemple Blog that if Circa had gotten the document exclusively, the story would have said obtained by Circa instead of reviewed by Circa.

The Circa reporters could have saved the Internet a lot of panting if they had only linked to Savages story, not to mention The Posts piece. Asked about that omission, Solomon responded that the New York Times story wasnt enterprise reporting. It was an announcement story, Solomon told this blog. Savages April 28 story, however, preceded the NSA announcement. Like many important details in the article he co-wrote, Solomon got that wrong, says Savage in a statement to this blog. The New York Times April 28 story was not a write-up of a N.S.A. announcement. Rather, based on sources, I learned what happened and we published an exclusive enterprise article around 1 p.m. on our website. The N.S.A. issued its statement about three hours later, as reporters at other news outlets were writing their own stories about the news.

The Circa piece on the NSA under President Barack Obama was part of a trio of stories that also included a look at the CIAs approach to unmasking and the FBIs sharing of data with third parties. Springboarding off the New York Timess spot news coverage, Solomon went deeper into the issues and focused on the violations of the surveillance rules, he says. The violations didnt get media attention, he says. That is irrefutable.

Scolding the Erik Wemple Blog, Solomon said, Come on, youre in search of a story and making up a controversy. The New York Times and the Washington Post didnt do anything exclusive.

Right, except cover the story. First. Despite a wide-ranging blackout.

Fox News personality Jesse Watters made a controversial joke about Ivanka Trump on April 25 and now he's the latest Fox host to land himself in trouble. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

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Fox News: New York Times boycotted Obama surveillance story ...

"In this new world we live in, we cant isolate ourselves. We cant hide behind walls," the former president said in Berlin. | AP Photo

Obamas calculated but opaque opposition to Trump was on full display in Berlin.

By Edward-Isaac Dovere

05/25/2017 09:44 AM EDT

Updated 05/25/2017 10:09 AM EDT

When they realized former President Barack Obama was going to be in Berlin the same day President Donald Trump was going to be in Brussels, Angela Merkel was the one who called the White House to break the news.

The German chancellor invited Obama to the event in front of the Brandenburg Gate last year, before the election. Officially part of a multi-day gathering sponsored by the Protestant church in Germany, focused on youth and highlighting an exchange program between Berlin and Chicago, it was really about letting Obama boost his friend ahead of her fall reelection campaign and begin the international phase of his own post-presidency.

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But, as soon as he accepted earlier this year, it also became an integral piece of Obamas approach to Trump: present the contrast by continuing to pop up, push back on the sense that Trumps winning while barely saying a word explicitly about Trump.

The only request the former presidents aides made of the organizers of the Berlin event was it not be structured as an Obama versus Trump debate. Other than that, they said, the conversation can go where it will.

"In this new world we live in, we cant isolate ourselves. We cant hide behind a wall," Obama said Thursday, in the closest he came to directly taking on his successor.

Obama is aware how much people are searching for Trump attacks in every word he says. Hes just as opposed to Trumps presidency as he was on the morning of Election Day. How hes doing this is deliberate.

Susan B. Glassers new weekly podcast takes you backstage in a world disrupted.

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"Obama has a clear view on how countries, including the U.S., should confront the challenges we all face. He didn't shy away from making that case as president and he's not going to now, said one person close to him. But not everything needs to be said to be understood as Woody Allen famously put it, 80 percent is just showing up."

With his early post-presidency focused on inspiring more young people to get involved civically, he said Thursday of the kind of burn-down-the-establishment that propelled Trump, those who believe politicians are all corrupt, and institutions are all corrupt if thats your attitude, then yes, things will get worse. But itll get worse because you did not make the commitment to live out the values and the things you believe in most.

Obama talked health care and immigration policy. He defended his cautious use of drones in response to a question from a German college student. He urged against militarism and the kind of bigger military budget that Trump has touted the national security budget shouldnt just be seen as military hardware, it should be seen as development, it should be seen as diplomacy, he said.

While Trump was meeting with European leaders, Obama was cautioning against absolutism and self-assurance.

If I become so convinced that, Im always right, Obama said, the logical conclusion of that often ends up being great cruelty and great violence.

Berlin was Obamas last foreign stop as president last November, as part of a trip the week after the election that was meant to be a warm send-off, but after Trump won, became a tough tour trying to explain to a startled Europe and the world what had happened and why he still believed hed be proven right over time. As he did nonstop in those days after the election, on Thursday, he was back to quoting Martin Luther King Jr.s the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

But Merkel, who was open about rooting for Hillary Clinton and now has been trying to manage a relationship with a president who bashed her on the campaign trail and famously didnt shake her hand during her Oval Office visit, will live out the strange balance on Thursday: she had breakfast in Berlin with the former president before the event, and flies to Brussels to have dinner with Trump as part of the NATO summit.

David Axelrod, Obamas former top adviser and a person who attended both Obamas post-presidency debut at the University of Chicago in April and his speech at the John F. Kennedy Library earlier this month in which he called on Republicans to have the political courage to keep Obamacare in place, said the difference between Obama and Trump is so clear in politics, demeanor and appearance that the former president doesnt need to do much to keep alive the sense of clear alternative.

President Obama is acutely aware of the parameters of his role but also the power of the platform, Axelrod said. He's not going to be the point of the spear in the political wars.

But that doesnt mean at all that Obamas off the battlefield. After all, sitting in the audience in Berlin was Obamas former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes, whos still on the Obama payroll and is extremely close to the former president, and has become one of Trumps most frequent and harsh critics through Twitter.

When he sits down with Angela Merkel in Berlin to discuss the importance of civic engagement and democratic participation, the spirit of the event and warmth of their relationship will strike an unmistakable contrast, Axelrod said. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words.

In America, many Democrats are desperate for Obama to be doing more against Trump, but hes refusing to both out of a sense that he shouldnt be so explicitly political as a former president and out of conviction that the more he speaks, the fewer new leaders will rise up. In Germany, he remains immensely popular the crowd in front of the Brandenburg Gate was a sliver of the 200,000 who showed up to see him in 2008, but they were rapt, some holding signs like, Welcome Home, Youre Looking Great, and Du Bist Ein Berliner.

Trump is not popular in Germany and much of Europe at all.

Merkel was clearly happy to have Obama there, using him as both a buffer and explainer for some the issues shes taken the most heat for, like welcoming tens of thousands of refugees. Smiling and bantering throughout, she even seemed to tease the cynical jokes that with Trumps election, shes now the leader of the free world: when the moderator directed a question toward Obama as the most powerful man for a while sits next to me, she interrupted, Im sitting next to you, not the president, according to a simultaneous translation provided by the event.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer did not respond to questions about Obamas comments, or Obamas decision to do the event at all in the middle of Trumps first international trip as president.

Beyond the basic deference of not engaging Trump directly, Obama isnt going to let the current president define or limit what he does.

When we found out he was going to be in Europe, said one Obama Foundation aide, it didnt have any impact on what we were doing.

Were not going to step into his space, but we have our own agenda, the aide added.

At the same time Obama was onstage with Merkel, Trump was meeting with European Council Presidents Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker, whove been critical of Brexit and the Trump worldview.

"Do you know, Mr. President, we have two presidents in the EU?" Tusk said as they posed for photographers who were briefly allowed into the meeting.

"I know that, Trump replied.

"One too much, Juncker chimed in.

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Barack Obama appeared in Berlin with Angela Merkel and, making an apparent jab at Donald Trump, said, 'We can't hide behind a wall.' Elizabeth Keatinge (@elizkeatinge) has more. Buzz60

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, left, listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a ceremony to unveil artifacts from the World Trade Center and Berlin Wall for the new NATO headquarters, May 25, 2017, in Brussels.(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)

Barack Obama and Donald Trump appeared in public at the same time in Europe Thursday, but reactions could not have been starker.

The former presidentreceived a rock-star welcome in Berlin, while his successor received looks of bewilderment from European leaders in Brussels.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former president Barack Obama arrive for a discussion on democracy at Church Congress on May 25, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.(Photo: Steffi Loos, Getty Images)

Here are somereasons why so many Europeans love Obama and loathe Trump.

NATO

Trump chastised his colleagues for not contributing enough to their collective defense. "NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations, Trump said. "Twenty-threeof 28 nations in the alliance are not paying what they should be paying for their defense. This is very unfair to the taxpayers of the USA.

During the campaign, Trump calledNATO obsolete and that before sending U.S. troops to defend Europe, he would check whether members had met their defense spending obligations. He later backtracked on both issuesand has promised to increase the U.S. military presence in Europe.

On Thursday, Trumpnoted"the commitments that bind us together as one" and promised to "never forsake the friends who stood by our side."

Obama, who reduced the U.S. military presence in Europe before increasing it after Russia's aggression towardUkraine, never raised any doubts about the U.S. commitment to the allianceand had a more cooperative approach withEuropean leaders.

A young spectator takes a picture, alongside another holding a sign reading 'Obama can we keep you?', during a conversation event with former president Barack Obama on the topic of 'Being Involved in Democracy: Taking on Responsibility Locally and Globally' at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, on May 25, 2017.(Photo: Clemens Bilan, EPA)

EUROPEAN UNION

Trump angered European leaders in January, when he told British Prime Minister Theresa May that Brexit, the British exit from the European Union,is going to be a wonderful thing for your country. The move, approved in a referendum in June 2016,would help Britain re-establish its own identity, control immigration and engage in trade withwhoever it wants, Trump said.

The reaction was harsh. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in March he would campaign for the secession of U.S. states, such as Ohio and Texas, if the U.S. president continued with such talk.

On Thursday, Trump seemed to have changed his tune. He privatelytold European leaders he is worriedU.S. jobs could be lost because of Brexit, according to local media reports.

Pro-EU Obama warned before the historic votethat if it went forward the U.K. is going to be in the back of the queue on trade deals with the U.S. The U.K. is at its best when its helping to lead a strong European Union, Obamasaid lastApril.

U.S. President Donald Trump, right, speaks to British Prime Minister Theresa May during a working dinner meeting at the NATO headquarters during a NATO summit of heads of state and government in Brussels on May 25, 2017.(Photo: Matt Dunham, AP)

INTELLIGENCE LEAKS

May on Thursday complained to Trump about crime scene photosfrom Monday's suicide bombing in Manchester, England, which were shared with intelligence agencies in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries, being leaked to The New York Times. It was the latest controversy involving intelligence leaks during Trump's presidency.

The White House said the alleged leaks are deeply troubling and promiseditwill get to the bottom of this,and if appropriate, the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Obama also angered his European counterparts, when WikiLeaks in 2013 published documents provided by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowdenthat showed the U.S. intelligence agency had spied on foreign leaders. TheyincludedGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel, who hosted Obama's visit on Thursday.Obamasmoothed things over with his European counterparts, implementing changeshe said would end U.S. spying on leaders of allies and close friends.

IMMIGRATION

Trump has criticized EU immigration policies, which the president says welcome too many Muslim refugeeswho could pose a terror threat.

In 2016, Trump told Fox Business Network: You go to Brussels I was in Brussels a long time ago, 20 years ago, so beautiful, everything is so beautiful.Its like living in a hellhole right now."

Obama sent a clear message Thursday to Trumpabout his promise to build a wall along the Mexican border. "In this new world we live in, we cant isolate ourselves we cant hide behind a wall," Obama said.

Immigration is a divisive issue in Europe that helped Brexit pass and has fueled insurgent political campaigns across the continent. However, Frenchanti-immigrationcandidate Marine Le Pen, who Trump supported, was soundly defeated for president this month.And Merkel appears to be in a strong position for re-election inSeptember, even though she welcomed 1million migrants to Germany.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Trump has called global warming a "hoax,"while Obama is a strong proponent of environmental measures to combat climate change. That is in line with European thinking on the issue.

French President Emmanuel Macron onThursday urged Trump avoid hasty decisions on a global Paris climate treaty signed by Obama in 2016.The current president said as a candidate he would abandonthe landmark pact.

Pope Francis, another leading voice for environmental concerns,on Wednesday urged Trump to change his stance on the issue, giving him as a gift a copy of his encyclical on climate change.

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Trump to Pope Francis at the Vatican: 'We can use peace'

Trump, European Union leaders remain at odds over Russia

At NATO, Trump does not pledge U.S. commitment to collective defense

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Why many Europeans love Obama and loathe Trump

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Page made the request in a letter sent on Tuesday to Reps. Michael Conaway (R-TC) and Adam Schiff (D-CA), the two congressmen overseeing the House Russia probe. Page also forwarded a copy of the letter to Breitbart News.

In this missive, Page wrote:

Given the continuation of smoke and mirrors tactics seen in recent days, I would also urge the Committee to investigate the growing evidence of collusion between Clinton campaign associates, (former FBI Director James) Comey and other former Obama Administration officials.

As you are probably aware, this began with the well-orchestrated pressure they sought to exert on the FBI to have me investigated last summer in the immediate wake of preliminary falsehoods from the 2016 Dodgy Dossier.

Page was referring to the controversial 35-page dossier on Trump compiled by a former British intelligence officer which CNN reported served as part of the FBIs justification for seeking a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) warrant to clandestinely monitor Page.

Page contends that the warrant was obtained utilizing false evidence and he has been seeking the public disclosure of information containing the justification for what he refers to as the illegitimate FISA warrant.

Speaking to Breitbart News on Tuesday, Page stated, Last years collusion between the Clinton campaign and the Obama administration whose leader endorsed her was so blatant, extensive and obvious that it might be difficult for Congressional and law enforcement investigators to know where to even begin.

In his Tuesday letter to Conaway and Schiff, Page offered to testify in an open hearing. He charged serious mismanagement of Obama Administration appointees assigned to the U.S. Intelligence Community to investigate alleged Russian interference in the latest presidential election.

Referring specifically to Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, Page writes:

Throughout recent months, it has remained unfortunate that these individuals have further contributed to the fictional narrative regarding last years events during many hours of misleading testimony before your Committee on national television.

To continue perpetuating an investigation without basis in fact for political purposes has no place in a democracy committed to the rule of law. Neither does the relentless slandering of law-abiding citizens like myself who have been denied their civil and political rights throughout this ongoing barrage of false information that has persisted as a consequence of the Clinton-Obama-Comey regimes misdeeds for almost a year now.

In testimony last Tuesday, Brennan affirmed that after viewing all of the evidence that was available to him on the Russia probe he is not aware of any collusion between Russia and members of Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign.

In their book Shattered:Inside Hillary Clintons Doomed Campaign, authors Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes quote Clinton insiders explaining how immediately after the election Clintons team sought to place the blame for her loss on the narrative of Russian interference.

She wants to make sure all these narratives get spun the right way, one longtime Clinton confidant was quoted in the bookas saying.

According to the book, within twenty-four hours after Clinton conceded, senior campaign staffers John Podesta and Robby Mook hatched the plan to blame alleged Russian hacking as well as the news medias focus on the failed candidates private email server.

Meanwhile, on April 11, the Washington Post cited law enforcement and other U.S. officials stating that, as part of its investigation into alleged Russian collusion, the FBI obtained a secret FISA court order last summer to monitor Pages communications.

The Post acknowledged it was reporting on leaked information, highlighting that the officials spoke about the court order on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss details of a counterintelligence probe.

The Post further reported on the court order:

The FBI and the Justice Department obtained the warrant targeting Carter Pages communications after convincing a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge that there was probable cause to believe Page was acting as an agent of a foreign power, in this case Russia, according to the officials.

The newspaper allowed that Page had not been accused of any crimes. It reported that the FISA court renewed the 90-day warrant on Page more than once, according to the officials.

The U.S. government has not responded to a Freedom of Information Act request from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) seeking information on why Page was surveilled.

In April, CNN reported that the controversial 35-page dossier on Trump compiled by former intelligence agent Christopher Steele served as part of the FBIs justification for seeking the FISA courts approval to clandestinely monitor Page.

In his testimony earlier this month before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on FBI oversight, then-FBI Director James B. Comey repeatedly refused to answer questions about his agencys ties to Steele or the dossier, including whetherthe documentwas used in the Russia probe.

The partially discredited dossier contains wild and unproven claims that the Russians had information on Trump and sordid sexual acts, including the mocked claim that Trump hired prostitutes and had them urinate on a hotel room bed.

Steelewas reportedly paid by Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans to investigate Trump. Last month, Steele conceded in court documents that part of his work still needed to be verified.

The Steele document, which Page refers to as the Dodgy Dossier, makes the unsubstantiated claim that Page met with Russian officials as an envoy for the Trump campaign to discuss policy issues and topics related to alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Page has steadfastly denied meeting any of the officials mentioned in Steeles dossier and he says he never served as an envoy for the Trump campaign.

Page and campaign

Pages role inTrumps presidential campaign has long been seemingly exaggerated in the news media.

In an interview with the Posts editorial board last March, Trump briefly mentioned Page as a member of his foreign policy advisory team. Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks clarified that Pages role was informal.

Page has been cited in various news media reports as an ex-foreign policy adviser to Trumps campaign and a Trumpassociate. An article in the New Yorker recently claimed he was a member of Trumps inner circle.

In a letter to the House Intelligence Committee earlier this month, Page states that he never met Trump and that he was an informal, unpaid campaign volunteer and a very junior member of the Trump movement who didnt actually have any direct one-on-one discussions or meetings with our candidate.

Page charges that the news media has been inflating his relationship with Trumps presidential campaign in an effort to tarnish the U.S. president.

Aaron Klein is Breitbarts Jerusalem bureau chief and senior investigative reporter. He is a New York Times bestselling author and hosts the popular weekend talk radio program, Aaron Klein Investigative Radio. Follow him onTwitter @AaronKleinShow.Follow him onFacebook.

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Security was tight in front of the German capital's iconic Brandenburg Gate, where Obama and Merkel appeared on a podium before thousands of people attending a gathering marking the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Police helicopters patrolled the skies and snipers with balaclavas watched the scene from nearby rooftops.

After lauding Merkel as someone who had done "outstanding work," Obama launched a defense of his own presidency and the values of liberal democracy championed by both leaders.

The Associated Press Former U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel appear together in Berlin, Germany, on Thursday. Citing the rise of nationalism and xenophobia in parts of the world, Obama told the crowd that "we have to push back against those trends that would violate human rights or suppress democracy or restrict individual freedoms."

In a veiled reference to his successor, Donald Trump, Obama also spoke of the need to see development aid and diplomacy as essential aspects of national security policy.

"We can't isolate ourselves. We can't hide behind a wall," he said, to cheers from the audience.

Merkel, who hosted Obama at the same spot four years ago, was due to travel to Brussels later Thursday for a meeting with leaders of fellow NATO member states, including President Trump.

Thursday's appearance with Obama was criticized by some German opposition politicians as a publicity stunt ahead of September's general election, in which Merkel aims to win a fourth term.

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Obama gets rock-star welcome in Berlin, praises Merkel