In lieu of an on-camera press briefing White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held a press gaggle today to brief reporters and answer questions.  The “press gaggles” are less formal and are not generally accompanied with broadcast video.
A full audio of the briefing is below which includes several minutes of recorded ‘hot mic’ conversations between various media reporters prior to Press Secretary Spicer beginning. Sean Spicer enters the briefing at 05:05 of the audio below:

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Former campaign manager and now Senior adviser to the President, Kellyanne Conway, appeared on Fox and Friends morning broadcast to discuss current administration efforts to cut through the media firestorm in the aftermath of a weekend filled with discussions of “wire tapping” and “FISA court” surveillance surrounding President Trump.

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Secretary Rex Tillerson (DoS), Secretary John Kelly (DHS) and Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the new President Trump executive order on immigration, travel and visa restrictions. [Executive Order Details Here]

♦ T-Rex explains the countries listed under the visa ban, which was modified after Iraq complied with the latest demands for enhanced vetting and security protocols.
♦ AG Sessions explains what domestic risks are in place that make the refugee program, travel and visa restrictions necessary.  Sessions explains that 300 refugees currently inside the U.S. are under investigation for terrorism related activity.  One-third of all ongoing FBI terrorism link investigations are previously admitted refugees.
♦ Secretary Kelly explains the enforcement mechanisms that will be utilized to ensure the U.S. homeland is protected.
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In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

President Trump Twitter @POTUS / Vice President Pence Twitter @VP

Sean Spicer Twitter @PressSec

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †

For an administration that would parse every word and phrase used by their political opposition to infer a narrative of violence, the alarming message within this call to action released today, by former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, is quite stunning.

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For those who would defend this I would simply suggest to reverse the agent of delivery. Keep the words exactly the same but transpose current Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the messenger; and now what do you think the media would claim was the intent of the message?
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March 5th, 2017 – Statement from the Press Secretary

“Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are troubling.

President Donald J Trump is requesting that as part of their investigations into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive brance investigative powers were abused in 2016.

Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such oversight is conducted.” ~ Office of the President

John Hayward at Breitbart News accurately puts the intention of the President Trump administration into context.
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Hypocrisy, thy name is…

According to the New York Times, FBI Director James Comey is reported to be requesting the President Trump Department of Justice to refute the possibility of the FBI having intercepted communications from Trump Tower in the latest “Wire Tapping” denial.
So lets give this request by Director Comey some context.

It was only a few weeks ago when the same FBI went to President Trump’s Chief of Staff and told Reince Priebus there was no truth to media reports, based on FBI leaks, of FBI evidence showing Trump campaign officials involved with Russian officials regarding the 2016 election.  It was all a complete nothingburger.
Details – On February 15th while discussing another issue FBI Assistant Director Andrew McCabe asked Reince for 5 minutes alone after the meeting.  At the one-on-one meeting McCabe told Priebus the New York Times Russia and Trump campaign story was a “bunch of BS”.
Priebus asked McCabe if McCabe would be able to say that publicly and get the media off his back about a ridiculously false narrative.  Asst. Director McCabe said he would check with his boss, FBI Director James Comey.  Later, McCabe called back and said he couldn’t issue a statement about it. (more…)

♦ The New York Times says the Obama administration DID wire tap Trump Tower.  ♦The former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper said they DID NOT wire tap Trump Tower.  ♦Mark Levin says Media Reports claim they DID wire tap Trump Tower.  ♦Former AG Mulkasey says it appears officials DID wire tap Trump Tower.

Now FBI Director James Comey says the FBI did NOT wire tap Trump Tower.

WASHINGTON DC – FBI Director James Comey reportedly asked the Justice Department this weekend to publicly reject President Trump’s claims that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower before the election.
Senior American officials told The New York Times on Sunday that Comey has said the president’s wiretapping allegations are not true and asked the Justice Department on Saturday to publicly correct the record.

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The far-left Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, said this morning there were no wire taps at Trump Tower.   The far-right Director of Non-Intelligence, Mark Levin, outlines all the media reports claiming there were wire taps at Trump Tower.
So were there wire taps, and surveillance at Trump Tower or not?
Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey scratches the clay from his cleats, rares back, and hurls an atomic fastball right down the middle.  Saying: Trump was “right” that there was surveillance on Trump Tower for intelligence purposes.  WATCH:

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“This is the difference between being correct and right. The president was not correct in saying President Obama ordered a tap on a server in Trump Tower. However, I think he’s right in that there was surveillance and that it was conducted at the behest of the attorney general – at the Justice Department through the FISA court.”

Here’s what’s going on, that almost everyone seems to be missing. (more…)