I interview Obama´s former National Security Advisor.

Former US National Security Advisor Susan Raees has given me an exclusive interview on the electronic surveillance of the Trump building, US-Russia relations, and President Obama´s accomplishments in the Middle East and Latinamerica.   I managed this feat after I saw her coming out of Hillary Clinton´s New York mansion and faked her out saying I was an MSNBC reporter.

This was a great journalistic coup for yours truly.  The interview took place at a secret Democratic Party office, in a town I can´t disclose. Even though I have a reputation as a ferocious interviewer, she seemed quite relaxed during the question and answer session. She even sipped tea and munched on sugar coated donuts,  

Susan Raees during interview. Note how relaxed she looked. 

FL (that´s me): I think I'd like to start by asking how your passion for politics and secret intelligence work got started?

SR (that´s Susan Raees) When my brother and I were children, we used to take neighbor´s photographs, snooped around their mailboxes, and played at being President and CIA Director.   I mean, I've always felt it´s important to know what´s going on, and to make other people follow my orders.  

What I didn´t realize was that fame brings its dark side, the media likes to criticize me for Benghazi…you know, the bit where I said the attack on the US consulate was triggered by an anti muslim video, and had nothing to do with terrorists.

FL: Did you ever get frustrated because you couldn´t get rid of Fox News and Breitbart?

PW: Oh yes, I really hate them. When I was little I always knew I would be important.  But once I got to be National Security Advisor I found out I couldn´t just send CIA agents to bag them and drop them in the Nile river. That was incredibly frustrating.

FL: Maybe they got lucky. So how do you feel about Cernovich saying you were getting information from FBI wiretaps of the Trump team?

SR: In this morning’s papers I read Journalist Mike Cernovich named me as the official responsible for the unmasking of the incoming Trump team during incidental surveillance. I just want to say that´s an incredibly dirty thing to do. When I acted as National Security Advisor I only thought of the country´s future. This had nothing to do with me trying to torpedo the goddam Trumpites.

 FL:  This was apparently discovered after the White House Counsel's office reviewed your document log requests. It looks like the White House has the records and you did sort of mix up national security with an obsessive need to stop Trump from rolling back Obamacare, building his wall, and gutting the Clean Power Plan?

SR: I know nothing about this. I was surprised to see reports. I´m innocent!

FL: Did Trump transition officials, including the president, get swept up in surveillance of foreigners at the end of the Obama administration?

SR:  Trump accused Obama, of wiretapping Trump Tower during the campaign. Nothing of the sort occurred, the FBI simply wired Trump tower to catch criminals (I think it had to do with the Ukrainian mafia).  This was a legal, lawful surveillance, but we did have incidental collection on American citizens, including the Trumpists!

FL: Right.

SR:  It´s important for people to understand what incidental means. That means that the target was somebody under criminal investigation, and that the Americans who were incidentally in the area, or talking to those presumed bad guys may have been picked up.

FL: Well, I wanted to ask you about this, because, in the final days of the Obama administration,  we saw a lot of  information coming from unnamed government sources about the Russians interfering in the election, and that there may have been a connection with Trump campaign officials. So how did this information get out? Was it connected to the secret wiretapping of the Trump building by the FBI, and the incidental wiretapping of the Trump team?

SR: I’m not aware of any connection. That information got out….somehow. Maybe the media has spies inside the FBI! Who knows?  I wasn’t aware of any orders given to disseminate that kind of information. I know nothing. Nothing!

FL: Uhu. So why did you ask for the names of the Trumpites to be unmasked by the FBI?

SR: So, I have no idea whether that was the case. I don´t recall asking for anybody to be unmasked. That´s alt-news.

FL: But the fact is that the president did request information on the Russians involving themselves in the presidential campaign. And that report was leaked to the press, and then it was given to Congress in classified form in early January. Did Obama think Trump was a Russian mole?

SR: I don’t think that was the concern, because the President doesn´t chase spies. That´s done by the intelligence community, and by the FBI.  Our interest was, to make sure that we have compiled and put together all that material we got from the wiretaps, so that it was there for Trump to see, plus it’s there for the American people, and Congress to utilize as they see fit.

FL: Well, let’s — that sure sounds a bit confusing. You say you took information the FBI got wiretapping the Trump tower, and compiled it so Trump could see it when he got in the White House? But didn´t you leak it to the media in dribs and drabs for several weeks?

SR: That’s a serious charge. What did you mean by that?

FL: Well, let me explain, Susan. If you tape foreign agents living in the Trump tower, then “incidentally” tape Trump and his people, and then the material is leaked to the media, the damned foreign agents will know they are getting wiretapped. Don´t you get it? Those Ukrainians must have shut down their operation and flown to Kiev a few weeks ago.

SR: Those Ukrainian´s were chump change! The only reason the FBI got after them was their activities in the Trump tower! Trump could have been working for the Ukrainians, the Russians, even the Chinese! We had to know! The United States of America is the leading power in the world. We are serious.  And we need to rally around the flag.

FL: But, just to play devil’s advocate for a moment, what about if U.S. national security´s bigger danger comes from Raul Castro extending his tentacles in Latin America, helping a bunch of narcocommunists take over Venezuela, and aiding Evo Morales become the kingpin of raw coca production? How about Nicaragua turning into a commie dictatorship right under your eyes?

SR: Well, Fernando, I think you are too obsessed with Raul Castro taking over Venezuela — we did ask the Pope to help Maduro and the opposition keep talking. That dialogue led by Zapatero really helped. 

Look, we don´t really care for Venezuela. The real problem is Trump. The guy has issued statements ranging from the allegation that three million to five million illegal immigrants voted in our elections, which has been debunked. And yet there’s been no correction, no apology. Can we trust the word of the White House?

FL: Well, so you are the ones who helped Zapatero slow down the Venezuelan opposition?

SR:  The Trump administration ought to talk about the fight against ISIS, and leave Maduro and Raul Castro alone. We in the Obama administration have always focused on what´s really important, like saying that Assad had to go. That was really important.  Maduro isn´t going anywhere, other than maybe he´ll eventually try to help the FARC take over Colombia, and that´s not really something President Obama worried about.

FL: But ISIS is still the threat that it is to the world is in part because of the failed policies of the Obama administration. You guys really screwed that up.

SR: Well, I think the facts don’t bear that out. You can blame ISIS on Bush. He shouldn´t have invaded Iraq. As you know, President Obama didn´t support that stupid invasion.  And we got to remember the strategy that  Trump is pursuing, at the behest of the very same military leaders who advised the Obama administration, is virtually unchanged.

FL: Uhu. That reminds me Hillary Clinton was a big supporter of the Iraq invasion. I guess she had to keep her AIPAC funding line open.  But Trump wants to make a deal with the Russians, and I doubt he´ll insist Assad has to go. And right now Assad and the Russians are doing the heavy lifting against ISIS. So maybe Trump is right, and your anti Russian bullshit is blocking a move to destroy ISIS in Syria?

SR: We felt we had to work with the Syrian democratic forces, a mixture of Kurds and Arabs, to take back territory, that remains the thrust of US strategies, as it should be.

FL: “Syrian democratic forces”? There aren´t any. Half of those guys you say are “democratic” are Al Qaida or ISIS, the other half just want to run their own dictatorship.  How stupid can you get?

SR: Well, I think that criticism is a well-trodden line. I have heard it many times. And I think the fact is this. President Obama took very, very seriously his role as commander in chief.

FL: I know, and he sure didn´t know how to do it, Susan. He´s made a mess in North Africa, got a war started in Syria, left that stupid Iraqi in charge when the US troops left, and now half the country has been destroyed all over again. As if US troops hadn´t done enough.

SR: Now, you know, when things go wrong, as, unfortunately, tragically, they did during President Obama´s administration — it’s very important to remember Trump also screwed up in Yemen, and Bush screwed up BIG TIME in Iraq. And Clinton screwed up in Somalia, damn it! But that´s enough! Everybody screws up! It´s not my fault, OK!.

She took a big gulp of tea, stared at me with crazy eyes, and went on:

SR: Now I´ve got to go, I´ve got  a very important meeting with my lawyers.

FL: Former National Security Adviser to President Obama,  SR, thank you very much. It has been a pleasure.

SR: Good for you, Fernando, I knew you could say something nice.  But I don´t think you´ll get another crack at me. You´re worse than the Dr. Mengele character interrogating Dustin Hoffman in “Marathon Man”.

And so, she ran through the door as I thoughtfully picked up her last donut and ate it.