Fox News’s Bill O’Reilly made a serious statement Tuesday.
Responding to what President Obama said to PBS’s Charlie Rose Monday, O’Reilly asserted that “if evidence is produced that any U.S. intelligence agency is reading emails without a specific warrant, Mr. Obama could very well be impeached.”
BILL O’REILLY, HOST: The president gave an interview to Charlie Rose.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a U.S. person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls and the NSA cannot target your emails.
CHARLIE ROSE, PBS: And have not?
OBAMA: And have not. They cannot and have not by law and by rule.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O’REILLY: As you may know, the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden says U.S. intelligence is listening to phone calls and reading emails. But Snowden has provided no hard evidence of that. So Talking Points is suspicious of Snowden.
That being said, Mr. Obama is now on the record, and if, if evidence is produced that any U.S. intelligence agency is reading emails without a specific warrant, Mr. Obama could very well be impeached. That's how important his statement to Mr. Rose really is. There’s no going back now. President Obama said flat out no one is listening to phone calls or reading emails without a specific warrant to do so.
Today the same question was asked of the director of the NSA General Keith Alexander.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONGRESSMAN MIKE ROGERS (R-MICHIGAN): Does the NSA have the ability to listen to Americans’ phone calls or read their emails under these two programs?
GENERAL KEITH ALEXANDER, DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY: No. We do not have that authority.
ROGERS: Does the technology exist at the NSA to flip a switch by some analyst to listen to Americans’ phone calls or read their emails?
ALEXANDER: No.
Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian reporter that first revealed Snowden's information, commented on Obama's claims a few hours ago.
This is comprehensive, so rather than paraphrase or take out a few quotes, his entire piece is here.
