WH Asks Congress To Investigate Wiretapping Claim
- 7 years ago
The White House has asked Congress to investigate following President Trump's claim that Obama wiretapped him.
The White House is asking for an investigation into President Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that the previous administration may have wiretapped his phones.
On Sunday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer issued a statement saying, in part, “President Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016. Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such oversight is conducted.”
The statement was prompted by a series of tweets Trump posted Saturday, the first of which read, “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
He also tweeted, “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” (2,March 4,4:02am)
According to ABC News, “Trump offered no proof for his claims.”
Meanwhile, CNN is reporting, based on an inside official, that Trump was angered by a Breitbart News story which speculated that “Obama worked to undermine Trump's presidential campaign and his administration, including various investigations on Russia and possible ties between Russians and Trump associates.”
Obama has denied any such activity, with his spokesman Kevin Lewis saying in a statement, “...neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
The White House is asking for an investigation into President Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that the previous administration may have wiretapped his phones.
On Sunday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer issued a statement saying, in part, “President Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016. Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such oversight is conducted.”
The statement was prompted by a series of tweets Trump posted Saturday, the first of which read, “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
He also tweeted, “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” (2,March 4,4:02am)
According to ABC News, “Trump offered no proof for his claims.”
Meanwhile, CNN is reporting, based on an inside official, that Trump was angered by a Breitbart News story which speculated that “Obama worked to undermine Trump's presidential campaign and his administration, including various investigations on Russia and possible ties between Russians and Trump associates.”
Obama has denied any such activity, with his spokesman Kevin Lewis saying in a statement, “...neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”