White House Officials Say Trump Isn’t Target of Any Investigation -
By MARK LANDLERMARCH 8, 2017
WASHINGTON — White House officials declared on Wednesday
that President Trump was not the target of an investigation, five days after Mr. Trump himself raised the prospect with an unsubstantiated claim that his predecessor ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower.
“We request that the Department of Justice provide us copies of any warrant applications and court orders — redacted as necessary to protect intelligence sources and methods
that may be compromised by disclosure, and to protect any ongoing investigations — related to wiretaps of President Trump, the Trump campaign or Trump Tower,” the senators wrote.
Until Wednesday, Mr. Spicer had steadfastly declined to discuss Mr. Trump’s assertion
that former President Barack Obama ordered wiretap surveillance of Trump Tower — an act that Mr. Trump condemned as a scandal comparable in scale to McCarthyism or Watergate.
Current and former officials have said repeatedly that although they were concerned about intelligence suggesting meetings between associates of Mr. Trump’s
and Russian officials, they have developed no evidence of collusion between Mr. Trump’s campaign and Russia’s hacking efforts.
Mr. Spicer cited the former director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper
Jr., who last Sunday made that point on the NBC program “Meet the Press.”
But Mr. Clapper also said he had no knowledge the government had sought a warrant
from a foreign intelligence court to install a wiretap in Trump Tower.