Another day, another outlandish claim from our Commander in Chief. Recently Donald Trump claimed Obama had wiretapped the Trump Tower during the election through a series of tweets. He tweeted:
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
The only source that Trump may have been referring to is an alt-right article from Breitbart, where the author claims Obama attempted a “silent coup” of Trump. The article cites conservative radio host Mark Levin, who stated that Obama used surveillance tactics to undermine Trump on his Thursday night show.
An Obama administration spokesman Kevin Lewis issued the following statement, denying such accusations, “A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.” This statement denies that Obama or the White House ordered surveillance, which is against the law without a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA).
Trump also resorted to his name calling defenses in his tweets, saying, “How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” However, it’s extremely hypocritical to compare Obama to Nixon, when Nixon himself wrote that he would approve of Donald as president. Additionally, Trump often used Nixon’s famous “law and order” rhetoric in his campaign.
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
The accusations are alarming. Senator Linsey Graham stated at a town hall meeting in Clemson, South Carolina, “If the former president of the United States was able to obtain a warrant lawfully to monitor Trump’s campaign for violating law, that would be the biggest scandal since Watergate.” He promised to “get to the bottom” of the claims.
According to the New York Times, the FBI, CIA, and Treasury Department are currently investigating the accusations.
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