Donald Trump on March 4 accused former US President Barack Obama of wiretapping him in 2016 during the late stages of the election campaign.
The head of the FBI said on Monday he had seen no evidence to support a claim by US President Donald Trump that former president Barack Obama had wiretapped his 2016 election campaign. Before FBI Director James Comey began his testimony to the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Republican chairman Devin Nunes said it was possible other means of surveillance had been used against Trump.
The committee is investigating accusations that Russia tried to influence the 2016 election by hacking Democratic operatives and releasing embarrassing information. The surveillance allegation became an issue when Trump earlier this month accused Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower in New York, which housed the campaign headquarters for the Republican's surprise election win against Democrat Hillary Clinton.
"With respect to the president's tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, I have no information that supports those tweets," Comey told the congressional hearing. "And we have looked carefully inside the FBI. The Department of Justice has asked me to share with you that the answer is the same for the Department of Justice and all its components: the department has no information that supports those tweets," he said.
Comey also confirmed the agency is investigating possible Russian government efforts to interfere in the election, including any links between Trump's campaign and Moscow. Russia denies it attempted to influence the November 8 presidential election. Nunes had opened the hearing by denying Trump's wiretapping claim but did not rule out other surveillance methods. "We know there was not a physical wiretap of Trump Tower," he said. "However, it's still possible that other surveillance activities were used against President Trump and his associates."
Trump created a controversy in early March when he tweeted without giving evidence that former President Barack Obama's administration had wiretapped Trump Tower in New York. Trump on March 4 accused Obama of wiretapping him in October 2016 during the late stages of the presidential election campaign, but offered no evidence to support the allegation.
"How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!," Trump said in a series of tweets on his Twitter account early on Saturday. "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!"
In one of the Tweets, Trump said the alleged wiretapping took place in his Trump Tower office and apartment building in New York, but there was "nothing found." Trump's administration has come under pressure from Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional investigations into contacts between some members of his campaign team and Russian officials during his campaign.
Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes strongly denied Trump's allegations. "No president can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you," Rhodes wrote on Twitter. In response to Trump's tweet about a lawyer making a "great case," Rhodes responded: "No. They couldn't. Only a liar could do that."
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Barack Obama, James Comey, US Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Wiretap, Donald Trump, United States (U")
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}