4 Mar 2017 10:43 am
Possible?Trump Accuses Obama of Tapping His Trump Tower Phones Before the Election
In a series of tweets posted in the early morning hours of 4 March 2017, President Donald Trump accused former president Barack Obama of having “wire tapped” phones at his Trump Tower headquarters in October 2016, just weeks before that year’s presidential election.
President Trump likened this alleged activity to “McCarthyism” and “Nixon/Watergate."
Other than a vague reference to something that had been “turned down by court earlier,” the President’s tweets offered no documentation or evidence for the charges he was leveling at his predecessor in the White House.
Speculation is that Trump was referring to claims made by syndicated radio host Mark Levin (echoed by Breitbart, and apparently based on a 7 November 2016 Heat Street article), that while Barack Obama was still in office, the FBI had sought a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) warrant to investigate claims that a server registered to the Trump Organization was communicating with two servers registered to a Russian private commercial bank.
The LA Times noted that: It would be highly unusual for a sitting president to be aware of such [surveillance] requests.
By blaming Obama directly, Trump accused the former president of reaching into a federal investigation and signing off on an illegal wiretap, which is a felony.
If federal investigators did monitor Trump’s phones or computers lawfully, a court would have demanded information about potential criminal misconduct or unlawful foreign contacts.
Such investigations are closely held and rarely, if ever, shared with the White House.
It is possible Trump has no evidence his phones were tapped and is repeating unfounded reports circulating in conservative media circles.
It's more than possible.
It's probable that he has no evidence and is just repeating unfounded reports circulating in conservative media circles.
It sure wouldn't be the first time he's done that.
People need to stop reading wingnut sources or listening to wingnut radio guys.