13 Mar 2017 4:27 pm
Spicer now wants us to believe that when Trump says Obama tapped his phones, he was just talking about 'surveillance' in general.Trump tweeted about being wiretapped, but he didn't mean wiretapped.
President Donald Trump tweeted about being wiretapped. But he didn't mean wiretapped.
That was the explanation White House press secretary Sean Spicer gave as the White House stepped back on the unsubstantiated claim that former US president Barack Obama bugged Trump Tower during the election run-up.
Spicer said Trump wasn't referring to wiretapping when he tweeted about wiretapping, CNN reported.
"I think there's no question that the Obama administration, that there were actions about surveillance and other activities that occurred in the 2016 election," Spicer said.
Even if you buy that ****, which I don't, Trump is still accusing Obama of "surveilling" him for political purposes.
First of all, WTF does mean?
That Obama followed him?
And secondly, how is that any better?
He didn't use it in quotes in these two Tweets, and it sure looks like he was accusing Obama 'personally.'Spicer: Trump 'doesn't really think' Obama wiretapped him personally.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Monday that President Donald Trump “doesn’t really think” that Barack Obama “tapped his phone personally,” seeming to walk back Trump’s explosive and unsubstantiated claim that his predecessor ordered an illegal wiretap of Trump Tower.
“He doesn't really think that President Obama went up and tapped his phone personally,” Spicer told reporters at the afternoon press briefing.
Spicer tried to argue that Trump had accused the Obama administration of general “surveillance” activities, and not a literal wiretap, even though Trump himself had use the term “wire tapping” in one of several tweets making the claim without evidence on March 4.
Spicer claimed that the fact that Trump put quotation marks around the words “wire tapping” in one tweet was proof that he was not speaking literally.
Sean Spicer Begins White House Walk-Back On Donald Trump’s Obama Wiretap Claims
So why all the sudden back-pedaling?
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that today is the deadline for the Department of Justice to turn over to the House Intelligence Committee any evidence to support Trump’s unsubstantiated claim about Obama, which so far it seems they have not done.
I wonder what the Intel Committee is going to do if they don't get a response to their letter?House Intelligence Panel Wants Wiretapping Evidence by Monday
The top lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee have asked the Justice Department to turn over by Monday any evidence showing Trump Tower was wiretapped during the 2016 presidential race — an explosive accusation President Trump leveled at former President Obama without providing proof.
The request came in a letter sent last week to the acting deputy attorney general by the committee chairman, Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), and its ranking Democrat, Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), congressional aides told NBC News.
FBI chief James Comey, who reportedly asked the Justice Department to publicly reject Trump's claim, was also sent a copy of the letter.