President Trumps tweets about wire tapping of Trump tower found to be false
In a stunning revelation the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a joint statement this afternoon they have seen no evidence to support President Donald Trump’s claim about Trump Tower being wiretapped.
“Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016,” Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) said.
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), also disavowed the claim on Wednesday, calling any literal interpretation of Trump’s tweet “wrong.”
“As I told you last week about the issue with the president talking about tapping Trump Tower, that evidence still remains the same, that we don’t have any evidence that that took place,” Nunes told reporters.
“In fact, I don’t believe just in the last week of time, the people we’ve talked to, I don’t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower.”
Trump earlier this month tweeted that former President Obama “had my wires tapped.”
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
Is it legal for a sitting President to be “wire tapping” a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Both Burr’s and Nunes’s committees are investigating Russian interference in the U.S. election, including any links between Trump campaign officials and Moscow.
FBI Director James Comey is expected to be asked to clear up the issue when he appears Monday for a public hearing before the House panel.