WASHINGTON -- United States President Donald Trump's explosive allegation that Barack Obama wiretapped his New York skyscraper during the presidential campaign has left him increasingly isolated, with allies on Capitol Hill and within his own administration offering no evidence to back him up.
On Wednesday, March 15, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he had not given Trump any reason to believe he was wiretapped by former President Obama.
Republican Representative Devin Nunes, chairman of the House intelligence committee, said he had seen no information to support the claim and then went further. He suggested the United States (US) President's assertion, made in a series of March 4 tweets, should not be taken at face value.
“Are you going to take the tweets literally?” Nunes said. “If so, clearly the President was wrong.”
Trump said he'd learned about the alleged wiretapping from news reports referencing intercepted communications, despite the fact that he and his advisers have publicly denounced stories about government agencies reviewing contacts between Trump associates and Russians.
The President's allegations have put him in a potentially perilous position as congressional investigations into Russia's involvement in the 2016 election, and possible Russian contacts with Trump associates, ramp up. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also investigating.
If no evidence of wiretapping at Trump Tower emerges, his credibility would be newly damaged. If there is proof that the Obama administration approved monitoring of Trump or his associates, which would suggest the government had reason to be suspicious of their contacts with Russia and a judge had approved the surveillance.
Trump, who appears to have made his allegation in a burst of anger, has asked lawmakers to investigate the claim. Lawmakers have since turned the question back toward the administration, asking the Justice Department to provide evidence of wiretapping activity.
The Justice Department missed a Monday deadline for providing the information to the House and was given a one-week extension.
Senator Lindsey Graham, who heads the Judiciary Committee's crime and terrorism subcommittee, said the FBI will provide a classified briefing on the matter “at some time in the future.”
Graham has previously said he would use subpoena power to get information from the FBI about whether a warrant was issued allowing the Obama administration to tap Trump's phones during the campaign.
Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone said on Wednesday that he believes his own online exchanges with a Russian-linked hacker were obtained through a special warrant that allows the government to collect the communications of people suspected of being agents of a foreign nation. Stone communicated through Twitter direct messages with Guccifer 2.0, a hacker who has claimed responsibility for breaching the Democratic National Committee.
Stone said he was unaware at the time that US officials believed the hacker had ties to Russia. He said he is willing to testify before any congressional committee that holds its hearings “in public and not behind closed doors.”
The House intelligence committee will begin holding public hearings on Monday.
Nunes said FBI Director James Comey and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers will testify.
Asked Wednesday if he had ever briefed Trump on the investigation or given the President any reason to believe he had been wiretapped by the Obama administration, Sessions said, “The answer is no.”
Trump has said little about his allegations against Obama, largely leaving it to White House aides to explain his inflammatory statements.
The White House appeared to be backing away from Trump's claims on Monday, with spokesman Sean Spicer saying the President was referring to general surveillance that may have been approved by the Obama administration. On Tuesday, Spicer said the President was “extremely confident” the Justice Department would provide evidence vindicating him.
Graham and Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley have both said they will hold up hearings for Rod Rosenstein, Trump's nominee to serve as deputy attorney general, unless they get more information from the FBI. Given Sessions' recusal, Rosenstein would take over responsibility for any probes touching the Trump campaign and Russia's election meddling if he's confirmed.
“It's just too bad that we have to go to this length,” Grassley said. (AP)
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