In a series of inflammatory tweets, US President Donald Trump has accused the Obama Administration of spying on him. He claims that Obama ‘wiretapped’ Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential race. But FBI director James Comey and ex-National Security Agency chief James Clapper have already hotly denied these claims.
Tweet accusations
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
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
— 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
Very strong claims, indeed.
Facts, or allegations?
Within hours, an Obama spokesperson denied the allegations, calling them “unequivocally false“. Ex-intelligence agency chief James Clapper also blasted Trump, stating “Absolutely, I can deny it”.
Neither the justice department nor the FBI have made public statements.
To justify Trump’s confidence, White House spokesman Sean Spicer’s chief deputy Sarah Huckabee Sanders claimed Trump was:
going off of information that he’s seen that has led him to believe that this is a very real potential.
But “potential” is very different from saying “the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones”.
Another distraction technique?
Sean Spicer, meanwhile, has called for a congressional investigation. And Congress has now agreed to investigate.
If the allegations are true, it could spell disaster for both the justice department and the Obama Administration. Surveillance without adequate reason would be an abuse of executive powers.
But Trump has already been accused of lying to distract from his actions. And House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi believes he’s doing just that. She responded to the President’s latest claims by saying:
It’s called a wrap-up smear. You make up something. Then you have the press write about it. And then you say, everybody is writing about this charge. It’s a tool of an authoritarian.
If Trump is lying, it will be far from the first time. And the President should be very careful about how much he uses this technique. As the more he lies, the less people are going to believe what he says.
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