Former US Intelligence Chief James Clapper Denies Wiretap of Trump Tower

Congressional committees are now investigating potential Russian interference in last year’s election, and the White House has pushed for Trump’s latest claims to be looked into at the same time.

When asked whether Trump’s assertions were based on media reports or US intelligence, Sanders said “he may have access to documents that I don’t know about”.

Trump gave no evidence for his claim, the latest twist in a controversy over ties between Trump associates and Russian Federation that has dogged the early days of his presidency.

Stephanopoulos pushed back, however, saying none of the stories she mentioned backed up Trump’s charge or her claims that the administration was wiretapping American citizens. Despite Obama offering his counsel and advice to Trump during the transition, the president now thinks his predecessor is targeting him and his administration.

Trump’s accusations were possibly brought on by various Conservative talk radio hosts and an unproven Breitbart article that states Obama’s White House had authorized secret wiretaps into the phones of Trump’s campaign hub in Trump Tower last fall. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply false”, Lewis said.

Trump has in recent days tried to blame his predecessor for the leaks about contacts between members of his campaign and the transition teams with Russian Federation.

The White House did not respond to questions about what prompted the president’s accusations that Obama had tapped his phones.

Comey was reportedly “incredulous” when he learned over the weekend that Trump had accused Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower. If it did that, it would be unheard of and a breach of protocol, University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck, an expert on national security law, told CNN. He was forced to leave the position after 24 days.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told Meet the Press that Trump is “in trouble” and acting “beneath the dignity of the presidency”.

The president was also said to be angry that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused, or excused, himself from any election campaign or Russia-related investigations.

The anti-Trump press was apoplectic, calling the claim “unsupported”.

On Sunday, the White House appeared to somewhat backpedal on the claim, suggesting only that there was a wiretap but not speculating on who may have ordered it. But he later admitted that he had met with Kislyak twice during the presidential campaign.

“The president was not giving marching orders to the FBI about how to conduct its investigation”, he said on ABC.