Trump Wiretapping Claims Rejected by Senate Intelligence Chiefs

Stephen Colbert and President Obama’s former White House photographer Pete Souza both mocked Kellyanne Conway for her remark about the potential for microwaves to be turned into cameras to spy on Americans.

The New York Times article that Trump appears to be referencing, actually doesn’t say Trump was wiretapped, nor does it say he was by his predecessor.

Through a spokesman, Obama said neither he nor any White House official had ever ordered surveillance on any USA citizen.

He said the House committee had conversations with people, but did not specify how it arrived at its conclusion.

Ten days ago, President Donald Trump raised alarm when he tweeted that he had learned “Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower”.

Conway noted that development to justify Trump’s claims.

And when WikiLeaks posted new documents claiming to expose surveillance tactics available to the intelligence community, the White House steadfastly refused to confirm their validity, in keeping with long-standing United States policy about keeping spying operations secret.

“The intelligence committees in their continuing, widening ongoing investigation of all things Russian Federation, got to the bottom – at least so far with respect to our intelligence community – that no such wiretap existed”, Ryan told reporters.

The AP reported the wiretap claim was made in a story in Breitbart which reprinted a claim by radio host Mark Levin who mentioned, without evidence, the idea that Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer further qualified Trump’s accusations Monday.

Trump tweeted earlier this month that Obama had ordered him to be wiretapped.

“We don’t have any evidence that took place”, he added.

“What I can say is there are many ways to surveil each other”, Conway told New Jersey’s Bergen County Record in a wide-ranging interview published Sunday.

The comments came a day after the Justice Department asked lawmakers for more time to produce that evidence.

“I’m not Inspector Gadget”, she said yesterday on CNN.

Next week Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey and National Security Agency director Mike Rogers will testify before a Congressional committee about what evidence their agencies have about Russia’s meddling in the U.S. elections.