Barack Obama Responds: Denying Donald Trump’s Wiretap Claim


Barack Obama responds with denial to Donald Trump’s claim that the former POTUS had wiretaps on his phones in the Trump Towers during his campaign.

A few minutes after 6:30 a.m., President Donald Trump started a multiple tweet tirade stunning everyone, CNN notes, by claiming Barack Obama had wiretapped the phones at the Trump Tower prior to the 2016 election.

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”

The quote above was the first of a multiple tweet tirade slamming Barack Obama for wiretapping. The other tweets can be seen below.

The current POTUS proceeded to compare Obama wiretapping his phones to Watergate. He referred to Obama as both “sick” and “bad.” He suggested Barack may have tampered – or tried to tamper with – the “sacred election process” by wiretapping his phones.

Trump accuses Obama of wiretapping his phone [Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]

Reuters notes the White House never provided any evidence to back up the accusations Donald Trump made on Twitter early this morning. Furthermore, no one from the White House has even provided any information to explain exactly what Trump was talking about or where this sudden accusation stemmed from. Who or what was the source that told Trump Obama had wiretapped his phones in the first place?

Per CNN, two former senior U.S. officials were quick to dismiss the wiretap accusations Trump had made. The first referred to the accusation as “nonsense.” And the second – who had direct knowledge of investigations conducted by the Justice Department while Obama was President – confirmed Trumps’ phones were not wiretapped.

How does Barack Obama feel about the accusations?

A spokesman representing Obama – named Kevin Lewis – has responded to the claims Trump has made regarding wiretapping. According to the representative, any claims suggesting Obama – or any other White House official – ordered surveillance on Donald Trump when he was campaigning for President of the United States was “simply false.” The official statement made by Barack’s spokesman can be read, in full, below.

“A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice. As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”

Per CNN, the warrants needed to tap an individual’s phone for a federal investigation would have to be issued by the Department of Justice. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, on the other hand, is responsible for issuing warrants for surveying cases involving foreign intelligence. Considering the FBI has been looking into connections between Trump’s advisers and Russians – it makes sense that this court would have likely had to issue wiretap warrants on Trump.

Obama denies Donald Trump’s claim [Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images]

The former senior U.S. official claimed it isn’t even possible for Barack Obama to have ordered such a warrant. This type of warrant would have had to be approved by a judge by investigators. Ben Rhodes, Obama’s former national security adviser, more or less echoed what the former U.S. official had said.

On Twitter, Rhodes stated that a President couldn’t order a wiretap on anyone. He went on to claim this was to protect the citizens from people like Donald Trump.

Donald Trump creates commotion on Twitter [Image by Win McNamee/Getty Images]

While Barack Obama has official responded to the accusation and denying there is any truth in it – not everyone was quick to slam Trump for his multiple tweet tirade against the former POTUS. In fact, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican – who had been critical of Donald Trump in the past – stated that he had no idea whether or not the claim was true. He, however, was “very worried” the accusation was made in the first place.

[Featured Image by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images]

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