INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

No Evidence Of Trump Wiretapping Claim, Says House Intel Chairman

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 06:40 PST, Mar 15, 2017

https://rumble.com/embed/vgq8m/

According to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, there is no evidence for the Trump Twitter wiretapping claim that spawned both political and media firestorms. According to Nunes, neither he nor his committee associate, a ranking Democrat, have seen “any evidence” that the Trump wiretapping claim is based on merit. Specifically, that Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower at the end of the election, as alleged by the current POTUS.

In addition to citing a complete and utter lack of evidence to back up the Trump wiretapping claims, Nunes said at a Wednesday afternoon press conference that he doesn’t believe that an “actual tap of Trump Tower” ever happened.

“We don’t have any evidence that that took place and in fact I don’t believe — just in the last week of time, the people we’ve talked to — I don’t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower.”

Donald Trump originally claimed that Trump Tower had been subject to wiretapping by Obama (or at the orders of Obama) in a stunning slew of tweets in early March.

During his eyebrow-raising Twitter rant about the Trump Tower wiretapping, Donald Trump further complained that “nothing” had been found as a result of the alleged surveillance. Despite media and government calls for Trump and his administration to provide evidence of their claims, so far none has materialized. Not publicly, and (as House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes confirmed during today’s press conference), not politically.

As the Washington Post reports, the media has widely speculated on Trump’s source for his wiretapping claims, with many outlets agreeing that the POTUS used “sketchy, anonymously sourced reports” as the foundation for his allegations against Obama.

During his press conference, Chairman Nunes called on the Department of Justice to respond to his committee’s requests for more information on the Trump wiretapping claims by no later than March 20. On March 20, the House Intelligence Committee is planning a hearing to address the Trump wiretapping claims and any evidence that may exist to support them. James Comey, the director of the FBI, is expected to give testimony at that hearing. In the immediate aftermath of the Trump wiretapping allegations, FBI Director Comey publicly called on the Department of Justice to publicly refute the president’s surveillance claims.

A second wiretapping-related hearing is scheduled for March 28.

It has also been reported that the Senate Judiciary Committee will be briefed by the FBI regarding the wiretapping evidence (or lack thereof) and ongoing investigation later on Wednesday.

Among a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, there is reportedly some political infighting regarding an alleged promise from the FBI director to confirm by March 15 whether Trump and his campaign are being criminally investigated for alleged ties to the Russian government. According to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Director Comey vowed that he would be told by this afternoon whether Trump is being actively investigated regarding his alleged Russian campaign ties.

“Yes, he said he will have an answer for us by the hearing.”

However, Sen. Lindsey Graham states that there was never a promise that a March 15 deadline would be met by the FBI.

As for the James Comey and the FBI, a spokesperson has stated that there are “no plans” for an official public statement on the matter on Wednesday.

Despite their public disagreement regarding the promises of the FBI to provide answers regarding a potential criminal investigation into Trump and his campaign’s alleged ties to Russia, Senators Graham and Whitehouse have both pushed the Department of Justice for evidence to substantiate (or refute) the controversial Trump wiretapping claims. Both men are also actively leading Congressional investigations into Russia’s alleged 2016 election meddling.

“We wrote a letter — Sen. Whitehouse and myself — wanting to know if there’s evidence of a warrant issued by the Trump campaign.He hasn’t answered that letter or confirmed if there’s a real investigation of the Trump campaign. He needs to answer the letter and give the nation some information about what’s going on here.”

As for the White House and Trump administration, they have collectively refused to provide any evidence that the alleged wiretapping of Trump Tower ever took place. Rather, the claims of wiretapping have been stepped back, with Press Secretary Sean Spicer claiming that when Trump wrote “wiretapping,” he did not literally mean “wiretapping.”

However, according to Spicer, Trump does believe that he was put under surveillance by the Obama team; the Press Secretary further claimed that Trump will provide vindicating evidence to prove his claims.

“I think there’s significant reporting about surveillance techniques that existed throughout the 2016 election. He feels very confident that what will ultimately come of this will vindicate him.”

The Trump press secretary neglected to provide or cite any evidence of the alleged surveillance techniques he referenced.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans alike have called upon Trump to clarify his wiretapping claims and to provide evidence to support them in an effort to “clear up” the situation.

[Featured Image by Alex Brandon/AP Images]

Share this article: No Evidence Of Trump Wiretapping Claim, Says House Intel Chairman
Donald Trump
More from Inquisitr