Friday, March 17, 2017

White House Doubles Down On Obama Wiretap Claims

A US Senate Committee has said there are 'no indications' that Trump Tower was under government surveillance during the recent election campaign, despite claims by Donald Trump that Barack Obama had 'wiretapped' his phones. 

The committee chair is the latest in a growing list of key figures who say there's no evidence to support the allegations, but the White House is doubling down. 

Lorna Shaddick reports.


Script:
The FBI Director... The Speaker of the House... The Republican heads of both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees... The former CIA Director...the former Director of National Intelligence and the former President himself.

Those are all those who say there is no evidence that Barack Obama tapped Donald Trump's phone.

Here's Devin Nunes of the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday:

SOT Nunes- We don't have any evidence that took place, and in fact I don't believe, in the last week of time, based on the people we talked to, I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower.

But later that night, on Fox News, President Trump stood by his Saturday morning Tweets of a couple of weeks ago, claiming that his predecessor was wiretapping him - a broad term, he said, for various kinds of surveillance. And he hinted there was more evidence to come.

SOT Trump - Wiretap covers a lot of different things. I think you're going to find some very interesting things coming to the forefront over the next two weeks.

But when it comes to the evidence already out there …. Well on Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan admitted it didn't support the President's allegations.

SOT Ryan - We've not seen any evidence, that's just, all I really have to add to it. There is an investigation on all things Russia by both intelligence committees, it's bipartisan, it's ongoing, it hasn't wrapped up, but heretofore, we have seen no evidence.

That set the stage for a fiery exchange in the White House briefing room with reporters on Thursday. Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the House and Senate investigations hadn't been given all the information. He then read out a stack of news reports aiming to justify the President's claim, but none of which reported with any evidence that President Obama had been involved in any surveillance of Trump Tower. Nonetheless, Mr. Spicer accused reporters of cherry picking what they highlighted:

SOT - Question: Does the president still stand by the allegation? Spicer - he stands by it, but again you're mischaracterising what happened today. When evidence comes out, and people who have been briefed on the Russia connection, come out and say there was nothing they have seen that proves a connection, you choose not to cover that, you don't stop the narrative, you continue to perpetuate a false narrative.

So - an aggressive defence, doubling down on the original claims. But Mr. Spicer was engaged in this war of words even as the White House is also trying to rewrite the federal budget and pull off a complicated attempt at healthcare reform. So long as Mr. Trump stands by the wiretap assertions though, they are likely to provide a continued, compelling but unwelcome, distraction. Lorna Shaddick, New York/SOC.

ENDS

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