Congress will investigate President Trump’s claim that his phones were illegally tapped by the Obama administration, the House Intelligence Committee chair announced Sunday.
“One of the focus points of the House Intelligence Committee’s investigation is the US government’s response to actions taken by Russian intelligence agents during the presidential campaign,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).
“As such, the committee will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party’s campaign officials or surrogates, and we will continue to investigate this issue if the evidence warrants it.”
The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), was less specific, saying his panel “will follow the evidence where it leads, and we will continue to be guided by the intelligence and facts as we compile our findings.”
The two statements came shortly after Trump, through his spokesman, called on Congress to look into possible “abuse” of “executive branch investigative powers” during the federal probe into alleged Russian meddling in last year’s presidential race.
“Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said.
It was also reported by the New York Times that FBI Director James Comey on Saturday asked the Justice Department to refute Trump’s claim, since it implied the feds broke the law. No such statement was issued.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente is heading the Justice Department’s probe of ties between Russia and Trump’s campaign after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself last week.
Trump had blasted former President Barack Obama in a series of tweets Saturday, accusing his predecessor of ordering the electronic surveillance.
“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” one tweet read.
“How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” another tweet said.
And in an interview with Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, Trump said: “This will be investigated, it will all come out. I will be proven right.”
Trump has not publicly stated the basis of his allegations, but they appear to stem from a November report claiming the FBI had obtained a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) tied to alleged communication between a computer server in Trump Tower and two Russian banks.
That warrant — which may have allowed the feds to examine the activities of Trump and at least three campaign aides or media “surrogates” — was approved in October after a June application was denied, the Heat Street news site reported hours before Election Day.
A January report by the BBC said neither Trump nor his associates were named in the warrant, but it quoted a non-Justice Department lawyer familiar with the case as saying, “But it’s clear this is about Trump.”
If he ordered illegal surveillance of Trump or Trump’s staffers, Obama could face a federal wiretapping charge, former federal prosecutor Brad Simon told The Post.
And Fordham law professor Jim Cohen said such an abuse of power could also result in a charge of “deprivation of rights under color of law.”
James Clapper, a director of national intelligence under Obama, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would know if a FISA warrant was issued for Trump Tower and denied it had happened.
“There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, as a candidate, or against his campaign,” Clapper said.
Meanwhile, former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who served under President George W. Bush, said Trump “was not correct, certainly, in saying that President Obama ordered a tap on a server in Trump Tower.”
“However, I think he’s right in that there was surveillance and that it was conducted at the behest of the attorney . . . of the Justice Department through the FISA court,” Mukasey told ABC’s “This Week.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he wasn’t sure what Trump was talking about.
“Perhaps the president has information that is not yet available to us or to the public,” Rubio told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And if it’s true, obviously we’re going to find out very quickly. And if it isn’t, then obviously he’ll have to explain what he meant by it.”
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) said Trump was “in trouble” regardless of what took place.
“If he falsely spread this kind of misinformation, that is so wrong . . . On the other hand, if it’s true, it’s even worse for the president,” the Senate minority leader told NBC. “Because that means that a federal judge, independently elected, has found probable cause that the president, or people on his staff, have probable cause to have broken the law or to have interacted with a foreign agent.”