This weekend a showdown between Donald Trump and Barack Obama began, with the current POTUS accusing the former one of bugging the Trump Towers last year.
The accusations started on Twitter early Saturday morning, when Trump accused Obama of setting up wiretaps in his New York campaign headquarters ahead of the 2016 presidential election. He said Obama had sunk to a "new low" and called the former president "sick." On Sunday, the White House stepped up the game by calling for the congressional committee members who are already investigating Russian interference in last year's election, which landed Trump a victory, to also examine whether an abuse of "executive branch investigative powers" occurred.
To be clear, Trump has provided no evidence to prove this allegation. Obama's people categorically deny that he did it. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said this is all complete bunk. "There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president, the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign."
To be sure, there will be more on Wiretapping-gate in the future, but for now, check out how the battle unfolded, what's at stake, and what's ahead as the investigation unfolds.
What is Donald Trump Accusing Barack Obama of Doing?
President Trump accused former President Obama of orchestrating a “Nixon/Watergate” plot to tap the phones at his Trump Tower headquarters last fall in the run-up to the election. His claims were shared on his personal Twitter account and offered no proof to back them up and, at the time, no calls for a formal investigation.
“Bad (or sick) guy!” Trump said of Obama, adding that the surveillance resulted in “nothing found.” Most pundits suspect that Trump had been referring to commentary on Breitbart and conservative talk radio suggesting that Obama and his administration used “police state” tactics last fall to monitor the Trump team. The Breitbart story, published Friday, has been circulating among Trump's senior staff, a White House official told the Washington Post.
Here are the four explosive Trump tweets about this suspicion of the wire-tapping.
Photo: Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images.
Can A President Order A Wiretap On A Private Citizen?
The answer is no. The Department of Justice can seek wiretap surveillance, but a judge must grant it.
Ben Rhodes, Obama's ex-foreign policy advisor and speechwriter, has been defending Obama on Twitter. "No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you," Rhodes tweeted.
On Sunday, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper denied any suggestion of wiretapping in Trump Tower communications before the election. For the part of the national security apparatus that he oversaw, "there was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president, the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign," Clapper told Chuck Todd in an exclusive interview on Sunday's Meet The Press.
Photo: Getty Images.What Does Obama Say About It?
Obama certainly has not been voicing his thoughts about this on Twitter, but he has let surrogates do it for him.
Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis roundly rejected Trump's claims that the previous administration had ordered surveillance at his New York City residence. On Saturday, Lewis tweeted, "Neither @barackobama nor any WH official under Obama has ever ordered surveillance on any US Citizen. Any suggestion is unequivocally false."
What Does the White House Say It Is Investigating?
The White House said on Sunday that the administration wants the congressional committee members who are already investigating Russian interference in last year's U.S. presidential election to also to examine whether abuse of "executive branch investigative powers" happened in 2016.
That's a reference to President Donald Trump's claim in a series of Saturday tweets that former President Barack Obama had telephones at Trump Tower wiretapped. Remember that Trump tweeted these accusations early in the morning, with no evidence to back his claims up.
On Sunday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told reporters there would be no further White House comment until the committees conclude their work.
Here's the full statement, as reported by Politico: "Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling. President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016. Neither the White House nor the President will comment further until such oversight is conducted."
Just before Spicer's statement, Trump sent out two early morning tweets, sent around 3:40 a.m. ET on Sunday morning. The first one took aim at the Democratic National Committee. "Is it true the DNC would not allow the FBI access to check server or other equipment after learning it was hacked? Can that be possible?," Trump tweeted.
Shortly afterward, Trump took a swing at Obama referring to a statement he made as he was running for a second term in 2012. "Who was it that secretly said to Russian President, 'Tell Vladimir that after the election I'll have more flexibility?'" he wrote, adding an at mention to Fox and Friends.
Photo: Ron Edmonds/AP Images.
What's Next?
At this point, there are a lot of questions. If this committee called for by the White House moves forward to indeed investigate Trump’s allegations, will a special prosecutor be appointed? What will be the scope of its investigation?
One thing is nearly guaranteed. Even though Spicer said the White House wouldn't comment any further, we can likely expect more accusations being thrown out on Twitter.
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