FBI disputes Trump wiretapping accusations
The FBI has asked the US justice department to refute President Donald Trump's accusation that Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of his phone, according to US media.
کد خبر: ۶۷۴۳۰۳
| ۱۶ اسفند ۱۳۹۵ - ۱۲:۵۳ 06 March 2017
| 2318 بازدید
Al Jazeera - The FBI has asked the US justice department to refute President
Donald Trump's accusation that Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of his
phone, according to US media.
Citing senior officials, the New York Times reported that FBI
director James Comey made the unprecedented request on Saturday because
there was no evidence, and the accusation "insinuates that the FBI broke
the law".
A US congressional committee has confirmed it will look into Trump's allegation. The justice department has not commented.
Comey's request came after Trump, without providing evidence, accused Obama of ordering his phone in Trump Tower be tapped during last year's election campaign.
Trump has not commented further on the accusation since making it in a series of tweets on Saturday.
Democrats accused Trump of trying to distract from a rising
controversy about possible ties to Russia. His administration has come
under pressure from FBI and congressional investigations into contacts
between members of his campaign team and Russian officials.
A spokesman for Obama denied the allegation, calling it "simply
false". The former president's national intelligence chief James Clapper
has also denied it.
"There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president
elect at the time, as a candidate at the time or against his campaign,"
Clapper said on NBC's Meet the Press.
White House backpedals
Jason Johnson, a professor of political science in Baltimore, told Al Jazeera that any investigation was likely to be short.
"It's not clear what the Congressional committee will do and how they
will do it, but it can't last very long because the accusation is
false," Johnson said, adding a president is unable to order a wiretap.
"The president can't demand that anyone gets wiretapped and the only
way that there could be a wiretap of Trump Tower is if judges and
lawyers and investigators and the justice department felt that Trump was
engaging in some illegal behaviour."
On Sunday, the White House appeared to somewhat backpedal on the
claim, suggesting only that there was a wiretap but not speculating on
who may have ordered it.
"I think the bigger thing is let's find out. Let's have an
investigation. If they're going to investigate Russia ties, let's
include this as part of it," Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.
Trump's accusation appears to have been based on unverified claims
made by the right-wing Breitbart News outlet, which was once run by his
chief strategist, Steve Bannon.
Trump was said to be furious that positive reviews of his joint
address to Congress on Tuesday were overshadowed by a series of
revelations about meetings between members of his team and Russian
officials.
The president was also said to be angry that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused, or excused, himself from any election campaign or Russia-related investigations.
Democrats and a growing number of Republicans in Congress have called
for the appointment of a special prosecutor and a bipartisan inquiry to
look into the Russia question.
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