News / Politics

Schiff: I haven’t seen any evidence Obama admin wiretapped Trump

Friday, 10 March 2017 5:14 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 10 March 2017 5:19 PM ]

US Representative Adam Schiff speaks to reporters in the US Capitol on March 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee has said that he has not “seen any evidence whatsoever to substantiate” President Donald Trump's claims that he was wiretapped by the Obama administration during the campaign.

In an interview with CNN on Friday, California Representative Adam Schiff said, “I think when [White House Press Secretary] Sean Spicer isn't even willing to talk about it, you know there's a real problem.”

In response to the question if FBI Director James Comey is prepared to talk about the issue, Schiff replied, “he certainly is prepared for the question, and I don't see why he wouldn't answer it. He might even welcome the opportunity.”

Schiff also noted that it was still early in the investigation.

On Sunday, Spicer asked Congress to investigate Obama’s possible “abuse” of his investigative powers.

“Nothing has changed,” Spicer told CNN Wednesday when asked whether there was new evidence to support the claims. "It's not a question of new proof or less proof or whatever. The answer is the same, which is that, I think, there was a concern about what happened in the 2016 election.”

US Sen. Patrick Leahy (L) (D-VT) confers with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) (R-SC) before the start of a hearing held by the Senate State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee March 7, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)

Also on the same day, two senior senators in US Congress, Republican Lindsey Graham and Democratic Sheldon Whitehouse handed a letter to Comey, and Dana Boente, acting deputy attorney general, requesting “copies of any warrant applications and court orders...related to wiretaps of President Trump, the Trump Campaign, or Trump Tower.”

“Congress must get to the bottom” of the allegations, and that they “would take any abuse of wiretapping authorities for political purposes very seriously,” the senators wrote.

Last week, Trump tweeted messages claiming that former US President Barack Obama had his “wires tapped” in Trump Tower before Election Day. Also Trump said that Obama abused his power and spied on his campaign over allegations that his team was connected to Moscow.

Obama visibly shuddered at the notion of intelligence agencies providing him with hours of recordings of Trump talking.

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