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In March 2017, President Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of wiretapping the phones of his Trump Tower office late in the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump presented no evidence for his claim but called for a congressional investigation.

At a House Intelligence Committee open hearing on March 20, 2017, FBI Director James Comey stated that neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice possess any information to support Donald Trump's wiretapping allegations.

Origin and related claims

A November 2016 article in Heat Street by Louise Mensch reported that the "FBI sought, and was granted, a FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) court warrant in October, giving counter-intelligence permission to examine the activities of 'U.S. persons' in Donald Trump's campaign with ties to Russia". The article cited reports from anonymous "sources with links to the counter-intelligence community."

On January 11, 2017, the Guardian reported that the FBI initially applied for a FISA warrant in June of 2016, requesting to "monitor four members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials." This initial request was denied. A source told the Guardian that the FBI then submitted a more narrowly focused request in October, "but that has not been confirmed, and it is not clear whether any warrant led to a full investigation."

On January 12, 2017, BBC journalist Paul Wood independently reported that, in response to an April 2016 tip from a foreign intelligence agency to the CIA about "money from the Kremlin going into the US presidential campaign", a joint taskforce had been established including representatives of the FBI, the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Justice, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Security Agency; and in June 2016 lawyers from the Department of Justice had applied to the FISA court for "permission to intercept the electronic records from two Russian banks." According to Wood, this application was rejected, as was a more narrowly focused request in July, and the order was finally granted by a different FISA judge on 15 October, three weeks before the presidential election. According to the article, the warrant did not name Trump or his associates.

On January 19, 2017, the New York Times published an article with the print headline "Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides".</ref> The title of the article published online was "Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry Into Trump Associates". The article states: "American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials and associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort." The article also notes the uncertainty regarding the scope of the wiretapping, stating: "It is not clear whether the intercepted communications had anything to do with Mr. Trump's campaign, or Mr. Trump himself."

The White House claimed that reports "from BBC, Heat Street, New York Times, Fox News, among others" established the president's wiretapping allegation, providing links of these to The Washington Post.

The Washington Post Fact Checker team said that a Breitbart News report added another, uncited, claim that the Obama administration, after being denied their first FISA request, filed a second requesting a wiretap on a computer server in Trump Tower, which was approved. The Washington Post further notes that Mensch's original article did not use the term "wiretap" (implying voice telephone calls), but only made claims about e-mail exchanged with SVB Bank and the Russian Alfa-Bank, and that although Mensch did claim the e-mail server was located in Trump Tower, it was likely located in Philadelphia, as Trump outsourced e-mail to Listrak, which operates out of a data center there.

In a March 15 interview Trump gave two reasons for making his "wire tapping" claim: one was the aforementioned 6 week old January 19 New York Times article and another was a Bret Baier report on Fox News on March 14. Neither the article nor the Baier report made any mention of wire tapping of Trump Tower.

Statement

In a succession of tweets on March 4, President Donald Trump stated, without evidence, that former president Barack Obama had wiretapped the phones in his offices at Trump Tower during the last months of the 2016 election. Trump compared the alleged intrusion to McCarthyism and Watergate. Anonymous White House officials told The Washington Post that Trump did not appear to coordinate his comments with other White House officials.

In a statement issued through press secretary Sean Spicer on March 5, Trump asked congressional intelligence committees to "determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016" as part of their investigation into Russian interference in the election. In response, Rep. Devin Nunes, who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, stated that the committee "will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party’s campaign officials or surrogates." U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham has said he is willing to use subpoena powers to find out whether Trump was investigated and what the cause for such an investigation was, if it did occur. On March 15, Nunes reported that the House Intelligence Committee had not found any evidence supporting the wiretapping claim.

Responses

Democrats and critics of the president accused Trump of fabricating the claim to distract from news stories about members of the Trump campaign colluding with the Russian government during the 2016 election. Most Republicans in Congress distanced themselves from the claim, although members of both the Senate and House of Representatives vowed to investigate the matter.

Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis refuted the claim in a statement later that day saying: "A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice." The Wall Street Journal described Obama as "livid" when he heard about the allegations personally, though other sources said he "rolled his eyes" and remains more concerned about Trump's conservative and nationalist agenda.

White House officials gave discordant responses to media inquiries about Trump's accusations. Spicer banned cameras in the briefing room at a press conference the following day. White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told Fox News' Fox & Friends that the president had "information and intelligence that the rest of us do not," although Spicer later said Conway was not qualified to make that claim.

On March 4, FBI director James Comey asked the Justice Department to issue a statement refuting Trump's claims.

Speaking to NBC's Meet the Press, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said "There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect."

There has also been criticism of Donald Trump's claim as simply being a "dead cat", a false allegation against Barack Obama intended to direct media and public interest away from Trump and his team's alleged connections with Russia.

During an interview on March 12, Kellyanne Conway told The Record's Mike Kelly that the surveillance could have potentially used hacked electronic devices: "You can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets — any number of ways." She also suggested that Trump could have been monitored with "microwaves that turn into cameras." Conway later retracted the claim, stating that "I'm not Inspector Gadget, I don't believe that people are using the microwave to spy on the Trump campaign."

At a March 13 press briefing, Sean Spicer claimed that Trump was referring to general surveillance rather than direct wiretapping. Spicer also clarified that the White House believed that the Obama administration was responsible for the surveillance, not Obama himself, directly contradicting Trump's own tweets which specifically named the former president.

During a March 14 Fox & Friends interview, Andrew Napolitano said that "Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command," using the British GCHQ to implement surveillance to avoid leaving "American fingerprints". Napolitano accused Robert Hannigan, who resigned from the GCHQ on January 23, of ordering the wiretap. Hannigan reportedly resigned for personal reasons. Fox News anchor Bret Baier later stated that "the Fox News division was never able to back up claims." On March 16, Press Secretary Sean Spicer repeated Napolitano's claim at a White House press briefing. The following day, a GCHQ spokesperson called Napolitano's claim "utterly ridiculous". The British government said that the U.S. government promised not to repeat these claims. The White House denied reports that it had apologized to the British government for the accusation.

Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) pointed out a backdoor intercept of Trump’s communications were possible. Elizabeth Goitein, a surveillance law expert at New York University has pointed out backdoor searches of incidental records collected on Americans overseas are allowed by U.S. law. Representative Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ), a senior member on the House Intelligence Committee, speculated on the day of Comey's testimony that it was possible there was incidental collection that occurred due to targeting Russian communications, but doubted that there was any evidence that there was a wiretap. (Incidental collection (also called backdoor collection by politicians such as Wyden) has been publicly acknowledged by the intelligence community for years.) At a House Intelligence Committee open hearing on March 20, 2017, FBI Director James Comey confirmed that the Bureau possessed no information to support Donald Trump's wiretapping allegations.

Notes

1. The article states: "A version of this article appears in print on January 20, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: 'Wiretapped Data Used in Inquiry of Trump Aides.'"

References

1. ^ Philip Rucker; Ellen Nakashima; Robert Costa (March 4, 2017). "Trump, citing no evidence, accuses Obama of 'Nixon/Watergate' plot to wiretap Trump Tower". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
2. ^ Rosenberg, Matthew; Huetteman, Emmarie; Schmidt, Michael (March 20, 2017). "Comey Confirms F.B.I. Investigation of Russian Election Interference, Links to Trump Campaign". The New York Times. Retrieved March 20, 2017.
3. "EXCLUSIVE: FBI 'Granted FISA Warrant' Covering Trump Camp's Ties To Russia". Retrieved March 5, 2017.
4. ^ Kessler, Glenn (March 5, 2017). "Trump's 'evidence' for Obama wiretap claims relies on sketchy, anonymously sourced reports". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
5. Borger, Julian (2017-01-11). "John McCain passes dossier alleging secret Trump-Russia contacts to FBI". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-03-19.
6. Paul Wood (January 12, 2017). "Trump 'compromising' claims: How and why did we get here?". BBC. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
7. ^ Michael S. Schmidt; Matthew Rosenberg; Adam Goldman; Matt Apuzzo (January 19, 2017). "Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry Into Trump Associates". The New York Times. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
8. ^ Carroll, Lauren (March 16, 2017). "Trump says his Obama wiretap claim came from New York Times". PolitiFact. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
9. ^ Adam, Karla (March 6, 2017). "This former British lawmaker is at the heart of the Trump wiretap allegations". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
10. Pollak, Joel B. (March 3, 2017). "Mark Levin to Congress: Investigate Obama's 'Silent Coup' vs. Trump". Breitbart News.
11. Levy, Gabrielle. "Trump Says NYT, Fox News Sources for Wiretapping Claims". www.usnews.com. US News. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
12. Allison Graves (March 5, 2017). "Why the White House defense of Trump wiretap accusation is misleading". Politifact.
13. ^ Michael S. Schmidt; Michael D. Shear (March 5, 2017). "Trump, citing no evidence, accuses Obama of 'Nixon/Watergate' plot to wiretap Trump Tower". The New York Times. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
14. "Congress to investigate Trump's wiretapping claim". PBS Newshour. March 6, 2017.
15. Manu Raju (March 9, 2017). "Graham ready to subpoena for Trump wiretap information". CNN.
16. Bertrand, Natasha (2017-03-15). "'Clearly the president is wrong': House intel committee says it's seen 'no evidence' that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-03-15. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
17. Sabrina Siddiqui, David Smith (March 8, 2017). "Top Republicans refuse to back up Trump's unproven wiretapping claim". The Guardian.
18. Brian Logan (March 8, 2017). "Obama is reportedly 'furious' over Trump's unsubstantiated wiretapping allegations". Business Insider.
19. Rebecca Savransky (March 8, 2017). "Obama 'rolled his eyes' at Trump's wiretap accusation". The Hill.
20. Ashley Parker; Jenna Johnson (March 6, 2017). "White House aides struggle to defend Trump wiretap claims". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
21. "Trump and the media - Is it war or love?". BBC. March 10, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
22. "Kellyanne Conway alludes to even wider surveillance of Trump campaign". North Jersey. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
23. "'I'm not Inspector Gadget': Kellyanne Conway refutes claims that she suggested Trump's team may have been spied on with microwaves". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-03-14.
24. Keneally, Meghan (March 13, 2017). "Trump was talking about general surveillance in wiretapping claims, Spicer says". ABC News. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
25. "Sean Spicer says Trump 'doesn't really think' Obama 'personally' wiretapped Trump". Business Insider. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
26. "Judge Nap: Obama 'Went Outside Chain of Command,' Used British Spy Agency to Surveil Trump". Fox News. March 14, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
27. Haddad, Tareq (March 15, 2017). "GCHQ did not spy on Donald Trump, security official confirms". International Business Times. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
28. Stelter, Brian (2017-03-17). "Reporting or commentary? Napolitano claim shows Fox's blurry line". CNNMoney. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
29. Gambino, Lauren; Rawlinson, Kevin. "GCHQ dismisses 'utterly ridiculous' claim it helped wiretap Trump". The Guardian. Retrieved March 17, 2017.
30. Adam, Karla (March 17, 2017). "Britain: White House says it won't repeat claims that a British agency wiretapped Trump". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
31. Westcott, Ben; Merica, Dan; Sciutto, Jim (March 17, 2017). "White House: No apology to British government over spying claims". CNN. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
32. Nelson, Steven. "Authorities Intercepted 1,227 Obama Calls, Rand Paul Says, Misreading Report to Explain Trump". U.S. News & World Report.
33. Nelson, Steven (March 7, 2017). "Will Trump's Wiretap Claim Prove True?". U.S. News & World Report.
34. LoBiondo, David (March 20, 2017). "House Committee Hosts Public Hearing Into Russia Election Interference" (Interview). Interviewed by David Greene. NPR. There is no evidence demonstrating that there was a wiretap. What - now, was there something incidental that there was some listening on the Russians that somehow touched on that? …it's possible… I don't think there's any evidence anything went on.
35. Ball, James; Ackerman, Spencer (August 9, 2013). "NSA loophole allows warrantless search for US citizens' emails and phone calls". The Guardian. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
36. Savage, Charlie (April 1, 2014). "Letter Tells of U.S. Searches for Emails and Calls". The New York Times.
37. Clapper, James (March 28, 2017). "Letter to Senators Wyden". The New York Times. Director of National Intelligence – via Charlie Savage.

• 2017 controversies
• 2017 in American politics
• Conspiracy theories regarding Barack Obama
• March 2017 events in the United States
• Trump administration controversies
• United Kingdom–United States relations