President Donald Trump has accused former President Barack Obama of tapping his phones at Trump Tower before the election. He tweeted a series of accusations Saturday morning (March 4) without citing any evidence, causing news outlets to scramble to report the shocking claim.
"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!," the President tweeted early Saturday morning, followed by "Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!" and "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!" and "How low has President Obama gone to tapp [SIC] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"
CNN headlined its story on the rant ""Trump's Baseless Wiretap Claim," citing a former senior government official denying there was such an investigation.
The Washington Post, which knows a little something about Nixon and Watergate, said it appeared the President might have been responding to a story on conservative site Breitbart.com about conservative radio host Mark Levin and his call for an investigation into what he alleged were Obama's "silent coup" against Trump.
Principal Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on ABC’s This Week Sunday (March 5): “If this [wiretapping] happened, if this is accurate, this is the biggest overreach and the biggest scandal.”
"Let’s have an investigation," she said. "If they're going to investigate Russia ties, let's include this as part of it and so that's what we're asking. . . . . If this happened, if this is accurate, this is the biggest overreach and the biggest scandal," said Huckabee, according to the White House, which included her quote as part of a "highlights from Sunday's Shows" e-mail to reporters.
The President shifted gears following those Tweets with one focused on The Apprentice, the NBC show he used to host, and the exit of current host Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying: "Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show."
Schwarzenegger had cited Trump’s continued association with the NBC show as the reason it failed, saying people were boycotting the show as a result.
