President accused former president Barack Obama of wire tapping his phones in October during the late stages of the presidential election campaign, but offered no evidence to support the allegation.
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'This is Nixon/Watergate': Trump alleges that Obama wire tapped his phones during the campaign
President Donald Trump sent a series of tweets accusing Barack Obama of wire tapping him in October 2016, but offered no evidence to support the allegation.
Donald Trump and Barack Obama.
"How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!," Trump said on Saturday.
Trump claimed that though the wiretapping took place, there was "nothing found."
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Trump didn't offer any evidence to support his bombastic claims. He may have been referring to a Breitbart report about conservative radio host Mark Levin's allegations that Obama sought to "undermine" Trump's campaign in the final days of the presidential election.
Journalists have noted that the wiretaps Trump says he "just found out about" have been reported on for weeks. The FBI reportedly requested a warrant from a FISA court (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance) in October to monitor Trump campaign officials who were suspected of improper ties to the Russian government.
A senior US intelligence official told the BBC in January that that warrant had been granted, but that has not been confirmed.
Andrew McCarthy, of the conservative-leaning National Review, noted in January that a FISA court doesn't need evidence of a crime to grant a warrant, just evidence amounting to probable cause that the target of the wiretap is an agent of a foreign power.
Ben Rhodes, Obama's former deputy national security adviser, also noted that presidents can't unilaterally authorize wiretaps.
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"Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you," Rhodes said on Saturday, in reference to Trump.
two meetings he held with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak
Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned in February after revelations that he had discussed US sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office.
Robert Costa, a Washington Post reporter, said that Trump advisers woke up on Saturday morning "surprised" by Trump's tweets.
Administration officials reportedly told Costa they expected Saturday to be a "down day, pretty quiet." Trump's tweets started around 6 a.m. on Saturday, from the Mar-a-Lago.
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Trump also took a shot at Arnold Schwarzenegger, who announced on Friday that he was leaving "The Apprentice," the show Trump formerly hosted.
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Reuters contributed reporting.
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