Friday, June 19, 2026
ADVT 
International

Donald Trump's Wire-Tapping Claims Simply False: Obama Spokesman

The Canadian Press, 04 Mar, 2017 12:42 PM
    US President Donald Trump's accusation that his predecessor Barack Obama had his "wires tapped" in Trump Tower before Election Day is "simply false", Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said on Saturday.
     
    "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," Xinhua news agency quoted Lewis as saying in a statement.
     
    "As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false," said Lewis.
     
    Trump claimed in a tweet storm on Saturday morning that Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower before his election victory, but offered no evidence.
     
    Trump said: "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"
     
    He also called Obama a "bad, or sick, guy". 
     
    "Is it legal for a sitting President to be 'wiretapping' a race for President prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!" Trump added in subsequent tweets. 
     
    "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!"
     
    The President then compared the alleged surveillance of his communications to Watergate -- the scandal in the early 1970s that brought down Republican President Richard Nixon after he ordered a break-in of the Democrats' Washington headquarters.
     
    However, Trump did not immediately provide evidence that Obama was responsible for surveillance on his property, the Hill newspaper reported.
     
     
    Moments earlier, Trump had also linked Obama to Attorney General Jeff Sessions's meetings last year with Russia's ambassador to Washington.
     
    "The first meeting Jeff Sessions had with the Russian Amb was set up by the Obama Administration under education programme for 100 Ambs," he tweeted.
     
    Sessions on Thursday said he would recuse himself from any investigations into Russia's links to Trump's team, after massive outrage over the revelations that he met Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak twice during the campaign, then denied doing so during his confirmation hearings.
     
    Trump also blasted Obama for meeting Kislyak 22 times and tweeted: "Just out: The same Russian Ambassador that met Jeff Sessions visited the Obama White House 22 times, and 4 times last year alone."
     
    Trump's team has sought to push back on accusations of ties with Russia by pointing out instances of Democrats meeting Kislyak, according to the report. 
     
    Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was ousted last month after revelations that he misled top White House officials about the nature of his conversations with Kislyak.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    175 Indians Evacuated From Yemen To Reach Kochi

    175 Indians Evacuated From Yemen To Reach Kochi
    The first batch of 175 Indians -- 135 from Kerala and 40 from Tamil Nadu -- evacuated from strife-torn Yemen and taken to Djibouti will land at the Kochi airport after midnight, the external affairs ministry and a Kerala minister overseeing the arrival said on Wednesday.

    175 Indians Evacuated From Yemen To Reach Kochi

    Missing Indian-Origin Boy With Rare Medical Condition Found In Southern England

    Missing Indian-Origin Boy With Rare Medical Condition Found In Southern England
    A major search was launched on Tuesday morning after Malakhi Chijiutomi-Ghosh, who suffers from adrenal hyperplasia and requires medication three times a day, disappeared, Mirror online reported.

    Missing Indian-Origin Boy With Rare Medical Condition Found In Southern England

    Female Foeticide: Indian American Woman, Purvi Patel, Jailed For 20 Years

    Female Foeticide: Indian American Woman, Purvi Patel, Jailed For 20 Years
    Purvi Patel, 33, comes from a family of Indian immigrants who settled in Granger, Indiana, a suburb of South Bend. 

    Female Foeticide: Indian American Woman, Purvi Patel, Jailed For 20 Years

    In Social Experiment, Malaysia's Ethnic Indian Men Say Won't Marry Rape Victims

    In Social Experiment, Malaysia's Ethnic Indian Men Say Won't Marry Rape Victims
    A video survey conducted by a television channel has shown Malaysia’s ethnic Indian men saying that they will not marry rape victims.

    In Social Experiment, Malaysia's Ethnic Indian Men Say Won't Marry Rape Victims

    Florida Stripper Charged In Hit & Run That Left Canadian Man Alexander Sanghwan Critical In Hospital

    Florida Stripper Charged In Hit & Run That Left Canadian Man Alexander Sanghwan Critical In Hospital
    According to an affidavit released Monday night, 26-year-old Olivia Bennett is charged with hitting Alexander Sanghwannear Diamonds strip club.

    Florida Stripper Charged In Hit & Run That Left Canadian Man Alexander Sanghwan Critical In Hospital

    Blogger Hacked To Death In Bangladesh

    Blogger Hacked To Death In Bangladesh
    Three people attacked Oyasiqur Rahman Babu using sharp weapons around 9.45 a.m. in Tejgaon industrial area soon after the online activist stepped out of his house, bdnews24.com quoted Tejgaon zone's Deputy Police Commissioner Biplob Kumar Sarkar as saying.

    Blogger Hacked To Death In Bangladesh