Trump: Obama’s bugged me. His response: That’s fake news
DONALD TRUMP accused Barack Obama yesterday of bugging his phones in the run up to last November’s election.
Mr Trump made the explosive allegation on Twitter, posting: ‘Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found.’
The President likened the alleged surveillance to Watergate, the 1970s scandal that brought down President Nixon but gave no evidence to support his claim. He said: ‘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!’ In another tweet he asked: ‘Is it legal for a sitting President to be “wire tapping” a race for president prior to an election?’
Mr Trump also appeared to threaten legal action, writing: ‘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 the Election!’
Last night a spokesman for Mr Obama said: ‘Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.’ It is thought Mr Trump may have been referring to comments made on a radio show that were then published on the farright Breitbart news website on Friday. It suggested that the Obama administration used ‘police state’ tactics to monitor the Trump campaign.
Mr Trump is convinced that elements within the intelligence community have been trying to sabotage his presidency.
Mr Trump also used Twitter to pour scorn on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s decision to quit as host of TV show Celebrity Apprentice because of the President’s association with it.
Trump, his predecessor as the show’s host, posted: ‘Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t voluntarily leaving the Apprentice, he was fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me. Sad end to great show.’