President feels vindicated by reports of ‘incidental’ tap

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has said he feels vindicated in his claims that he was wiretapped by his predecessor Barack Obama after it emerged some of his communications did make their way into intelligence reports.

Mr Trump was speaking after Congressman Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating the allegations, said communications of Mr Trump and officials working for his transition team were “monitored” after the election.

Asked if there was a possibility Mr Trump could have essentially been correct in his claims that he was spied on, Mr Nunes said: “It’s possible.”

But he said physical phone-tapping of Trump Tower “did not happen”.

Mr Nunes said he could not reveal further details of who or what the agencies were targeting when they collected Mr Trump’s communications. “It’s all classified information,” he told reporters.

Asked if he felt vindicated by the revelation, Mr Trump said: “I somewhat do. I must tell you I somewhat do. I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found.”

Only this week, FBI Director James Comey had said there was no evidence to back up Trump’s assertions. Mr Nunes may have gone some way towards doing that, although he said the Trump team was not the target of surveillance but was part of an “incidental collection”, which he said was legal.

Mr Nunes said the intercepted communications were not related to an ongoing FBI inquiry into suggestions of contacts between Trump associates and Russia. The information was brought to him through “proper channels” by people believed to be in the US intelligence community.

Asked if he believed Mr Trump’s transition team was spied on, he said: “It all depends on one’s definition of spying.”

Mr Nunes did not say how the communications were picked up but US intelligence agencies routinely monitor the communications of foreign officials. That surveillance sometimes includes Americans whom the foreigner is speaking to or about.

Speaking outside the White House, Mr Nunes said: “The president had a right to know these reports are out there. What I have seen bothers me and I think it should bother the president and his team because I think some of it seems to be inappropriate.”