Trump claims Obama wiretapped his phones
questions have been compounded by U.S. intelligence agencies’ assessment that Russia interfered with the election to help Mr. Trump triumph over Hillary Clinton, along with disclosures about his aides’ contacts with a Russian official.
Those disclosures have already cost retired Gen. Michael Flynn his job as national security adviser and prompted calls from Democrats for Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign.
On Thursday, Mr. Sessions recused himself from the FBI probe after acknowledging he did not disclose his campaign-season contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States when asked during his confirmation proceedings. Mr. Sessions, a U.S. senator at the time, was Mr. Trump’s earliest Senate supporter.
The Sessions revelations deepened the president’s anger over what he sees as his team’s inability to get ahead of the Russia allegations. In the Oval Office meeting Friday before departing for Florida, he angrily told senior advisers that what had the potential to be a good week following his address to Congress had been overtaken by the Russia controversy, according to a White House official who insisted on anonymity.
Chief of staff Reince Priebus, who was scheduled to depart with Mr. Trump, was told to stay in Washington, the White House official said. Chief strategist Steve Bannon also stayed behind, though he eventually traveled to Florida on Saturday with Mr. Sessions.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Mr. Priebus and Mr. Bannon had volunteered to stay in Washington.
In his morning tweets, Mr. Trump said the wiretapping occurred in October at Trump Tower, the New York skyscraper where he ran his campaign and transition. He also maintains a residence there.
The president’s allegations may be related to anonymously sourced reports in British media and blogs, and on conservative-leaning U.S. websites, including Breitbart News. Those reports claimed that U.S. officials had obtained a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to review contacts between computers at a Russian bank and Mr. Trump’s New York headquarters.
The Associated Press has not confirmed these contacts or the investigation into them. Mr. Bannon is a former executive chairman of Breitbart News.