US Justice Dept delivers papers on wiretap claim to Congress
SPYING CHARGES: Trump claims are utterly ridiculous, says British intelligence agency
WASHINGTON/LONDON: The US Justice Department on Friday said it delivered documents to congressional committees responding to their request for information that could shed light on President Donald Trump’s claims that former President Barack Obama ordered US agencies to spy on him.
The information was sent to the House and Senate intelligence and judiciary committees, said Sarah Isgur Flores, a Justice Department spokeswoman.
A congressional official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the House Intelligence Committee was examining the documents and might issue a public statement about them later on Friday.
Another government source, who also requested anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said an initial examination of the material turned over by the Justice Department indicates that it contains no evidence to confirm Trump’s claims that the Obama administration had wiretapped him or the Trump Tower in New York.
Leaders of both the House and Senate intelligence committees, including from Trump’s Republican Party, have said they have found no evidence to substantiate Trump’s claims that Obama ordered US agencies to spy on Trump or his entourage. The White House has publicly offered no proof of the allegation.
On Monday, the House panel sent the Justice Department a letter asking for copies of any court orders related to Trump or his associates which might have been issued last year under an electronic surveillance law or a wideranging anti-crime statute.
Claims are ‘nonsense’: British eavesdropping agency GCHQ called allegations that it helped to wiretap Donald Trump during last year’s presidential campaign “utterly ridiculous.”
The intelligence agency was drawn into the controversy when Fox News commentator and former judge Andrew Napolitano reported that Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) had aided former president Barack Obama in surveilling Trump’s calls. “Recent allegations made by media commentator judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct ‘wiretapping’ against the then president elect are nonsense,” GCHQ said in a statement.
“They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored.”
Napolitano said former president Barack Obama had used British intelligence to help him surveil activities at Trump Tower so he could bypass American agencies and avoid leaving “Obama administration fingerprints.”
Trump was asked about them on Friday during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House.
First he joked, saying the Obama administration surveillance that he has alleged gave him something in common with Merkel, whose mobilephone was tapped by the National Security Agency during the Obama administration.