Prez approval rating crashes down to 37%
ed to maintain that the former President did not conduct surveillance at Trump Tower. Obama has denied the charge.
Nunes also expressed doubts.
“Were there physical wiretaps of Trump Tower? No, there never was,” Nunes told “Fox News Sunday.” He said information recently handed over to his panel by the Justice Department still offers no proof to back up the accusation.
“The information we received Friday continues to lead us in that direction,” Nunes said.
“There was no FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) his warrant I am aware of to tap Trump Tower,” he added, referring to the document that would be required by investigators if they were to have set up wiretaps.
The comments are the first onthe-record remarks confirming that the material the Justice Department provided the panel did not back up Trump’s allegation.
More details could emerge Monday, with Comey’s testimony. Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, is also expected to testify.
As recently as Friday, Trump continued to stand by his claim — which he originally offered in a March 4 tweet.
The President expounded on his accusation last week, saying that Britain’s cyberintelligence organization conducted the surveillance at Obama’s behest — a claim the agency GBHQ flatly denied.
During German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s first visit to the Trump White House, the president mentioned how her phone had been monitored during the Obama administration.
“At least we have something in common, perhaps,” Trump said.
Nunes’ comments, meanwhile, prompted several Republicans to implore Trump to drop the issue — and to request he apologize.
“It never hurts to say you’re sorry,” Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.) told ABC’s “This Week,” when asked whether Trump should apologize.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Trump “owes” Congress, and the American people an “explanation” behind his claims.
“I don’t know the basis for President Trump’s assertion. And that’s what I wish he would explain to us on the Intelligence Committee and to the American people. And I do believe he owes us that explanation,” she said on NBC. PRESIDENT Trump’s approval rating sank to a new low of 37% on Sunday, according to the latest Gallup poll.
While 37% of Americans approve of the job the President has done since taking office Jan. 20, 58% disapprove. His approval rating stood at 45% last week, poll numbers showed.
The daily poll results are based on telephone interviews with 1,500 people nationwide and has a 3% margin of error.
Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, generally polled approval in the low 50s, but his disapproval ratings were in the mid-40s throughout March 2016, according to Gallup.
The latest poll comes after Republicans pitched their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare. The health care plan could leave 24 million people uninsured by 2026, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
It also comes after Hawaii Federal Judge Derrick Watson put a nationwide hold on the President’s revised travel ban. At a rally in Tennessee on Wednesday, Trump vowed to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
Trump has also been getting backlash from Democrats and Republicans on his unsubstantiated claims that Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. A 29-YEAR-OLD Virginia man nabbed outside the White House following a bomb threat said he was testing the Secret Service, according to a report Sunday.
Sean Patrick Keoughan, of Roanoke, drove a stolen car to a security checkpoint at 15th St. and E Street NW around 11 a.m. Saturday and told Secret Service agents he had “a bomb in the trunk,” NBC News reported.
“This is a test,” Keoughan allegedly said, as agents tackled him to the ground.
After an hours-long search with a bomb robot, authorities found no trace of explosives inside the 2017 Chevrolet Impala. The vehicle was reported stolen, and had Indiana registration, the network report said.
Keoughan faces charges of false bomb threats and unauthorized use of a vehicle.
President Trump was not at the White House during the incident. He spent the weekend in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The incident marked the third foiled attempt to get onto White House grounds in the past three weeks.