PARTING IS PREET SORROW
I’m no Inspector Gadget: Conway
White House adviser Kellyanne Conway on Monday backed off her suggestion that high-tech devices — like “microwaves that turn into cameras” — were used to spy on Trump Tower, saying she’s “not Inspector Gadget” and has no evidence.
Asked Sunday about President Trump’s claim that President Barack Obama had ordered wiretaps at his Fifth Avenue campaign headquarters, Conway said there were a number of ways to spy on somebody.
“What I can say is there are many ways to surveil each other now, unfortunately,” she told The Record of Bergen County, NJ. “There was an article this week that talked about how you can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets — any number of different ways. And microwaves that turn into cameras, et cetera.”
But she dialed back her remarks Monday while making the rounds on morning news shows.
“I’m not Inspector Gadget. I don’t believe people are using a microwave to spy on the Trump campaign,” Conway told CNN. “I’m not in the job of having evidence — that’s what investigations are for.”
She said she had just been riffing on news reports about files released by WikiLeaks that revealed the CIA’s ability to turn everyday electronics, like cellphones and smart TVs, into spying devices.
“I was reflecting what people saw in the news last week, which were several articles about how we can surveil each other, generally,” she said, claiming The Record had taken her com- ments out of context.
Earlier, on ABC, Conway denied suggesting the CIA spying techniques were used to monitor Trump Tower.
“Those are two separate things. I answered about surveilling generally,” Conway said.
Pressed on whether she could provide proof of wiretapping, she said she couldn’t.
“Of course, I don’t have any evidence for these allegations,” she said.
“But that’s why there’s an investigation in Congress.”
Her contentious morning-show appearances prompted a supportive tweet from her boss.
“It is amazing how rude much of the media is to my very hard working representatives. Be nice, you will do much better!” Trump tweeted.
Trump had made the unsubstantiated wiretapping allegation in a tweetstorm on March 4.
The White House has offered no evidence to back it up, although spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday that there have been a “preponderance” of reports about monitoring.
“I think there’s been numerous reports from a variety of outlets over the last couple months that seem to indicate that there has been different types of surveillance that occurred during the 2016 election,” he said.
Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has denied the allegation, saying he would have known of any court order authorizing such surveillance.