March 09th, 2017

We are used to President Trump’s controversial tweets but weren’t prepared for what happened a few days ago. He claimed that President Obama had his phone at Trump Towers wiretapped. The real question is whether it is true, false or has an element of truth.

There is no legal basis for a president to order surveillance on another person. That is done by the Department of Justice. In essence, he is claiming that his predecessor committed a crime. I find that extremely unlikely.

The statement issued through Obama’s spokesperson is very interesting. It claims that nobody in the White House ordered surveillance on Trump or his campaign staff. It said nothing about other elements of the government. In addition, there have been a number of stories about obtaining a warrant to spy on members of the campaign staff, even from media outlets opposed to Trump. So it seems quite likely that there is an element of truth to the story.

We may never know what happened. It does seem that the White House was obsessed about trying to tie campaign staff to the Russian hacking. The most plausible explanation is that Justice launched an investigation that included surveillance. I find it very unlikely they would do so without notifying the White House.

Democrats are trying to have it both ways. They claim Trump’s campaign staff colluded with Russia and the Obama administration did nothing to find any evidence. This is a political gotcha. They make a claim, offer no evidence and then demand an investigation because of the serious nature of the charges.
​
Once again, this is an example of both sides being wrong. Trump made wild charges without evidence. The Obama administration had the most political Department of Justice since Nixon. The American people deserve better.
​