A Democratic congresswoman said the House Intelligence Committee could subpoena President Trump’s administration for evidence of his claim that President Obama spied on him at Trump Tower during the election if no evidence is provided.
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said on CNN Tuesday that the committee has gone “down a rabbit hole” investigating Trump’s tweets saying he “just found out” Obama had wiretaps at Trump Tower during the campaign. The administration was given a one-week extension to come up with proof of Trump’s claims on Monday.
Speier said if no evidence comes in that week, she would expect the committee to use its subpoena power.
“There’s no question that we would subpoena any evidence,” said Speier, a member of the committee.
Dem. @RepSpeier: If no evidence is presented we'll call on Trump to apologize over unfounded wiretapping accusations https://t.co/CRLjHYT0NV— New Day (@NewDay) March 14, 2017
Speier said Obama couldn’t just order a wiretap on an American citizen. Instead, any action like that would have to go through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
Such a request would create a paper trail linking the request to the Obama administration, she said.
“There would be a paper trail of that somewhere, something very easily pulled out of a file and given to the intelligence committee,” she said.
But, if there is no evidence for Trump’s accusation, he must recant, Speier said.
“The long-term play is we will call upon the president to recant and apologize to former President Obama,” she said. “You do not make those kind of allegations, these criminal allegations, against a former president.”
