A White House spokeswoman dodged questions Monday on why President Trump believes former President Barack Obama pushed to have his phone tapped at Trump Tower, but indicated nonetheless that Trump does not accept the FBI’s claim that Trump’s phone was not tapped.
On ABC, deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she wasn’t sure if Trump has called the FBI directly about his weekend claim that his phone was tapped, which seemed to originate with a Breitbart story. And while the FBI has reportedly said that Trump’s phone was never tapped, she indicated that the White House has not heard that directly from the FBI.
“I don’t know that he has has got a firm denial from the FBI,” she said.
When asked if Trump’s accepts the FBI’s public dismissal of the claim, she indicated he does not by saying the White House wants Congress to investigate.
“The president wants the truth to come out to the American people, and he is asking that it be done through the House Intelligence Committee, and that that be the process that we go through,” she said.
She added, “I don’t know that he has talked directly with the FBI director, but I do believe, again, that we allow Congress to do its job.”
Trump’s claims appear to be based on multiple reports that the Obama administration twice asked for a FISA warrant from a federal judge, and had one denied and the second granted.
To this point, the administration has provided no evidence to support Trump’s claims and on Monday, and Huckabee Sanders said that would be up to Congress to find.
“We’re asking for the House Intelligence Committee to do their full investigation so we have that information available,” she told NBC Monday.
The media should believe Trump’s claims without evidence, Huckabee Sanders said. Trump “firmly believes” the Obama administration “may have” tapped into the phones at Trump Tower, and the fact that the media doesn’t believe him is a sign of bias, she said.
“The president firmly believes that it did and all we’re asking for at this point, through the administration, is we get to the bottom of it and see if it did,” she said. “Look, the media loves to create this false narrative under the current president but is so quick to dismiss anything under the past administration.”
