Trump ‘wire tapped’: All you need to know about the US President’s explosive claim involving Obama – “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!,” tweeted Donald Trump on Saturday morning.
U.S. President Barack Obama (R) greets President-elect Donald Trump at inauguration ceremonies swearing in Trump as president on the West front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2017 (Reuters)
Here’s everything you need to know about Donald Trump’s latest allegation against Barack Obama.
Trump’s recent claim
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump decided to ring the alarm and accuse former President Barack Obama of wiretapping him in October so near to the end of the 2016 presidential election campaign.
Making the scandalous claim on Twitter, Trump said nothing was found. He alleges that the wiretapping occurred in Trump Tower, New York, however, the US President cited no evidence to support his allegation.
Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
What is the McCarthyism/ Nixon/Watergate references?
In a series of tweets about the claim, Trump made a few references. Here’s what they mean.
In one tweet he referred to it as it being “McCarthyism”.
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
He was referring to a 1950s US Senator Joseph McCarthy who led a hunt for purported communist infiltrators in the US government, often involving unfounded accusations. The incident coined the term “McCarthyism” – known as a practise of making accusations without evidence.
In another tweet, he called it the “Nixon/Watergate” incident.
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
The 1970s Watergate incident was a major political scandal in the US that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. In 1972, Nixon’s administration’s attempted to cover-up its involvement in a break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office in Washington. When the truth was uncovered, his administration’s resisted an investigation which led to a constitutional crisis. Since then, the word “Watergate” has come to be referred to for illegal activities undertaken by members of the controversial president’s administration.
Reactions to Trump’s claim
Shortly after the news broke, US Representative Eric Swalwell who is a member of the House Intelligence Committee told Fox News: “I think this is just the president up early doing his routine tweeting,” he said. “Presidents don’t wiretap anyone. These are pursued by the Department of Justice in accordance with the FBI and signed off by a judge.”
.@REPSWALWELL clears things up — PRESIDENTS DO NOT ORDER WIRETAPPING #AMJoy https://t.co/q22mDW5tIx
— AM Joy w/Joy Reid (@amjoyshow) March 4, 2017
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a former senior intelligence official familiar with surveillance law told The Washington Post, “It’s highly unlikely there was a wiretap.” The official added, “It seems unthinkable. If that were the case by some chance, that means that a federal judge would have found that there was either probable cause that he had committed a crime or was an agent of a foreign power.”
Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes strongly denied Trump’s allegations. “No president can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you,” Rhodes wrote on Twitter. In response to Trump’s tweet about a lawyer making a “great case,” Rhodes responded: “No. They couldn’t. Only a liar could do that.”
Bruce Bartlett, a former aide to Presidents Ronald Reagan and George HW Bush, used the opportunity to poke fun at the POTUS.
Take Nixon in the deepest days of his Watergate paranoia, subtract 50 IQ points, add Twitter, and you have Trump today.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) March 4, 2017
Do psychiatrists have any drugs to treat paranoia? Asking for a friend.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) March 4, 2017
It took Nixon 6 years to become as paranoid as Trump has become in just 6 weeks.
— Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) March 4, 2017
Where did the claim originate from? The Washington Post, reported he may be “referring to commentary on Breitbart and conservative talk radio suggesting that Obama and his administration used ‘police state’ tactics last fall to monitor the Trump team.”
Obama and Trump
While, the man at the centre of it all has yet to comment, Obama in December 2016, imposed sanctions on Russia and ordered Russian diplomats to leave the US for the country’s involvement in hacking the US Democratic e-mails during the election.
Trump’s administration has come under pressure from Federal Bureau of Investigation and congressional investigations into contacts between some members of his campaign team and Russian officials during his campaign.
This is not the first time he has made accusations against Obama. In the past he claimed the first African-American president of the United States was not born in the US. He later retracted the statement when Obama publicly displayed his birth certificate.
For years, Twitter has been the medium Trump uses to attack his rivals.
