GOP Senator Calls On Trump To Prove Wiretapping Claim, Warns Of “Civilization-Warping Crisis”

White House Still Hasn’t Commented On President’s Allegations

Nebraska Republican Senator Ben Sasse (pictured) on Saturday called on the White House to provide evidence in support of President Donald Trump’s claim that he was wiretapped by President Barack Obama during last year’s campaign. 

“We are in the midst of a civilization-warping crisis of public trust, and the President’s allegations today demand the thorough and dispassionate attention of serious patriots,” Sasse said in a statement (above). “A quest for the full truth, rather than knee-jerk partisanship, must be our guide if we are going to rebuild civic trust and health.” 

According to CNN, two former senior U.S. intelligence officials dismissed Trump’s claims. 

“This did not happen. It is false. Wrong,” said one former official, who reportedly has direct knowledge of investigations by the Justice Department under Obama. 

A spokesman for Obama also denied that the former president ordered any wiretapping of Trump. 

“A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement. “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”

Lewis’ statement didn’t address the possibility that the Obama administration obtained an order from a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court authorizing a wiretap of Trump and his associates. 

Earlier Saturday, another GOP lawmaker, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, said he would be “very worried” if a FISA court found probable cause to authorize surveillance of Trump. 

“If the former President of the United States was able to obtain a warrant lawfully to monitor the Trump campaign for violating law, that would be the biggest scandal since Watergate,” Graham said. “I’m very worried that our president is suggesting that the former president has done something illegal. I would be very worried if, in fact, the Obama Administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfully about Trump campaign activity with foreign governments.”

Sasse and Graham, along with Rep. Justin Amesh, R-Michigan, joined several Democrats in speaking out in response to Trump’s bizarre series of tweets Saturday morning. 

The New York Times reported Saturday afternoon that a White House official said the president’s chief counsel, Donald F. McGahn II, was seeking access to a document issued by the FISA court authorizing surveillance of Trump.  

“The official offered no evidence to support the notion that such a document exists; any such move by a White House counsel would be viewed at the Justice Department as a stunning case of interference,” the NYT reported.