Justice Dept.: No Evidence Trump’s Claim Obama Wiretapped Him Is True

Trump Lied. Period.

The U.S. Dept. of Justice in a late Friday federal court filing admitted that, contrary to President Donald Trump’s repeated claims, there is no evidence President Barack Obama wiretapped then-candidate Donald Trump at Trump Tower.

“Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Trump accused via Twitter in early March.

The Hill reports that the DOJ “confirmed in a court briefing filed late Friday that neither it nor the FBI has evidence that Trump Tower was the target of surveillance efforts by the Obama administration during the 2016 presidential election.”

The motion confirms that neither the FBI nor the Justice Department’s National Security Division have records documenting wiretaps as alleged by President Trump in a series of tweets earlier this year.

In other words, for months, Trump and his administration not only accused the former president of having committed a felony, but knowingly lied about it. Further, Trump and his team allowed the right wing media to replicate and amplify the president’s lie, offering no pushback to a tale they knew was false. Trump even told at least one conservative media host that in the next two weeks more information would be released. It was not. 

Early in the morning on March 4, President Trump posted a stream on insane tweets, accusing his predecessor of having wiretapped him.

Here’s a screenshot of the tweets as they appeared that morning:

 

Note there is no ambiguity in the series of tweets. Trump clearly attacks and accuses Obama of a felonious act.  

There has been no acknowledgment by the president or his administration that Trump falsely accused Obama of wiretapping him. There has been no apology.

Right wing websites ran with headlines like, “EXCLUSIVE: OBAMA WIRETAPPED TRUMP INSIDERS,” and “The Case Proving Obama Wiretapped Trump.” Two websites closely tied to Trump ran with stories like, “How Obama Wiretapped Trump — Spies Tell All,” and “Non-Denial ‘Denial’: Obama Response to Trump ‘Wiretap’ Claim Raises More Questions.”

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Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license