Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday Congress is going to “flex its muscle” if the Justice Department doesn’t start to provide answers on President Trump’s claims that former President Barack Obama wiretapped phones in Trump Tower during last year’s campaign.
Mr. Graham said he hasn’t heard back from DOJ or the FBI on whether there’s any evidence of a warrant that would have allowed such wiretapping. Mr. Graham and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse asked for the information in a March 8 letter.
Mr. Graham said Congress would “flex its muscle” if they don’t comply.
“We’ll issue a subpoena to get the information. We’ll hold up the deputy attorney general’s nomination until Congress is provided with [the] information to finally clear the air as to whether or not there was ever a warrant issued against the Trump campaign,” he said on NBC’s “Today” show.
“I think if we don’t get it today, the Congress is going to ramp up the pressure,” Mr. Graham said.
“I have no evidence of it. I’m suspicious of it. But now I’m getting concerned because it’s taking so long to answer my letter,” he said.
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump wire-tapping claims face bipartisan doubt
Mr. Graham also said he and Mr. Whitehouse met two weeks ago with FBI Director James B. Comey and told him they would like to know by March 15 whether there is a related active criminal investigation going on.
“Because Congress should not interfere with it. We’re going to have a hearing on Russia. I don’t want to bump into a criminal investigation if there is one,” he said. “I think the entire country needs to know if there’s something there there.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday the president is “very confident” that there will be forthcoming information to vindicate the wiretapping claims.
Mr. Trump has not provided any detailed public comments about the issue since he made the accusations in a series of tweets on March 4. A spokesman for Mr. Obama has denied the charges.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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