White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Monday that President Trump has access to information and intelligence others do not and that “credible news sources” suggested there might be more to look into, after Mr. Trump accused former President Barack Obama over the weekend of tapping phones in Trump Tower during last year’s campaign.
“Well, let’s get to the bottom of it — that is the president’s entire point,” Ms. Conway said on “Fox & Friends.” “You have a number of various and credible news sources showing that there was politically motivated activity all during the campaign and suggesting that there may be more there.”
“The president’s entire point is that the people deserve to know,” she said. “If we don’t know, then let’s find out together.”
Mr. Trump had tweeted over the weekend: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ’wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
Asked how he knows that happened to him, Ms. Conway said: “He’s the president of the United States. He has information and intelligence that the rest of us do not, and that’s the way it should be for presidents.”
Referring to the wiretap accusation and other Trump tweets, Sen. Bernard Sanders, Vermont independent, said on Twitter: “President Trump cannot continue to lie, lie, lie. It diminishes the office of the president and our standing in the world.”
A friend of the president, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy, said Mr. Trump was “pissed” about the media’s dismissive reaction to his claim of wiretapping when he saw him in Florida on Saturday.
A spokesman for Mr. Obama said in response that neither the former president nor his White House ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen.
Mr. Ruddy said when he asked the president about Mr. Obama’s denials of wiretapping, Mr. Trump replied, “This will be investigated. This will all come out. I will be proven right.”
“I haven’t seen him this pissed off in a long time,” Mr. Ruddy wrote on his news web site.
Ms. Conway called for further investigation to see where things go.
“Let’s have the House and Senate intelligence committees do their work and think about whether to include this,” she said.
“But the president has made clear that he would like there to be an investigation of any possible abuses, and that hopefully that oversight activity will clarify” things, Ms. Conway said.
Rep. Adam Schiff, California Democrat and the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, said Monday that Mr. Trump simply might not know the difference between what’s correct and incorrect at this point.
“We must accept possibility that @POTUS does not know fact from fiction, right from wrong. That wild claims are not strategic, but worse,” Mr. Schiff said on Twitter.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, Texas Democrat and another member on the House Intelligence Committee, challenged Mr. Trump Monday to provide proof of wiretapping.
“President Trump should back up his wire tapping claim immediately or apologize to President Obama and the nation,” Mr. Castro tweeted. “I’ve seen no evidence.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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