The Department of Justice said it has no evidence to support President Trump’s assertion he was wiretapped by his predecessor during the 2016 White House race.
The Justice Department said in a court filing Friday that neither the FBI nor the department’s National Security Division have seen evidence that corroborate Mr. Trump’s claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his Manhattan residence while in office.
“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ’wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Mr. Trump tweeted March 4. “How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process.”
“Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets,” the Justice Department said in Friday’s filing.
The White House did not immediately respond publicly to the court filing.
Mr. Trump made waves less than two months into his tenure by accusing the Obama administration of eavesdropping, but U.S. officials have repeatedly called his claim into question.
“We have no information to support those tweets,” James Comey, the FBI director at the time, said during a March congressional hearing.
Neither “President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen,” former Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said previously. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
And Rep. Devin Nunes, California Republican and chair of the House Intelligence Community, similarly stated in March that lawmakers were unaware of evidence supporting Mr. Trump’s claim.
The Justice Department’s motion Friday came in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by the American Oversight transparency group.
“The FBI and Department of Justice have now sided with former Director Comey and confirmed in writing that President Trump lied when he tweeted the former President Obama ’wiretapped’ him at Trump Tower,” American Oversight said in response to the filing.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.