President Trump has made some sizable claims, suggesting that then-outgoing President Barack Obama ordered wiretaps on Trump Tower. These allegations are very serious, and they must now be backed up with evidence, or at least an explanation and some context.
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Maybe Obama did lean on the FBI or other law enforcement agencies to have Trump Tower wiretapped. Maybe Obama had good reason to do so. Maybe he broke laws. Or perhaps the alleged wiretaps never happened at all. There are a lot of “what ifs” in this case. The only certainty here is that the American people deserve an explanation.
What We Know
Trump has released a barrage of accusations, primarily via Twitter, that Obama bugged Trump Tower. So far, however, evidence has been scant.
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
A spokesperson for President Obama has flatly denied the claims, stating that “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”. Further, Obama’s former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, also claimed that no such wiretapping occurred.
The general belief among policy analysts is that presidents can’t order wiretaps. On the other hand, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies do answer to the president. Obama may have leaned on these agencies. Even if that was the case, a federal judge would have had to sign off on the order.
Most recently, Trump has asked Congress to investigate, and it should. Both Obama and Trump, however, should be examined in this investigation, because one of the two appears to be lying, or at least not providing the complete truth.
Trump Should Explain and Backup Claims, or Admit Wrong Doing
What is President Trump basing his accusations on? Leaks from the FBI? Evidence of tapping? Uncovered court orders? All we know is that President Trump has accused President Obama of ordering wiretaps, and seems to have insinuated that Obama broke laws. So far, however, President Trump has failed to offer evidence or even a solid grounding for his accusations.
Certainly, some of the evidence — if it exists — might be confidential and classified. Regardless, Trump can and should provide some sort of basis for his claims. The accusations themselves are extremely serious. If Obama was found to have abused his powers in office, the American people have a right to know, and charges could be warranted. It’s possible that Obama, law enforcement officials, and the judge who signed off on the wiretap all failed to uphold their own duties. If that is the case, the American people deserve justice.
Conversely, if Trump doesn’t have any evidence of wiretapping, he needs to fess up. He must also explain to the American people why he made these claims, and apologize. An accusation of abuse of power from a sitting president is extremely serious. In theory, Trump could even be guilty of libel.
There is, of course, a third option: that Obama did lean on law enforcement agencies to wiretap Trump Tower, but had good reason to do so. Likewise, a law enforcement agency could have pursued a wiretap on its own. Either way, under what grounds did a federal judge sign off on the wiretap? It’s unlikely that any competent judge made the decision lightly given that an incoming president was the target. Perhaps there is evidence that President Trump was/is breaking laws or acting unethically.
If there was a good reason to wiretap Trump Tower, the American people deserve an explanation. It is likely that the details probably could not be made public. Regardless, an explanation is needed. The allegations are serious, and it would appear that one president or another may have been or is acting improperly.
Brian Brinker is an OpsLens Contributor and political consultant. Brinker has an M.A in Global Affairs from American University.
