March 19 (UPI) — The Republican leader of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday he’s seen no evidence that the Obama administration wiretapped Trump Tower, as President Trump has claimed, having reviewed information from the Department of Justice.
“Was there a physical wiretap of Trump Tower? No, there never was,” Devin Nunes, of Cal., said in an interview on Fox News Sunday.
On Friday, the Department of Justice said it turned over information sought by congressional committees, which requested documents for any potential court orders or warrants related to Trump, his campaign surrogates, family or friends.
Nunes said he has seen no information of a foreign intelligence surveillance warrant to monitor Trump. He added that “if you take the president literally, it didn’t happen.”
He said there are possible “other surveillance activities,” referring to the communications related to former national security adviser Michael Flynn that were leaked.
Asked whether the committee has seen evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, he said: “I’ll give you a very simple answer: No.”
On March 4, Trump made the wiretapping allegations in a series of Twitter posts. The White House has defended Trump’s accusations, but broadened “wiretapping” to “broad surveillance.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, of Cal., the Democrat’s ranking member on the committee, said he expects FBI Director James Comey to deny Trump’s claim at a hearing Monday.
“I expect that he will,” Schiff said on ‘Meet the Press’ on NBC. “And I hope that we can put at end to this wild goose chase because what the president said was just patently false. And the wrecking ball it created has banged into our British allies, our German allies.”
Trump said to German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a joint news conference Friday at the White House: “On wiretapping by this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps.”
The National Security Agency allegedly monitored phone calls involving Merkel and her aides.
The White House cited an uncorroborated Fox News report to allege a U.K. intelligence agency spied on President Donald Trump at President Barack Obama‘s request. Fox News anchor Shepard Smith on Friday said his network can’t confirm Andrew Napolitano’s claim.
“This is just how the president does business,” Schiff told NBC.
Monday’s hearing will include testimony from Adm. Mike Rogers, the head of the NSA.
The committee is conducting hearings related to alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including the hacking of Democratic National Committee servers and the emails of Hillary Clinton‘s campaign chairman, John Podesta.
