News / Politics

Sen. Graham to subpoena for evidence of Trump's wiretap claim

Thursday, 09 March 2017 4:34 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 09 March 2017 5:30 PM ]

Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (L) and Lindsey Graham (File Photo)

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says he is ready to subpoena intelligence agencies for evidence proving President Donald Trump's claim that his predecessor Barack Obama ordered a wiretap on him during the 2016 presidential campaign.

"All I can say is that the country needs an answer to this. The current president has accused the former president of basically wiretapping his campaign," the South Carolina senator said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.

Asked if he would subpoena for any information in this regard, Graham said, "Yes."

On Wednesday, Graham and Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse handed a letter to James Comey, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Dana Boente, acting deputy attorney general, requesting “copies of any warrant applications and court orders...related to wiretaps of President Trump, the Trump Campaign, or Trump Tower.”

“Congress must get to the bottom” of the allegations, and that they “would take any abuse of wiretapping authorities for political purposes very seriously,” the senators wrote.

“We would be equally alarmed to learn that a court found enough evidence of criminal activity or contact with a foreign power to legally authorize a wiretap,” they added.

Graham and Whitehouse, the two top ranking members of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, argue that oversight for the potential wiretaps falls under their subcommittee.

The House Intelligence Committee has scheduled a March 20 hearing and Trump's wiretap allegation is part of that probe.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Sean Spicer rejected the notion that the president himself was part of the probe. “There is no reason that we have to think that the president is the target of any investigation whatsoever.”

Last week, Trump tweeted messages claiming that Obama had his “wires tapped” in Trump Tower before Election Day.

Democrats slammed Trump for making the accusations without offering evidence, describing his latest outburst as a bid to distract from renewed scrutiny of his senior aides and allies' alleged ties to Russia.

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