Politics

Is This Obama Statement Really a Denial Of Wiretapping Trump?

A spokesperson for Obama is denying the claims made by Prezzy Trumpo in his tirade this morning about wiretapping Trump Tower:

A spokesman for former President Obama issued a strong denial to President Trump’s accusation that the former commander-in-chief wiretapped Trump Tower phones during the election campaign.

“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,” Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement Saturday. “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”

I wonder if that parsing is intentional. Much like Ben Rhodes’ statement, he’s just denying that Obama “ordered” wiretapping. That could be considered different from requesting permission from a fisa court to wiretap…

And then there’s this:

Favreau is a former Obama speechwriter, and it’s interesting that he’s also allowing for the possibility of wiretapping to have happened, but not necessarily “ordered” by Obama, or the White House.

That leaves open the opportunity for intelligence services to have sought wiretapping permission on their own….

Or maybe that’s just what they want us to think!!