Obama denies Trump allegation of wiretapping Trump Tower phones

President Donald Trump, in a series of early morning tweets Saturday, accused former President Barack Obama of having the telephones at Trump Tower wiretapped during last year’s presidential election campaign. Trump compared the alleged activity by his predecessor to behavior involving President Richard Nixon and the bugging of his political opponents. “How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” he tweeted. Trump—who did not offer any evidence or details, or say what prompted him to make the allegation—said the wiretapping occurred in October. “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen,” Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said, adding that “any suggestion otherwise is simply false.” Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., released a statement in response to Trump’s tweets, saying, “We are in the midst of a civilization-warping crisis of public trust, and the President’s allegations today demand the thorough and dispassionate attention of serious patriots. A quest for the full truth, rather than knee-jerk partisanship, must be our guide if we are going to rebuild the civic trust and health.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.