Wiretap flap puts conspiracy theories to the test

Sparks flew in Washington over the weekend as allies and opponents of President Donald Trump responded to his accusation that former President Barack Obama spied on him during last year’s election campaign. The White House has asked Congress to investigate alleged wiretapping in tandem with a probe of the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia.

The dust-up began early Saturday.

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Trump tweeted.

Neither Trump nor his aides have said where they got the information about the alleged wiretaps. Trump aides Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders cited non-specific intelligence reports. But rumors about the Obama administration investigating the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia have circulated since early November, when the website Heat St., citing anonymous sources, reported the FBI sought a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to investigate whether a server used by the Trump campaign had connections to Russian banks. Records from FISA courts are usually not made public.

Those rumors gained steam Thursday, when conservative radio host Mark Levin listed the Heat St. story with other related reports to make the case for Obama’s spying on Trump during the campaign. Breitbart repackaged Levin’s argument for a story on Friday, and Trump tweeted his accusations Saturday. (Trump has not cited the Breitbart story or Mark Levin in his tweets.)

If true, the reports could mean the Obama administration attempted to use its law enforcement authority to undermine Trump’s campaign. Heat St. claimed the FISA court denied the FBI’s first request for a warrant in June, indicating there wasn’t enough evidence then to dig into Trump’s potential Russia ties. But Heat St. also claimed the court granted a narrower warrant in October.

The existence of FISA warrants could help Trump’s argument that he was targeted by the Obama administration while at the same time hurting his claims of no evidence in the Russian influence scandal. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., underscored that point at a town hall meeting over the weekend at Clemson University.

“I’m very worried that our president is suggesting that the former president’s done something illegally,” he said. “I would be very worried if, in fact, the Obama administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfully about Trump campaign activity with foreign governments.”

James Clapper, Obama’s director of national intelligence, denied the spying accusations over the weekend. Former Obama press secretary Josh Earnest accused Trump of trying to distract from the investigation into his presidential campaign’s dealings with Russia.

Trump himself linked the two issues.

“President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement Sunday.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., promised his panel would do just that: “[We] will follow the evidence where it leads, and we will continue to be guided by the intelligence and facts as we compile our findings.”

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the committee “will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party’s campaign officials or surrogates.”