Trump Obama Wiretap Update: Democrats, Obama Aide Slam Trump's Surveillance Allegations

Former President Barrack Obama’s spokesperson issued a statement on his behalf Saturday, following President Donald Trump’s sensational accusations where the current President accused his predecessor of “wiretapping” Trump Tower just before the presidential election last November. Trump made the claims without providing any proof to back his assertions and his comments were eventually slammed by Democrats.

"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!," Trump said in one of his tweets Saturday morning.

“Is it legal for a sitting President to be ‘wiretapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!” he added in another tweet.

Obama’s spokesman, Kevin Lewis, issued a short response to Trump’s allegations, denying the accusations.

“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…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,” Kevin Lewis said.

Obama's foreign policy advisor and speechwriter Ben Rhodes also took to twitter to rubbish Trump's claims.

Several democrats such as Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) blasted Trump over his assertions. Pelosi, for instance, argued that Trump was doing this to divert attention from himself while Schiff questioned the lack of evidence.

"If there is something bad or sick going on, it is the willingness of the nation's chief executive to make the most outlandish and destructive claims without providing a scintilla of evidence to support them," Schiff said in a statement on Saturday, according to the Hill.

It is still not clear what information Trump based his accusation against Obama on. However, according to various media reports, it is being speculated that the source was this article on the conservative, alt-right media company Breitbart News (whose former head Steve Bannon is currently Trump's chief strategist), which itself relied on a Heat Street piece. Bloomberg and New York Times also cited Breitbart as the source of information for Trump’s tweets, citing anonymous sources considered to be informed about the situation.