Was there even a scintilla of evidence to substantiate Breitbart's claim, recycled by President Donald Trump, that his predecessor tapped his phones? "How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process," he tweeted. "This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"
Categorically, none. When he made the allegation, without consulting any aides or security agencies, uninhibited by the traditional protocols of his office, on the basis alone of the claim of a notorious "fake news" site, Trump – no longer candidate, but President Trump – made the most serious charge of criminality against Barack Obama. If you tell a lie, he seems to believe, tell a whopper.
It was classic diversionary Trump, all the more outrageous for the office he now holds. A magician’s sleight of hand to distract from the myriad more-than-plausible claims that his close allies, some now senior administration officials, had repeated contacts with Russian intelligence.
We know Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak's phone is routinely tapped, and that calls he made to Mike Flynn, since resigned as national security adviser, were intercepted by the FBI on its own initiative. And that it is likely that Kislyak's calls to other Trump aides, perhaps even located in Trump Tower, were monitored. But to make the leap, without any evidence, to the claim that Obama ordered the tapping of Trump phones during the campaign is an act of breathtaking cynicism. And no slip-up; conscious and deliberate.
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After setting off a public firestorm with no proof, he then calls for an investigation to find the missing evidence, citing the flurry of news stories he has generated as proof that there is a case to answer. This is the birther story all over again.
Of course, if he can get Congress to include inquiries into the claims in its investigation into the contacts of his inner circle with Russian intelligence, Trump will have pulled off some political stroke. In associating one set of allegations with the other, he will give the patently false claims about Obama a phoney legitimacy and equivalence, muddying the debate about the committee's findings, whatever they may be.
Once again, we can ask, perhaps in hope more than expectation, has he now gone too far? Could this be the straw that breaks the proverbial camel’s back and brings the president down? The line even loyal Republicans will baulk at crossing?
Not least because of authoritative refutations from Clapper & Comey – although the two Jameses sound like a distinctly dodgy law firm, they are respectively the former director of national intelligence and the current director of the FBI. The former categorically denies intercepts on Trump Tower on his watch. The latter has asked the justice department, so far to no avail, to issue a statement that Trump’s claim is false – to clear his agency of charges of criminality.