WES ANDERSON: There is still no more evidence
to support President Trump's latest unfounded claim
that President Obama wiretapped him than there was the moment
he made it on Saturday morning.
There is, however, a full blown firestorm raging over it
right now in Washington.
We'll bring you the very latest on that in just a moment.
First though, the genesis of the claim
that prompted FBI Director James Comey to go so far as to
ask the Justice Department to actually
refute it over the weekend--
just think about that for a moment.
The nation's top law man asking, in essence,
for a public denunciation of the sitting
President of the United States.
That's where we are tonight.
Let's just take a moment though to look at how we got here.
Saturday morning, the president is
at Mar-a-Lago, according to the Washington Post,
still steaming over his White House staff
and Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusing himself
from any investigation involving Russia
and the Justice Department.
So at 6:35 AM, he tweets, quote, "Terrible!
Just found out that President Obama had my wires
tapped in Trump Tower just before the victory.
Nothing found.
This is McCarthyism."
Then at 6:52, "I bet a good lawyer can make a great case
out of the fact that President Obama
was tapping my phones in October, just
prior to the Election."
And then just after 7:00 AM, "How low
has President Obama gone to tap my phones
during the very sacred election process.
This is Nixon/Watergate.
Bad --or sick-- guy!"
Finally, after accusing the 44th president United States
of perhaps the worst crimes since Watergate,
President Trump tweets again, this time
attacking Arnold Schwarzenegger and once
again mentioning the ratings of the TV show, "The Apprentice."
Anyway, later on, Saturday, the White House,
apparently caught by surprise by the president's tweets--
demands a Congressional investigation of the threat
to the republic thing, not the ratings of "The Apprentice."
That's public knowledge.
Now, you might imagine for the president
to accuse the former president of illegal behavior,
he must have had some serious evidence
to back up those charges.
In fact, as president, he could have called up the Department
of Justice and found out if a FISA
warrant for surveillance of Trump Tower had been requested.
He could also decided to declassify
theoretically any such request if he wanted to
and make it public.
There's no evidence he has done any of that.
And as for any evidence the president
actually had before tweeting-- keeping him honest tonight--
If it exists, we have certainly yet to see it.
His information appears to come from conservative radio
hosts and websites.
And the basis for their story, as yet unverified reporting
from the BBC, The Guardian, and a new British website,
called Heat Street, on Obama administration efforts
last year to get court permission
to monitor four team members suspected of a regular contact
with Russia.
Now, that reporting has so far not
been matched by US news organizations
with prior good contacts in the intelligence community.
Now, it's important to point out that none
of these British outlets, or the conservative outlets in the US
that are pushing this story, reported
that President Obama either ordered or sought
wiretaps on then Mister Trump.
But that is what the president himself
claimed Saturday morning.
And the White House, that's what they've been playing
catch up on ever since.
Earlier today, speaking off camera,
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said,
and I'm quoting, "There has been enough reporting strongly
suggesting something occurred."
Now, just to be clear, that reporting mainly
consists of those several British outlets
and administration spokespeople talking about either
those unverified reports or simply the story itself--
a story they gave oxygen to.
Here's another.
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: Look, I think there
have been quite a few reports.
I know that Jonathan and others earlier in the program
mentioned that it was all conservative media,
but that's frankly not true.
The New York Times, BBC have also
talked about and reported on the potential of this
having had happen.
WES ANDERSON: It's Deputy White House Spokesperson Sarah
Huckabee Sanders, yesterday.
Keeping her honest, the Times did indeed
talk about the story, but only in the context
the president said it and that it was unproven.
Miss Sanders was pressed on it again today.
- Is his information that President Obama
tapped his phone based solely on something he read in the media?
Yes or no?
SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS: Look, I haven't
had the chance to have the conversation
directly with the president.
And he's at a much higher classification than I am.
So he may have access to documents
that I don't know about.
But I do know that we take this very seriously
and we think it should be thoroughly
reviewed and investigated.
And we're asking Congress to do their job.
WES ANDERSON: Well, former intelligence officials
have come forward to deny that there was wiretapping,
including the last Director of National Intelligence James
Clapper, who would have had knowledge of any court request
that would be needed to wiretap then Candidate
Trump or his campaign.
This is certainly not the first time,
we should point out, that Mister Trump
has trafficked unsubstantiated claims or outright falsehoods.
Accusing President Obama of not being born in the United States
is one-- saying the election was rigged
and, as president, making claims about the size
of his inaugural crowd, not to mention the claim that three
million or more undocumented immigrants
voted illegally, thus depriving him of a popular vote
victory over Hillary Clinton.
On that one, he said he was going
to launch an investigation into that whopper of a story.
But we have not heard anything about that investigation
in quite a while.