Obama irked by Trump's wiretapping allegations

ANI Mar 09, 2017 04:24 IST googleads

New York [U.S.A], Mar. 8 (ANI): Barack Obama is furious over allegations by his successor Donald Trump that the Trump Tower was wiretapped ahead of presidential elections, CNN quoted sources close to the former president. Reportedly, Obama was shocked when he learned of Trump's Saturday morning tweets laying out the charges. Presidents Trump and Obama have not spoken to each other since the Inauguration Day, when the latter welcomed Trump for coffee in the White House and accompanied him to the US Capitol for the swearing-in ceremony. Earlier today, White House categorically denied offering any proof on Trump's charges, while stressing that the President in no manner has regrets over his allegations. Earlier, in a string of tweets Trump said he had "just found out" about being wiretapped and pointed the finger at Obama, branding him as a "bad (or sick) guy" and compared the situation to "Nixon/Watergate" and "McCarthyism." Later, a spokesman of former Obama has refuted current Trump's accusations stating that the administration did not order surveillance on any of its citizens. "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," Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis issued a statement on Twitter yesterday. "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," he added. Similarly former deputy national security adviser to Obama, Ben Rhodes, in a tweet, said that presidents cannot order a wiretap. "No President can order a wiretap. Those restrictions were put in place to protect citizens from people like you," he said. (ANI)

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