From the Liveblog of
Sunday, March 5, 2017
Trump asks Congress to probe alleged illicit investigations
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleWASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump is asking Congress to probe “potentially politically motivated investigations” during the 2016 campaign, the White House says Sunday.
The announcement comes one day after Trump took to Twitter to accuse his predecessor Barack Obama of tapping his phones ahead of the November election, without providing evidence of the explosive charge.
An Obama spokesman has denied Trump’s accusation as “simply false.”
In his statement, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer refers to unspecified reports of “potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election” as “very troubling.”
“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,” Spicer says.
He adds that there would be no more comment on the matter from Trump or the White House.
Trump leveled his charges against Obama early Saturday, at the end of a week in which his administration was battered by controversy over communications between Russian officials and some of his senior aides including Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
— AFP
The Times of Israel Community.