The heads of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have testified that there is no information to indicate a wiretap was ordered by President Obama on President Trump.
FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers testified before the House Intelligence Committee, which has been conducting an investigation into the confirmed interference by the Russian government in the 2016 presidential election, as well as the potential ties that some have alleged between the Trump administration and Russian officials.
There is no disputing that the Russians had some role in the hack of the Democratic National Committee, as well as other political and government entities within the United States Government. The US intelligence committee confirmed as such earlier this year in a report detailing their initial assessment of Russian interference in the election.
However, several Democratic law makers, including ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, have insisted that ‘unusual’ and ‘weird’ connections exist between the Russian government and members of the Trump administration.
Directors Comey and Rogers endured a series of questions, declining to answer most questions as they pertained to ongoing investigations or were purely speculative.
Key to this particular hearing were hopes that the FBI or NSA would outright debunk President Trump’s tweets regarding Trump’s claim that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the election campaign.
“Was the president’s statement that Obama had his wires tapped at Trump Tower a true statement? Asked Representative Schiff (D-Ca.) to Director Comey of the FBI.
With a phrase Director Comey repeated often during the hearing, he responded with “I have no information that supports those tweets.”
The heads of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National Security Agency (NSA) have testified that there is no information to indicate a wiretap was ordered by President Obama on President Trump.
FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers testified before the House Intelligence Committee, which has been conducting an investigation into the confirmed interference by the Russian government in the 2016 presidential election, as well as the potential ties that some have alleged between the Trump administration and Russian officials.
There is no disputing that the Russians had some role in the hack of the Democratic National Committee, as well as other political and government entities within the United States Government. The US intelligence committee confirmed as such earlier this year in a report detailing their initial assessment of Russian interference in the election.
However, several Democratic law makers, including ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, have insisted that ‘unusual’ and ‘weird’ connections exist between the Russian government and members of the Trump administration.
Directors Comey and Rogers endured a series of questions, declining to answer most questions as they pertained to ongoing investigations or were purely speculative.
Key to this particular hearing were hopes that the FBI or NSA would outright debunk President Trump’s tweets regarding Trump’s claim that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the election campaign.
“Was the president’s statement that Obama had his wires tapped at Trump Tower a true statement? Asked Representative Schiff (D-Ca.) to Director Comey of the FBI.
With a phrase Director Comey repeated often during the hearing, he responded with “I have no information that supports those tweets.”
That was the extent to which Comey would speak with regard to an open investigation, noting that the Department of Justice had given him special authority to do so considering the public interest in this case.
Beyond that important statement, the remainder of the hearing involved members of the committee trying to get the heads of two key agencies in the Intelligence Community to divulge opinion or speculations, the majority of which Directors Comey and Rogers would not answer.
The Republican members of the committee, particularly Representative Trey Gowdy, focused their questioning on the potential disclosure of classified information, specifically with whom in the government has the authority and ability to know the identity of “masked individuals.”
Featured image courtesy of Reuters
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