FBI Director James Comey threw cold water Monday morning on President Donald Trump’s claim that former President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.
“We have no information to support those tweets,” Comey told the House Intelligence Committee, referring to Trump’s recent early morning tweetstorm on the matter.
The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) read Trump’s tweets aloud and demanded Comey respond to the accusations leveled by the President.
“I have no information that supports those tweets, and we looked carefully inside the FBI,” he said, before emphasizing that other government agencies agree with this determination. “The Department of Justice has asked me to share with you that the answers are the same for the Department of Justice and all its components. The Department has no information that supports those tweets.”
After reading President Trump’s tweeted allegation that U.S. intelligence agencies perpetrated “McCarthyism” by carrying out an order from Obama to surveil Trump, Schiff asked Comey, who also led the bureau under Obama: “Where you engaged in McCarthyism?”
Comey dryly replied: “I try very hard not to engage in any ‘isms’ of any kind, including McCarthyism.”
This post has been updated.