McCain: We Shouldn’t Probe Trump Wiretap Claim Unless There’s ‘A Basis’

UNITED STATES - JANUARY 10: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., attends a news conference in the Capitol introducing a bipartisan bill to increase sanctions on Russia for it's role in U.S. computer hacking, January 10, 2017.(... UNITED STATES - JANUARY 10: Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., attends a news conference in the Capitol introducing a bipartisan bill to increase sanctions on Russia for it's role in U.S. computer hacking, January 10, 2017.(Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told reporters on Monday evening that Congress should not launch a probe into President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that President Obama wiretapped his campaign unless there’s reason to believe that the accusation may be true.

“If there’s no basis for it, then there’s no reason for an investigation,” McCain told reporters, referring to a Congressional probe into the claim, according to Roll Call.

McCain said that Trump is obligated to tell the American people why he made the claim.

“The president said it, and based on something. What was the basis of his conclusion that his predecessor had broken the law by wiretapping Trump Tower?” McCain said, per Roll Call. “The American people need to know.”

“It’s his obligation to tell the American people why he made the allegation that he did, on what basis, and that information should be known to the American people — not just Congress, not just a select committee, but to the American people,” the senator added, per Roll Call. “Because he has charged his predecessor, according to the former director of national intelligence, with violating the law.”

McCain also told reporters that he has never “seen anything like this,” according to Politico.

“This is unprecedented,” he said, per Politico. “I have never heard of a president of the United States accusing his predecessor or any other president of the United States of violating the law.”

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