The Obama White House got caught spying on his 2016 campaign, according to new claims by President Trump, who is quoted in a new book declaring that it was a “treasonous” act by the former president.
News of President Trump’s comments came one day after the Department of Justice upgraded its probe into the origins of the Russian investigation to a criminal investigation, allowing prosecutors the power to issue subpoenas, convene a grand jury and file criminal charges.
“What they did was treasonous, OK? It was treasonous,” President Trump told author Doug Wead for his new book, “Inside Trump’s White House: The Real Story of His Presidency.”
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“The interesting thing out of all of this is that we caught them spying on the election. They were spying on my campaign. So you know? What is that all about?” said Trump.
“I have never ever said this, but truth is, they got caught spying. They were spying,” said Trump who then added, “Obama.”
In 2017, Trump tweeted that Obama’s White House “had my wires tapped” in Trump Tower. He later said he didn’t mean it literally but that he thought his campaign had been illegally surveilled.
Attorney General William Barr earlier this year said he was looking into whether “improper surveillance” may have occurred in 2016. “I think spying did occur,” he said.
He has tasked a prosecutor to look into Obama officials and other officials who sparked the Russia collusion investigation into Trump after a report showed no collusion.
The Department of Justice has upgraded its probe into the origins of the Russian investigation to a criminal investigation, multiple news outlets have reported. The move, first reported by the New York Times, allows prosecutors the power to issue subpoenas, to convene a grand jury and to file criminal charges.
“It turned out I was right. By the way,” Trump told Wead in excerpts provided to Secrets. “In fact, what I said was peanuts compared to what they did. They were spying on my campaign. They got caught and they said, ‘Oh we were not spying. It was actually an investigation.’ Can you imagine an administration investigating its political opponents?” said the president.
In the book, Trump said that the Russia investigation encumbered his first term in the Oval Office.
“Anybody else would be unable to function under the kind of pressure and distraction I had. They couldn’t get anything done. No other president should ever have to go through this. But understand, there was no collusion. They would have had to make something up,” he said.
