As Washington continues to reel from President Trumpâs evidence-free assertion that his phones were wiretapped by former President Barack Obama before the election, former Central Intelligence Agency director Michael Hayden says it seems Trump forgot something during his weekend Twitter flurry.
âIt looks as if the president just for a moment forgot that he was president,â Hayden said on Fox News on Monday. âWhy didnât he simply use the powers of the presidency to ask the acting director of national intelligence, the head of the FBI, to confirm or deny the story he apparently read from Breitbart the evening before?â
Hayden, a critic of Trump during the campaign, has served in national security roles in both Democratic and Republican administrations. In addition to the top job at the CIA, he has served as director of the National Security Agency and as principal deputy director of national intelligence.
On Saturday morning, Trump unleashed a series of tweets claiming Obama had wiretapped the phones at Trump Tower prior to the 2016 election. Trump provided no citations to back up the claim, and a spokesman for the former president branded the accusation âsimply false.â
Related: Without evidence, Trump accuses Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower
âTerrible! Just found out that Obama had my âwires tappedâ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!â he declared from his Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump once again spent the weekend.
âIs it legal for a sitting President to be âwire tappingâ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!â he added.
It wasnât clear what, exactly, Trump was referring to as he raged against his predecessor, whom he labeled a âbad (or sick) guy!â And the White House did not clarify from whom Trump had âjust learnedâ this new information.
But a report published Friday by Breitbart News quoted conservative radio host Mark Levin, who outlined the alleged steps the Obama took âin its last months to undermine Donald Trumpâs presidential campaign and, later, his new administration.â The Washington Post reported that the Breitbart article had been passed around in the White House ahead of Trumpâs tweets.
Steve Bannon, Trumpâs chief strategist in the White House, is a former chief executive of Breitbart
âIt looks as if the president just for a moment forgot that he was president,â Hayden said on Fox News on Monday. âWhy didnât he simply use the powers of the presidency to ask the acting director of national intelligence, the head of the FBI, to confirm or deny the story he apparently read from Breitbart the evening before?â
Hayden, a critic of Trump during the campaign, has served in national security roles in both Democratic and Republican administrations. In addition to the top job at the CIA, he has served as director of the National Security Agency and as principal deputy director of national intelligence.
On Saturday morning, Trump unleashed a series of tweets claiming Obama had wiretapped the phones at Trump Tower prior to the 2016 election. Trump provided no citations to back up the claim, and a spokesman for the former president branded the accusation âsimply false.â
Related: Without evidence, Trump accuses Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower
âTerrible! Just found out that Obama had my âwires tappedâ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!â he declared from his Mar-a-Lago resort in West Palm Beach, Fla., where Trump once again spent the weekend.
âIs it legal for a sitting President to be âwire tappingâ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!â he added.
It wasnât clear what, exactly, Trump was referring to as he raged against his predecessor, whom he labeled a âbad (or sick) guy!â And the White House did not clarify from whom Trump had âjust learnedâ this new information.
But a report published Friday by Breitbart News quoted conservative radio host Mark Levin, who outlined the alleged steps the Obama took âin its last months to undermine Donald Trumpâs presidential campaign and, later, his new administration.â The Washington Post reported that the Breitbart article had been passed around in the White House ahead of Trumpâs tweets.
Steve Bannon, Trumpâs chief strategist in the White House, is a former chief executive of Breitbart
