{"id":299161,"date":"2017-03-05T16:51:05","date_gmt":"2017-03-05T16:51:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=299161"},"modified":"2017-03-05T16:51:05","modified_gmt":"2017-03-05T16:51:05","slug":"trump-wire-tap-claim-denied-by-ex-intelligence-chief-clapper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/03\/trump-wire-tap-claim-denied-by-ex-intelligence-chief-clapper\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump wire-tap claim denied by ex-intelligence chief Clapper"},"content":{"rendered":"
The director of national intelligence at the time of the US election has denied there was any wire-tapping of Donald Trump or his campaign.<\/p>\n
James Clapper also told NBC that he knew of no court order to allow monitoring of Trump Tower in New York.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump had accused President Barack Obama of ordering the wire-tap, but offered no evidence.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump says an inquiry into alleged Russian interference should also probe potential abuse of executive power.<\/p>\n
James Clapper, who left his post when Mr Trump took office on 20 January, told NBC’s Meet the Press: “There was no such wire-tap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, as a candidate, or against his campaign.”<\/p>\n
He said that as intelligence director he would have known about any “court order on something like this. Absolutely, I can deny it”.<\/p>\n
But he added: “I can’t speak for other authorised entities in the government or a state or local entity.”<\/p>\n
Some media reports had suggested the FBI had sought a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance court (Fisa) in order to monitor members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials.<\/p>\n