Administration

White House spokesperson: Wiretapping investigation should be part of Russia probe

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Sunday said an investigation into potential wiretapping of Trump Tower should be part of the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible ties to Russia.

“Let’s find out. Let’s have an investigation. They’re going to investigate Russia ties. Let’s have this as part of it,” Sanders told ABC’s “This Week.”

President Trump on Saturday accused former President Barack Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower before the November election. Obama, through a spokesman, denied any direct involvement.

{mosads}”A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement.

“As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen,” Lewis added. “Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”

Sanders, when pressed Sunday on why Trump made the accusations, said the president is going off information that led him to believe the wiretapping occurred. She added that the Trump administration is taking reports from news outlets like BBC News, The New York Times and Fox News into consideration.

“I think there certainly could have been and it sounds like there’s something that we should look into and verify,” she said of the potential wiretapping.