FBI head ‘incredulous’ at Trump wiretapping tweets: report

FBI Director James Comey was “incredulous” after President Trump claimed former President Barack Obama wiretapped him during the presidential race, according to a new report.

Comey was concerned Trump’s allegations would make the FBI look bad, a person familiar with the matter told CNN Monday.

“[Comey feels] institutionally he has to push back on this,” CNN’s source said, citing the magnitude of Trump’s accusations and Comey’s certainty they are untrue.

{mosads}It was reported over the weekend that the FBI had asked career personnel at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publicly dismiss Trump’s allegations, which so far has not happened.

A U.S. official CNN that Comey was aware of the talks between the FBI and DOJ but did not participate in them. 

“[Comey] might come out and say only time will tell, but right now [the FBI and DOJ] should be in the exact same place and they’re not,” the person familiar with the matter told CNN Monday.

“Does he know of possibility there might be a confrontation and be fired by the president? Sure,” the source added of Comey. “Does he worry about it? No.”

Comey is reportedly frustrated that the DOJ has not pushed back against Trump’s claims and is looking for a way for the Justice Department and the FBI to dispute the allegations. 

Trump last Saturday claimed Obama had his “wires tapped” in Trump Tower before Election Day last year, tweeting the accusation without offering additional evidence.

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory,” he said. “Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”

“How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process,” Trump added in a separate tweet. “This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”

Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for Obama, said last Saturday Trump’s claims about the former president are “simply false.”

“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,” he said in a statement.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Sunday an investigation of Trump’s wiretapping claims should be included in any probe of ties between the president’s 2016 bid and Russia.