Four days after Donald Trump gained a measure of respect last week with a speech to Congress that suggested he was beginning to grasp how to behave like a president, he went off the rails again with a series of outlandish tweets Saturday.
Trump made the explosive accusation that his predecessor, Barack Obama, had ordered wiretaps on the phones at Trump Tower during last year’s campaign. “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” bellowed the first tweet at 6:35 a.m.
“Is it legal for a sitting president to be ‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!” followed at 6:49 a.m.
And finally, complete with a misspelling, was this at 7:02 a.m.: “How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad or (sick) guy!”
Trump drew a comparison to Richard Nixon, the only president to resign. He stepped down in 1974 under the threat of impeachment for his role in covering up ties between his 1972 re-election campaign and the burglary of Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington, D.C., with the intention of wiretapping phones in the office.
After tweeting the claims against Obama, Trump called for a Congressional investigation. We agree that Americans deserve a speedy and thorough probe with full disclosure of any facts substantiating Trump’s allegation.
If Trump was correct, Obama could face legal action because the president cannot unilaterally order wiretapping of a U.S. citizen. Instead, the Justice Department must seek a warrant under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act if someone is suspected of being an agent for another country.
If Trump’s claim is proven baseless — and so far no credible evidence has been made public to support the accusation against Obama — the question must be asked: How long can a man who shows reckless disrespect for the presidency enjoy the support of Congress and the American people?
A spokesman for Obama dismissed the charge. “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,” 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. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.”
It was widely reported that FBI Director James Comey — believing the wiretapping allegation to be untrue — privately asked the Justice Department to publicly refute the claim. So far, that has not been done.
The Washington Post investigated media reports cited by the White House as providing a basis for the accusation against Obama and concluded: “It’s certainly ironic that the Trump White House — which has heavily criticized articles relying on anonymous sources — now relies on articles based on anonymous sources that cite information that has not been confirmed by any U.S. news organization.”
Democrats blasted Trump, accusing him of trying to distract attention from investigations of the contacts his political associates had with Russian officials during the campaign.
But more telling was the reaction of Republican lawmakers. Arizona Sen. John McCain, a frequent critic of Trump, said Monday that the American people and Congress deserve more information about the wiretapping allegation. “The dimensions of this are huge,” McCain said. “It’s accusing a former president of the United States of violating the law. That’s never happened before.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee investigating allegations that Russia meddled in the election, promised Saturday at a town hall meeting in South Carolina that he would “get to the bottom” of Trump’s claim. “I’m very worried that our president is suggesting that the former president’s done something illegally.”
And Nebraska Sen. Benjamin Sasse, said in a statement, “We are in the midst of a civilization-warping crisis of public trust, and the president’s allegations (Saturday) demand the thorough and dispassionate attention of serious patriots. A quest for the full truth, rather than knee-jerk partisanship, must be our guide if we are going to rebuild civic trust and health.”
Day by day, tweet by tweet, the nation’s 45th president raises new questions about whether he takes his oath seriously or sees the Oval Office as just a fresh set on the reality TV show of his public life.
If President Trump’s predecessor broke the law, there are appropriate ways to investigate and expose such wrongdoing. But leveling such grave accusations from a Twitter account and offering no proof to support it tarnishes not just a president but the office he was given the honor to hold.