Earnest: It May 'Come As Some Surprise' To Trump That Prez Can't Order Wiretap

Source: Talking Points Memo


By ESME CRIBB Published MARCH 5, 2017, 10:54 AM EDT

Former White House press secretary Josh Earnest said on Sunday that it "may come as some surprise" to President Donald Trump that the president of the United States cannot in fact "unilaterally order" the surveillance of a U.S. citizen.

"This may come as some surprise to the current occupant of the Oval Office, but the president of the United States does not have the authority to unilaterally order the wiretapping of an American citizen," Earnest said on ABC's "This Week."

"If the FBI decided to use their wiretapping authority in the context of a counterintelligence or criminal investigation, it would require FBI investigators, officials of the Department of Justice, going to a federal judge and making a case and demonstrating probable cause to use that authority to conduct the investigation," he said. "That is a fact."

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On Saturday, Trump claimed that President Barack Obama was “wire tapping” his phones at Trump Tower ahead of the 2016 election. He offered no evidence to support those allegations.

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