WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Susan Collins on Sunday called on President Donald Trump to turn over any evidence he has to support his allegation that the Obama administration had ordered a wiretap on the phones at Trump Tower.
Collins, a Republican from Maine, made her comments on CBS’ “Face the Nation” a day after Trump alleged, with no supporting evidence, that former President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of the phones at Trump’s campaign headquarters at Trump Tower in New York.
The White House on Sunday asked Congress to examine whether the Obama administration abused its investigative authority during the 2016 presidential campaign, as part of an ongoing congressional probe into Russia’s influence on the election.
Collins, who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is conducting that investigation, said that it would be helpful if Trump stopped commenting on the probe and “let us do our work.”
“What we need to deal with is evidence, not just statements,” she said, adding that she had not seen evidence of collaboration “but we are in the very early stages of our investigation.”
Trump made the wiretapping accusation in a series of tweets early Saturday morning amid expanding scrutiny of his campaign’s ties to Russia, saying there was “nothing found.”
Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for Obama, denied the charge, saying it was “a cardinal rule” that no White House official interfered with independent Justice Department investigations.
“There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate or against his campaign,” former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who left the office at the end of Obama’s term, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Under U.S. law, a federal court would have to have found probable cause that the target of the surveillance is an “agent of a foreign power” in order to approve a warrant authorizing electronic surveillance of Trump Tower.
Asked whether there was such a court order, Clapper said, “I can deny it.”
The White House offered no evidence Sunday to back up Trump’s accusation and did not say it was true.
Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” said Trump has “made very clear what he believes, and he’s asking that we get down to the bottom of this. Let’s get the truth here.”
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump and administration officials would have no further comment on the issue until Congress has completed its probe, potentially heading off attempts to get Trump to explain his accusations.
“Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling,” Spicer said in a statement.
U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes, head of the House Intelligence Committee examining possible links between Russia and Trump’s campaign, said in a statement Sunday that any possible surveillance on campaign officials would be part of the probe.
The Trump administration has been grappling with a slow churn of revelations about communications between U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn and other Trump associates and Russian officials that has overshadowed the early weeks of his administration
Sessions bowed out last week of any probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election after it emerged he met twice last year with Russia’s ambassador, although he maintained he did nothing wrong by failing to disclose the meeting. Flynn resigned in February after revelations that he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office.
Democrats accused Trump of trying to distract from the rising controversy about possible ties to Russia. His administration has come under pressure from FBI and House and Senate investigations into contacts between members of his campaign team and Russian officials.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine called the accusation a “red herring” to divert attention away from the revelations of contact between Sessions and Flynn and Russian officials.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Trump had either made a false accusation, or a judge had found probable cause to authorize a wiretap.
“Either way, the president’s in trouble,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” adding that if Trump was spreading misinformation, “it shows this president doesn’t know how to conduct himself.”
Reuters writers John Whitesides and James Oliphant contributed to this report.