聯邦調查局局長要求司法部對奧巴馬竊聽川普之說提出異議
U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey has asked the Justice Department to dispute President Donald Trump's allegation that former President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap on telephones at Trump Tower in New York last year.
U.S. officials who spoke to the Associated Press, Washington Post and New York Times said Comey's request followed Trump's accusation on Twitter Saturday. Trump has offered no evidence to support his claim.
What is not clear is why Comey has not disputed the statement himself. He was FBI director under Obama, and his department has been a lead in the ongoing investigation of Russian influence on last year's election.
Under U.S. law, a president cannot order someone's phone to be wiretapped. Such a move would require approval by a federal judge and be based on reasonable grounds to suspect why a citizen's telephone calls should be monitored.
Obama's Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called Trump's charge simply false. "There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate or against his campaign," Clapper told NBC.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said in a statement Sunday his committee "will make inquiries into whether the government was conducting surveillance activities on any political party's campaign officials or surrogates."The top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, said Trump's accusation was based on "conspiracy-based news."
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer issued a statement Sunday saying the president is requesting the committees to "determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016." He added that neither Trump nor the White House would offer further comment "until such oversight is conducted."美國聯邦調查局局長科米要求司法部對川普總統的指控提出異議，川普稱前總統奧巴馬去年下令對紐約的川普大廈的電話進行竊聽。
與美聯社、華盛頓郵報和紐約時報交談過的美國官員們說，科米是在川普總統星期六在推特上做出指控後提出這一要求的。川普沒有提供支持他這一說法的證據。
不清楚的是，爲什麼科米自己沒有對川普的聲明提出異議。他是奧巴馬在任時的聯邦調查局局長，他的部門一直是調查俄羅斯對去年美國大選影響的主導機構。
根據美國法律，總統不能下令竊聽某人的電話。這種做法需要聯邦法官的批准，並要基於合理的懷疑，爲什麼要監聽該公民的電話交談。
奧巴馬時期的國家情報局局長詹姆斯·克拉珀稱川普的指控純屬捏造。克拉珀在NBC的節目上說，“沒有對當時的當選總統，或他作爲候選人時，或針對他的競選活動，進行過這樣的竊聽”。
國會衆議院情報委員會主席努涅斯在一份聲明中說，該委員會“將調查政府是否對任何政黨的競選官員或其助理進行監視活動”。該委員會最資深的民主黨人亞當·希夫說，川普的指控是“基於陰謀論的新聞”。
白宮新聞祕書斯派塞週日發表聲明說，川普總統要求委員會“確定行政部門是否在2016年濫用其調查權力”。他補充說，在調查得出結論之前，川普總統和白宮都不會做出進一步的評論。
