White House Officials Defend Trump’s Wiretapping Claims; Lawmakers Seek Evidence

White House officials are defending President Donald Trump’s claims that he may have been wiretapped last year by former President Barack Obama, the Associated Press reported Monday.

Asked Monday morning where Trump was getting his information, Senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News’ Fox and Friends, “He has information and intelligence that the rest of us do not,” and that he was also relying on a “credible news source.”

Trump’s Deputy Assistant and Principal Deputy White House Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told NBC’s Today show that Trump “may have access to documents that I don’t know about.”

According to a report by The Washington Times, House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told Fox News that in order for Obama to have lawfully tapped Trump’s communications, he would have done so through a criminal inquiry or an intelligence inquiry through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“The good news about both of those … is there’s a paper trail. There’s an application. There are warrants — all of which can be reviewed.” Trump’s administration now controls any such paper trail, Gowdy said.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-N.E.) on Saturday called on Trump to release any such paper trail to the public — or, if none exists, further explain his allegations, Politico reported.

“The president today made some very serious allegations, and the informed citizens that a republic requires deserve more information,” Sasse said. “If without [an authorization], the President should explain what sort of wiretap it was and how he knows this. It is possible that he was illegally tapped.”

On Sunday the White House demanded an investigation to see whether or not Trump’s accusations, which Obama denies, are true.