What Happened?

On Saturday, President Donald J. Trump went on Twitter and said his predecessor, Barack Obama, tapped his phone lines at his residence at Trump Tower in New York.

President Trump blasted Obama through his verified social media account that accused the former leader of monitoring phone conversations in 2016 during his campaign.

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” Trump tweeted on Saturday.

White House Senior Adviser Kellyanne Conway confirmed the statement on Monday to reporters in Washington, D.C.

“You have a number of various and credible news sources showing that there was politically motivated activity all during the campaign and suggesting that there may be more there,” Conway said. “The president’s entire point is that the people deserve to know. If we don’t know, then let’s find out together.”

When a reporter asked how Trump knew about the issue Conway said, “He’s the president of the United States. He has information and intelligence that the rest of us do not, and that’s the way it should be for presidents.”

The accusations continued on Twitter late into Saturday night when Trump tweeted, “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 continued to address the issue on Sunday in a statement where he urged lawmakers to investigate the issue. According to The New York Times, on Sunday, F.B.I. Director James B. Comey asked the U.S. Justice Department to publicly reject Trump’s claim unless evidence is provided that verifies it. As of publication time, the Justice Department had not yet responded.

Obama released a statement through his former administration on Sunday that claimed that during his entire tenure as president, neither him nor his staff ever ordered surveillance of any U.S. citizen.

According to Cal State East Bay political science Professor Emeritus David Baggins, Trump lives by the strategy the best defense is a strong offense.

“By claiming crime on Obama’s part, he shifts focus from Russia involvement in the campaign,” said Baggins. “But he also increases the odds of opening prosecution. His behavior plays to his base, but further implicates him. Everything about Donald Trump is a shock to the American system. His base likes that.”