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Senate Intelligence Committee Heads: “No indication” Trump Tower was hacked

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The Republican and Democratic heads of the powerful Senate Intelligence committee have put out a statement saying they see “no indication” that Trump Tower was hacked, yet one more indication that President Donald Trump’s explosive charge that President Barack Obama had his campaign wiretapped during the 2016 Presidential election season was (ahem) fact challenged. This immediately sent Trump’s defendersinto twisting themselves into rhetorical pretzels suggesting Trump never said such a thing or was misunderstood — and a statement by White House press spokesman Sean Spicer is expected soon.

This statement is a crucial one because the committee is highly respected and its chairmen are considered heavyweights in intelligence matters — and are on the “Gang of 8” who can see extremely sensitive intelligence. Spin by Trump and his supporters may convince Trump’s followers that the sky is blue when it’s filled with thunderclouds, but it will further undermine him with independent voters, Democrats, foreign governments — and guarantees that this story will have “legs” since unless Trump produces proof it’s one more blow to his already under water credibility. It will further fuel investigations into possible Trump campaign ties with Russia — because his credibility will be so far underwater that it touches seaweed on the ocean floor. The Hill reports:

The heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee have seen no evidence that the Obama administration “wiretapped” Trump Tower, according to a brief statement issued Thursday.

“Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016,” Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) said in a joint statement, providing no other details.

Burr joins a steady drumbeat of Republicans who have explicitly contracted President Trump’s explosive claims that he was surveilled during the campaign.

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), also disavowed the claim on Wednesday, calling any literal interpretation of Trump’s tweet “wrong.”

“As I told you last week about the issue with the president talking about tapping Trump Tower, that evidence still remains the same, that we don’t have any evidence that that took place,” Nunes told reporters.

“In fact, I don’t believe just in the last week of time, the people we’ve talked to, I don’t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower.”

Trump earlier this month tweeted that former President Obama “had my wires tapped.”

The Justice Department has been under fierce pressure from both Democrats and Republicans to disclose whether there is any truth to the president’s claims.

Most experts have argued that the accusation is far-fetched under current U.S. surveillance law.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday said Trump is “extremely confident” that the Justice Department will produce evidence to back up his assertion. He said Trump believes the evidence will “vindicate him.”