House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said Monday he's not seen any evidence supporting President Trump's accusations that former president Barack Obama ordered wiretapping in Trump Tower, but he's keeping his eyes open.
"I learned a long time ago, I’m going to keep my eyes wide open," he told the "CBS This Morning" program. "You never know when you turn a corner what you may or may not see."
However, the Utah Republican said there would be a paper trail if anything did occur, as a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant must be obtained in court. Trump, though, would have the power to declassify the information leading to the order, if one occurred.
"It's a very serious allegation," said Chaffetz about Trump's accusations, made on Twitter early Saturday morning. "It's a very serious allegation. The president has at his fingertips tens of billions of dollars in intelligence apparatus.”
Trump "might have something there," said Chaffetz, but it's still premature to say that there's no evidence to back up the president's claims.
Chaffetz, also appearing on Fox News' "Fox and Friends," said his committee will play a role in the investigation, but the intelligence committee will be taking the lead.
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"I'm going to go into it eyes wide open," said Chaffetz. "We've had experience that the Obama administration has been notorious on this type of stuff ... in my own case, I had over 40 Secret Service agents illegally tap and dive into my background, and that's according to the Inspector General. So this stuff does happen, and it's not necessarily done the legal, lawful way. So, yeah, we're going to take a look at it."
Chaffetz said he was aware of a report in The New York Times that sources had claimed FBI Director James Comey wants the Justice Department to refute Trump's claims, but Chaffetz said the story "couldn't be more broad," and that while he tried to contact Comey over the weekend, he hasn't heard back.
Meanwhile, the Russian controversy has not slowed down the GOP's agenda moving forward, said Chaffetz.
"We can walk and chew gum too," he said. "The Democrats are over there flailing with their heads on fire, and they still can't figure out how they lost the election."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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