President Donald Trump made an "absolutely wild allegation" while claiming former president Barack Obama was behind wiretapping activities at Trump Tower, but he didn't likely release classified information through his series of tweets, Rep. Jim Himes said Monday.
"The president is the ultimate declassifying authority," the Connecticut Democrat, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program.
"So the president, unlike the rest of us, can come out and disclose anything that is classified because he has the authority that has the power to do that."
At the same time, Trump's tweets will mean "we have got more work to do," Himes said of his committee, and what's more, he thinks that the probe into claims that Trump's campaign staff communicated with Russian agents should not be investigated through the Congressional Intelligence committees.
"All of us are [in] a party label and we are in the political fray," said Himes. "Any conclusion that I come out there with, the criticism is, 'oh, he is just a Democrat attacking the president.'"
But as there has been no independent investigation ordered, "we have been making some progress and, of course, now with this absolutely wild allegation we have got more work to do," said Himes.
Himes said that he, like Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio and others, has not seen anything suggesting what Trump said on Saturday, and knows that Trump's tweets are either "wrong or points to a scandal unlike we have ever seen."
However, the president of the United States can't order a wiretap, said Himes.
"Talk about walking yourself into a box canyon," said HImes. "The president either lied with the most wild conspiracy theory apparently out of Breitbart in front of the whole world, set the FBI Director [James Comey] sort of against him, or if there is something here, what it is likely to be is that somebody – well, the FBI, most likely, at some point had probable cause to go on to a judge saying we have probable cause against somebody in Trump Tower and give us a warrant."
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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