White House Demands Probe of Obama ‘Investigative Powers’

President Donald Trump will demand an investigation into whether the Obama administration abused its “executive branch investigative powers” last year. In a statement on Sunday morning, the White House doubled down on President Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that former president Barack Obama ordered wiretapping of the Trump team. Neither Trump nor the White House has provided evidence to back up the assertion. “Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling,” press secretary Sean Spicer said in a statement. “President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016.” Spicer added that neither the White House nor Trump will comment further “until such oversight is conducted.” In a public statement on Saturday, former President Obama’s spokesman said the previous administration never “ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen.”