Ryan: No evidence to suggest Trump Tower was wiretapped
WASHINGTON- House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said he has not seen any evidence to support President Donald Trump’s claim that Trump Tower was wiretapped during the campaign.
“No such wiretap existed,” Ryan said in response to a question at a news conference on Thursday in which he referenced the recent findings of the House Select Committee on Intelligence.
The Committee is investigating Russian interference in last year’s presidential election as well as allegations that members of Trump’s campaign had spoken with high-ranking Russian officials.
Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Ranking Member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Wednesday told reporters that they were not aware of any evidence to support Trump’s Twitter allegation that then-President Barack Obama had ordered Trump Tower to be placed under electronic surveillance.
A spokesperson for Obama denied the wiretapping allegation shortly after Trump posted the Tweet.
Nunes and Schiff wrote FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and NSA Director Admiral Mike Rogers on Wednesday requesting that the three agencies provide the Intelligence Committee by Friday with information related to recent intelligence leaks as well as any information that might prove Trump’s wiretapping allegation to be valid.
Trump in a Fox News interview on Wednesday suggested that the Administration has evidence to support the wiretapping allegation and that it will promptly be provided to the Intelligence Committee.
Ryan said he had not seen the interview but that he is still of the opinion that the wiretapping allegations are false.
“That’s what I said. We’ve cleared that up. That we’ve seen no evidence of that,” Ryan said in response to a question.
This article was republished with permission from Talk Media News
Bryan is an award-winning political journalist who has extensive experience covering Congress and Maryland state government.
His work includes coverage of the election of Donald Trump, the confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and attorneys general William Barr and Jeff Sessions-as well as that of the Maryland General Assembly, Gov. Larry Hogan, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bryan has broken stories involving athletic and sexual assault scandals with the Baltimore Post-Examiner.
His original UMBC investigation gained international attention, was featured in People Magazine and he was interviewed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” and local radio stations. Bryan broke subsequent stories documenting UMBC’s omission of a sexual assault on their daily crime log and a federal investigation related to the university’s handling of an alleged sexual assault.