Schumer on Trump claims: Either way, the president is ‘in trouble’

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday raised questions about President Trump’s claims that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower before the election.

In an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Schumer said Obama has “flatly denied that he has done this.”

“And either way, Chuck, the president’s in trouble. If he falsely spread this kind of misinformation, that is so wrong,” Schumer said.

“It’s beneath the dignity of the presidency. It is something that really hurts people’s view of government.” 

Schumer said if this is the case, it shows the president doesn’t know how to “conduct himself.”

{mosads}”On the other hand, if it’s true, it’s even worse for the president,” Schumer said.

“Because that means that a federal judge, independently elected, has found probable cause that the president, or people on his staff, have probable cause to have broken the law or to have interacted with a foreign agent.”

Schumer called that possibility “serious stuff.”

“So either way, the president makes it worse with these tweets. Now, is he trying to divert things here? Yeah,” Schumer said.

“The president denied this. … I don’t have any doubt that President Obama has been telling the truth.”

Schumer continued to call for a special prosecutor to investigate ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. He noted a special prosecutor has “more freedom day to day” and can “only be fired for cause.”

The president on Saturday claimed Obama had his “wires tapped” in Trump Tower before his presidential victory. He laid out the claims without any evidence and questioned whether it was legal for a sitting president to be “‘wire tapping’ a race for president prior to an election.”