GOP rep: ‘Rogue intel operation’ could have wiretapped Trump

The Iowa congressman cited a slew of news articles claiming that U.S. officials had obtained a warrant to review contacts between Trump Tower and a Russian bank, according to the Sioux City Journal. But no U.S. news outlets have independently verified the claim that a Trump Tower server was under surveillance.

In a series of early morning tweets on Saturday, Trump compared the unfounded wiretapping to McCarthyism and former President Richard Nixon’s role in the Watergate scandal.

King said that the president was not necessarily talking about Obama as an individual, but was more likely referring to the Obama administration. He blamed Twitter’s limit on characters for Trump’s poor explanation of the allegations.

“Twitter gives you a limited space of 140 characters. But it gives you also a little bit of latitude to double entendres. … There sometimes can be a secondary or tertiary meaning,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

Trump’s comments spurred immediate backlash, as Democrats and some Republicans denounced the allegations as unfounded and salacious. FBI Director James Comey privately urged the Justice Department to push back on the president’s accusations, according to reports, though the agency has not done so.

King also defended Trump’s use of Twitter, saying the social media site gives Americans insight into the president’s thoughts and decisionmaking process.

“I am reluctant to say anything that would discourage him from tweeting,” he told the newspaper. “There are people who say he shouldn’t and there are those who say he shouldn’t do so in the middle of the night. … We always want the freshest thoughts we can get from the president of the United States.”