WASHINGTON: The White House on Sunday demanded a congressional inquiry against the Obama administration for conducting politically motivated investigations during last year’s presidential elections in the United States.
President Donald Trump also continued his Twitter attacks on his predecessor, saying that Barack Obama too had sent friendly signals to Russia during the 2012 election campaign.
“Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 elections are very troubling,†said a White House press release.
“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,†it added.
Senator Marco Rubio, a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, told CNN he did not know the “genesis†of Mr Trump’s allegations, but promised that the Senate investigation would get to the bottom of the controversy.
The Florida Republican senator said in another interview to NBC News that he had never heard that allegation made before by anybody. But since “the president put that out there, now the White House will have to answer as to exactly what he was referring toâ€.
House of Representatives Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, told CNN that President Trump’s tweets about Mr Obama were “ridiculousâ€.
She said Mr Trump was the “deflector-in-chief†and was using the tools of “an authoritarian†to deflect attention from the real issue, his alleged contacts with Russia.
Although the Sunday morning statement promised that “neither the White House nor the president will comment further†on this issue until the congressional oversight was conducted, by then President Trump had already sent out two bitter tweets: one aimed at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the other at Mr Obama.
“Is it true the DNC would not allow the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) access to check server or other equipment after learning it was hacked? Can that be possible?†said the first tweet released just after dawn.
Several minutes later, Mr Trump tweeted again, this time with a dig at the former president, referring to a statement Mr Obama made as he was running for a second term in 2012: “Who was it that secretly said to Russian President, ‘Tell Vladimir that after the election I’ll have more flexibility?’â€
Mr Trump’s Saturday’s tweets claimed that Mr Obama had instituted wiretaps targeting him during the election season.