March 16, 2017 03:32 PM UTC

This is Completely Absurd

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

As the Washington Post reports:

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Thursday that President Trump “stands by” his allegation that former president Barack Obama ordered wiretapping surveillance of Trump Tower last fall, despite statements from the leaders of congressional investigations that no evidence had been found to support the claim.

In a remarkably combative exchange with reporters at his daily news briefing, Spicer was asked whether Trump still believes Obama ordered the alleged surveillance effort.

“He stands by it,” Spicer said, going on to assail journalists for the way they have reported on the controversy.

Earlier Thursday, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said their investigation into the matter so far has turned up no evidence that the U.S. government had conducted surveillance on Trump Tower in New York, either before or after the election on Nov. 8. [Pols emphasis]

You really should head over to CNN to watch the full exchange between reporter Jim Acosta and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer. Here’s a sample:

Jim Acosta: You have the Senate and House Intelligence Committees…leaders from both parties on both of those panels saying that they don’t see any evidence of any wiretapping. So how can the President go on and continue to…

Sean Spicer: …It’s interesting how you jump to all of these conclusions about what they have and don’t have. And you seem to know all of the answers. But at the end of the day, there was clearly a ton of reporting…there was a vast amount of reporting about what was going on in the 2016 election. There’s no question that there were surveillance techniques used throughout this. I think that as a variety of outlets reporting on this activity have concluded.

Nevermind what the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have to say on the matter — there are stories on the Internet that prove President Trump’s “wiretapping” claims.

Ugh.