INTELLIGENCE/OBAMA/WIRETAPPING/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE/REINCE PRIEBUS: “Fox News anchor Chris Wallace pressed White House chief of staff Reince Priebus on Sunday over President Donald Trump’s baseless claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign.
In an interview on ‘Fox News Sunday,’ Wallace asked Priebus whether Trump accepted the conclusion from law enforcement and intelligence officials that there was no evidence to support Trump’s accusation.
‘Is he ready to apologize?’ Wallace asked of Trump.
‘No. And I don’t accept it,’ Priebus replied.
Priebus echoed the administration’s recent position on Trump’s claims, which somewhat modified the president’s original tweet.
Holding up an enlarged print-out of a New York Times headline, the chief of staff argued that law enforcement or intelligence officials may have collected information on members of the president’s transition team.
‘The fact is reports have come out for many, many months now that people on the Trump campaign transition team were surveillanced by, potentially, some intelligence group,’ Priebus said. ‘Whether they were intentionally swept up, whether their names were unmasked — Chris, you don’t know the answer to that question, and I don’t either.’
He added: ‘But if people on the Trump transition were unknowingly surveillanced … I think it’s a big problem, and I think ultimately President Trump is going to be proven correct.’ “
-Maxwell Tani, “‘Is he ready to apologize?’: Fox News anchor confronts Trump chief of staff over Obama wiretap claims,” Business Insider, March 26, 2017