Republican Sens. Ben Sasse and Justin Amash on Saturday called for President Donald Trump to further explain his allegation that Barack Obama ordered his phones to be wiretapped during the presidential election, Politico reports.
"The President today made some very serious allegations, and the informed citizens that a republic requires deserve more information," Sasse said in a statement released Saturday on his Twitter account. "[T]he President's allegations today demand the thorough and dispassionate attention of serious patriots. A quest for the full truth, rather than knee-jerk partisanship, must be our guide if we are going to rebuild civic trust and health."
Trump early Saturday tweeted that Obama had Trump's offices in Trump Tower tapped, a situation he likened to the Nixon/Watergate scandal.
Obama, through a spokesman, said that neither he "nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."
"This allegation has serious implications. @POTUS should provide more info to Congress immediately to assess constitutionality and legality," Amash, a frequent Trump critic, tweeted.
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said he was "very worried" about Trump's claim and that an illegal wiretap would represent "the biggest political scandal since Watergate."
If the phone taps were legally authorized with a FISA Court order, Sasse said, then Trump should produce that evidence.
"If it was with a legal FISA Court order, then an application for surveillance exists that the Court found credible. The President should ask that this full application regarding surveillance of foreign operatives or operations be made available, ideally to the full public, and at a bare minimum to the U.S. Senate."