Trump Calls NSA Deletion of Phone Records 'a Disgrace'

President Donald Trump, noting that the National Security Agency has deleted 685 million phone calls and text messages the government obtained from telecommunication companies in connection with investigations, questioned whether there were privacy violations and labeled it a "disgrace."

His comments came in a Tuesday morning tweet.

The Washington Examiner noted Trump appeared to question whether there was more to the story behind the deletion. Trump regularly refers to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe as a "witch hunt," the website said.

Congress had curtailed the NSA’s collection of call records after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed extensive government surveillance. A 2015 law mandated the data would be held by the telecommunications companies, but the NSA could query the database.

The NSA is reportedly deleting information gained from those queries. The agency started deleting the information in May after the NSA cited "technical irregularities in some data received from telecommunication service providers."

As a result, the NSA had received some unauthorized information.

• Reality Winner Pleads Guilty in NSA Leaking Case
• NSA Director: US Hasn't 'Significantly' Affected Russia's Cyber Activities