No evidence has been released to support President Donald Trump's claims he was wiretapped by his predecessor, because either "there is no evidence, or it could be a judicial matter," Rep. Trey Gowdy said Wednesday.
"It could be that it's under seal" with the secret court created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the South Carolina Republican told Anderson Cooper on CNN. "I have no way of knowing which it is, if it's either of those.
"But the executive branch is in position of the affidavits and the warrants and the applications for warrants.
"There are only two ways to lawfully intercept someone's oral communication — and the executive branch would have access to documents that support either of those two ways," he said.
Gowdy, 52, is a former federal prosecutor who is in his fourth term. He chaired the special House committee that investigated the 2012 Benghazi attacks.
Only Trump or the Justice Department can release any wiretap information, he said.
"The president is the head of the executive branch — and to the extent information is held within the executive branch, including classified information, the president has the power to both declassify it and have it released, as long as it's not held by the judicial branch, which would be a court matter," Gowdy said.
"There may be a DOJ reason that they don't want to share with Congress," he added. "In fairness, they have been reluctant in the past to share information with Congress, which I get."
Gowdy also sits on the House Intelligence Committee, which is holding a March 20 hearing on Russian involvement in last year's election.
FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers have been invited to testify.
"We'll make significant headway, if the witness shows up," Gowdy said. "They're not under subpoena. They're being voluntarily asked to attend.
"But by no means, even if they do a phenomenal job and are completely forthcoming, the inquiry doesn't end.
"They're not the line-level analysts. They're not the line-level prosecutors.
"They're not the FBI agents who initially got the Flynn transcripts," he added, referring to the conversations former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had with the Russian ambassador before Trump's inauguration.
"We're going to need to talk to all of the witnesses."
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