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Ex-director
dos serviços secretos americanos nega escutas a Trump
À
NBC, James Clapper disse não ter conhecimento de quaisquer operações
que envolvessem escutas na Trump Tower.
PÚBLICO 5 de Março
de 2017, 17:15
O ex-director dos
serviços secretos norte-americanos, James Clapper, negou que a Trump
Tower tenha estado sob escuta antes das eleições, negando qualquer
actividade "contra o Presidente eleito enquanto candidato ou
contra a sua campanha”. James Clapper ocupava o cargo de director
dos serviços secretos na altura das eleições presidenciais dos
EUA.
No sábado, várias
publicações de Donald Trump no Twitter acusavam Barack Obama de ter
colocado sob escuta os escritórios da Trump Tower, em Nova Iorque,
pouco antes das eleições. O Presidente norte-americano não
apresentou quaisquer provas para sustentar as suas afirmações.
James Clapper disse
ainda à NBC não ter conhecimento de qualquer ordem judicial que
tivesse autorizado a supervisão da Trump Tower, em Nova Iorque. Para
que pudessem ter sido colocadas escutas na Trump Tower, um tribunal
federal teria, segundo a lei norte-americana, de considerar provável
que o alvo das escutas fosse um “agente de uma potência
estrangeira”. James Clapper acredita que, enquanto director dos
serviços secretos, teria tido conhecimento de uma operação deste
género.
“Não posso falar
em nome de outras autoridades governamentais ou entidades locais ou
estatais”, acrescentou, no entanto. James Clapper deixou o seu
cargo a 20 de Janeiro, aquando da tomada de posse de Donald Trump.
Obama pôs Trump sob
escuta? “É simplesmente falso”, diz porta-voz
As acusações
feitas por Donald Trump foram igualmente desmentidas pelo porta-voz
de Barack Obama, Kevin Lewis, que disse serem “simplesmente
falsas”. Num comunicado partilhado no Twitter neste sábado, Kevin
Lewis afirmou que “nem o Presidente Obama nem nenhum funcionário
da Casa Branca” puseram sob escuta qualquer cidadão
norte-americano.
Por sua vez, a Casa
Branca pediu este domingo ao Congresso americano para investigar se a
administração de Barack Obama tinha abusado dos seus poderes
durante a campanha de 2016.
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FBI
director challenges Trump claims over Obama wiretapping – reports
James
Comey reportedly asked DoJ to refute president’s allegation because
of his concern that it was false and suggested the FBI had broken the
law
Bonnie Malkin, Alan
Yuhas and agencies
Monday 6 March 2017
03.34 GMT
James Comey, the
director of the FBI, has reportedly asked the US justice department
to publicly reject claims made by Donald Trump that Barack Obama
ordered his phones to be tapped during the 2016 election campaign.
Comey made the
request on Saturday because of his concern that the allegation was
false and suggested the FBI had broken the law, according to the New
York Times. Unnamed US officials confirmed Comey’s move to the
Associated Press, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.
The department is
yet to respond and the FBI has refused to comment on the reports
about Comey’s request.
The request from
Comey comes after Trump tweeted claims on Saturday, without evidence,
that Obama had ordered the FBI to tap the phones at Trump Tower in
New York.
On Sunday, the White
House asked Congress to investigate the allegation, despite James
Clapper, Obama’s director of national intelligence, saying nothing
matching Trump’s claims had taken place.
“Absolutely, I can
deny it,” said Clapper, who left government when Trump took office
in January. An Obama spokesman also called Trump’s tweets
“unequivocally false”.
Regardless, White
House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump’s instruction to
Congress was based on “very troubling” reports “concerning
potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of
the 2016 election”.
Spicer did not
respond to inquiries about the reports he cited. However, late last
week rightwing radio and news sites, including the website recently
run by the president’s chief strategist, circulated the idea that
Obama had tried to undermine the Trump campaign.
Spicer said the
White House wants the congressional committees to “exercise their
oversight authority to determine whether executive branch
investigative powers were abused in 2016”. He said there would be
no further comment until the investigations are completed, a
statement that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi took offence to
and likened to autocratic behaviour.
“It’s called a
wrap-up smear. You make up something. Then you have the press write
about it. And then you say, everybody is writing about this charge.
It’s a tool of an authoritarian,” Pelosi said.
Spicer’s chief
deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said she thinks Trump is “going off
of information that he’s seen that has led him to believe that this
is a very real potential”.
The FBI and Congress
are already investigating Russian interference in the election, and
American intelligence agencies have concluded that hackers acting on
behalf of the Kremlin broke into Democratic party servers in support
of Trump.
But it is highly
unusual for the director of the nation’s intelligence service to
challenge a sitting president in this way and – since attorney
general Jeff Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation
last week – Comey has reportedly struggled to find an authority
able to respond to his request to the White House.
Congressional
Democrats are seeking details about reports of contacts between the
White House and the justice department concerning the FBI’s ongoing
review of efforts by the Russian government to unlawfully influence
the election.
House judiciary
committee Democrats plan to send a letter to White House counsel
Donald McGahn noting the contacts were inappropriate. Judiciary
Democrats will also send a similar letter to Comey.
The Democrats cited
reports of the White House contacting the justice department and FBI
asking them to knock down reports of communications between Trump
associates and Russians during the campaign. Comey has not done so,
and Democrats want to know details of those communications.
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