Cruz: Trump’s wiretap charge unproved but not ‘necessarily outlandish’

[corbe]

 
Cruz: Trump’s wiretap charge unproved but not ‘necessarily outlandish’

March 19, 2017 4:28 PM

By Jonathan Tilove
Austin American-Statesman

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” that President Donald Trump should produce evidence that President Barack Obama wiretapped or otherwise surveilled Trump Tower toward the end of the 2016 presidential campaign, but that the charge is “not necessarily as outlandish,” as depicted in the media.

In the interview with “Face the Nation” host John Dickerson, Cruz also said he had been at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday negotiating with members of the president’s team about potential changes in the House bill to repeal Obamacare, which Cruz said cannot and should not pass the Senate as currently written, and, if it were passed, would be a political and policy disaster.

“If Republicans hold a big press conference and pat ourselves on the back that we’ve repealed Obamacare and everyone’s premiums keep going up, people will be ready to tar and feather us in the streets and quite rightly,” Cruz said.

Cruz also predicted that Judge Neil Gorsuch would be confirmed for the Supreme Court with 60 votes or, if Democrats attempt a filibuster, with a simple majority vote.

“I will tell you, Judge Gorsuch will be confirmed,” Cruz said. “He will either get 60 votes and be confirmed or otherwise. Whatever procedural steps are necessary, I believe within a month or two Neil Gorsuch will be an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee, on which both Cruz and his Texas colleague, John Cornyn, serve, begins hearings on the Gorsuch nomination Monday even as the House Intelligence Committee holds its first hearing on Russian efforts to affect the 2016 election, with testimony from FBI Director James Comey and Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency.

Two Texans on the House Intelligence Committee — U.S. Reps. Will Hurd, R-Helotes, and Joaquín Castro, D-San Antonio — were on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.

Hurd told host George Stephanopoulos that he had seen no evidence to back the president’s claim about his predecessor and that, absent such evidence, Trump ought to apologize for making an unfounded charge.

“To quote my 85-year-old father who — Bob Hurd — who has given this advice to all of my friends when they get married, it never hurts to say you’re sorry,” Hurd said.

Hurd, a former CIA agent, said apologizing “helps with our allies.”

“We’ve got to make sure that we’re all working together. We live in a very dangerous world and we can’t do this alone. And when we have a major ally — and it’s not just sorry to the (former) president, but also to the U.K. for the claims or the intimation that the U.K. was involved in this, as well,” said Hurd, who said the unsubstantiated claims by the president, “takes away from the rest of his agenda.”

Castro said he is hoping to learn from Comey on Monday, “First, whether any Americans are being investigated for cooperating or conspiring with the Russians who interfered with our election. Second, the scope of that investigation. And third, a timeline for resolving it.”

While calling on the Trump administration to provide evidence for the president’s claims, Cruz said it was necessary to find out whether the Obama administration was engaged in a “fishing expedition,” to see what dirt it could dig up on the Republican candidate and his campaign.

“I don’t know what basis the president has for these allegations,” Cruz said. “He’s now president of the United States. The FBI, the CIA, they all report to him. And I think we should examine what the evidence is. I think it would be quite good if the administration put forward what evidence there is.”

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article139527973.html#storylink=cpy

[Cripplecreek]

Unproven is what matters.

Period.

[libertybele]

It would seem to me that IF there was actual evidence of the wiretapping that information would have already been made known. 

[Bigun]

It would seem to me that IF there was actual evidence of the wiretapping that information would have already been made known.

I can think of lots of reasons why that may not be true.

[DB]

My guess is Trump doesn't play poker.

[Free Vulcan]

Obviously information was gathered and a report made, one that passed thru many hands before it became public. Now that all seems forgotten. I still want to know where the information came from.

[Chosen Daughter]

“If Republicans hold a big press conference and pat ourselves on the back that we’ve repealed Obamacare and everyone’s premiums keep going up, people will be ready to tar and feather us in the streets and quite rightly,” Cruz said.

He has that one pegged.  I am buying the tar and feathers.   

[Formerly Once-Ler]

It would seem to me that IF there was actual evidence of the wiretapping that information would have already been made known.

How in the world is Brietbart...and therefore The President of the United States of America...going to get that kind of information?!?

[geronl]

Fake but Accurate - Wincing Puppy of Politics