Fbi asked justice department to refute trumps wiretapping claim

A significant development in the ongoing controversy surrounding President Trump's claim that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped his Trump Tower offices during the 2016 presidential election.

According to a report by The New York Times, the FBI asked the Justice Department to publicly refute President Trump's claim that his Trump Tower offices were wiretapped by the Obama administration. The request was made in March 2017, shortly after Trump made the claim on Twitter.

The FBI's request was reportedly made in response to concerns that Trump's claim was causing confusion and undermining the public's trust in the intelligence community. The agency was worried that the claim could also compromise ongoing investigations and potentially reveal sensitive information about surveillance methods.

The Justice Department ultimately refused to publicly refute Trump's claim, citing concerns about the potential political fallout and the need to maintain the independence of the FBI and the Justice Department. However, the department did provide a private briefing to lawmakers, explaining that there was no evidence to support Trump's claim.

The controversy surrounding Trump's wiretapping claim has been ongoing for several years, with many experts and officials concluding that there is no evidence to support the claim. The FBI and the Justice Department have both denied that they conducted any surveillance on Trump Tower, and the intelligence community has also denied that Obama ordered any wiretapping.

Despite the lack of evidence, Trump has continued to make claims about the wiretapping, and the controversy has become a major point of contention in his presidency. The issue has also been the subject of several investigations, including a probe by the House Intelligence Committee and a review by the Justice Department's inspector general.

In summary, the FBI asked the Justice Department to publicly refute Trump's wiretapping claim in March 2017, but the department refused, citing concerns about political fallout and the need to maintain the independence of the FBI and Justice Department.