Trump: I feel ‘somewhat’ vindicated on wiretap claim after Nunes’ statement

President Donald Trump said he felt “somewhat” vindicated on his wiretapping claims against former President Barack Obama after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said he had seen evidence that members of the Trump transition teams were surveilled following November’s election.

“I must tell you, I somewhat do,” Trump said. “I very much appreciated the fact they found what they found.”


Nunes briefed the White House on his findings Wednesday afternoon and said it is “possible” that Trump was correct in what he tweeted if he was referring to broader surveillance.

Earlier on Wednesday, Nunes told reporters that members of the Trump transition team, possibly including Trump himself, were under U.S. government surveillance following the election.

Nunes said the monitoring appeared to be done legally as a result of what's called "incidental collection," adding that he was concerned because it was not related to the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s meddling in the election.

“I have seen intelligence reports that clearly show that the president-elect and his team were, I guess, at least monitored,” Nunes told reporters. “It looks to me like it was all legally collected, but it was essentially a lot of information on the president-elect and his transition team and what they were doing.”

However, when asked by reporters if Obama tapped Trump's’ phones, Nunes said “that never happened.”

Without citing evidence, Trump had tweeted earlier this month, "President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!" The White House has since not presented any specific details to support the claim.

Nunes said there will be more information by Friday.