The latest story about Trump’s twitter rant that President Obama tried to wire-tap Trump’s telephone is just too much and too perfect. But . . . given the weirdness of this outburst . . . we shouldn't ignore that previous reporting indicated that Donald Trump long has had a scheme and habit of secretly listening in to the telephone calls of guests and staff at Mar-A-Lago.

Here is a June 2016 Vanity Fair article on the subject:

Trump allegedly eavesdropped on conversations between staff members and possibly guests at the Palm Beach resort, BuzzFeed News reported Thursday. Citing four anonymous sources, the outlet reveals that club staff members were aware of—and warned that—the real-estate mogul would listen in on calls made using Mar-A-Lago landlines during the mid-2000s. One individual said, “it was acknowledged that when he was at the property there was a likelihood of him listening in on your call,” and another alleged that Trump “could pick up the phone in the bedroom and listen to any conversation that was going on.” The Trump camp has denied the eavesdropping accusations. . . . This is not the first time Trump employees have suspected that he might be listening in on their private conversations. Last month, The New York Times reported that campaign staffers thought their offices might be bugged. Even the billionaire himself suffers from eavesdropping paranoia, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt that he assumes people are listening to his phone calls, The Hill reports. We can’t wait to see what he’ll do with the N.S.A.

More details from the BuzzFeed article:

At Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach resort he runs as a club for paying guests and celebrities, Donald Trump had a telephone console installed in his bedroom that acted like a switchboard, connecting to every phone extension on the estate, according to six former workers. Several of them said he used that console to eavesdrop on calls involving staff. [* * * *] Four of them — speaking on condition of anonymity because they signed nondisclosure agreements — said that Trump listened in on phone calls at the club during the mid-2000s. They did not know if he eavesdropped more recently. They said he listened in on calls between club employees or, in some cases, between staff and guests. None of them knew of Trump eavesdropping on guests or members talking on private calls with people who were not employees of Mar-a-Lago. They also said that Trump could eavesdrop only on calls made on the club’s landlines and not on calls made from guests’ cell phones. Each of these four sources said they personally saw the telephone console, which some referred to as a switchboard, in Trump’s bedroom.

Sounds like something our current President would do? It does to me.

For example, this source recalled a time when a staff member was on the phone with a club member. During the phone call, Trump called the staff member on another line to weigh in on the very issue that was being discussed. “There is no other way you could know what that conversation was about unless you were eavesdropping,” this source said. A second source said he had direct knowledge that Trump “could pick up the phone in the bedroom and listen to any conversation that was going on.” This person said Trump used it “to eavesdrop.” This source said that some staff, who used a separate switchboard, knew when Trump was listening in on calls, because when he did, a light on that switchboard would come on. A third source said that “it was acknowledged that when he was at the property there was a likelihood of him listening in on your call.” This person said it was clear when Trump was listening in, because the phones of some of the resort’s executives had a light that showed the extension that Trump was on. When the mogul joined in on a call, this source says, another light on these phones — but not on most other phones in the estate — would come on, indicating that Trump’s extension was active and on the call.

This was one of the creepier details I remember being reported about Trump. If he is going to pursue this phone-tapping thing, I think it is time to revisit these allegations.