Sen. Chuck Grassley refused to discuss the wiretapping. | AP Photo Grassley gets testy during CNN interview: I thought you wanted to talk about Gorsuch

Perturbed by a CNN anchor’s repeated questioning on the issue of President Donald Trump’s accusation that he was wiretapped inside his Manhattan skyscraper during last year’s election, Sen. Chuck Grassley refused to offer a direct answer and instead insisted in a change of subject to the confirmation process of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

Grassley’s unwillingness to even discuss Trump’s allegation, that former President Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign, comes one day after the heads of the FBI and the NSA offered testimony before the House Intelligence Committee knocking down the president’s accusation.


Despite that rebuke, as well as concessions from multiple Republican lawmakers that no proof exists to support Trump’s claim, the White House has dug in on the assertion, insisting that the president will ultimately be vindicated.

Asked by CNN “New Day” anchor Chris Cuomo if it was a mistake for Trump to level his allegation and if he should offer an apology to Obama, Grassley (R-Iowa) said he had not watched Monday’s House Intelligence Committee hearing and could not comment on it. When Cuomo followed up by asking “but you know there's absolutely no proof of the president's allegation, right?” Grassley began to grow testy.

“I know that there's no proof yet that the administration was talking to the Russians, as well,” the senator said in response, referring to the FBI investigation, confirmed at Monday’s hearing, into the Russian government’s interference into the 2016 election and the possibility of collusion between the Kremlin and the Trump campaign.

Cuomo, who had previously wrapped a line of questioning with Grassley regarding the Russia investigation, appeared puzzled by the senator’s response and asked why he had linked it to the wiretapping allegation. Grassley countered that “you're putting them together and I'm saying you're wrong for putting them together,” to which Cuomo replied that it was, in fact, Grassley who had linked the two.

“Let me sum this up for you: I thought you wanted to talk about the Gorsuch nomination and I’m here to talk about that. I'm not prepared to talk about what you want to talk about, because that isn’t what you told me you wanted to talk about.”