One year ago yesterday, the world woke up to President Donald Trump calling his predecessor, Barack Obama, a “bad (or sick) guy” for supposedly wiretapping Trump’s phone during the “very sacred election process.”
Today, he called it a scandal “Bigger than Watergate.”
Why did the Obama Administration start an investigation into the Trump Campaign (with zero proof of wrongdoing) long before the Election in November? Wanted to discredit so Crooked H would win. Unprecedented. Bigger than Watergate! Plus, Obama did NOTHING about Russian meddling.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2018
That Trump would accuse his predecessor of a crime worthy of impeachment is almost rote at this point. The president’s set of misspelled tweets on March 4, 2017, kickstarted one of the most tumultuous years in American political history, bringing about a partisan and divisive rancor not seen in decades.
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
The president never provided evidence for his claims, but reporting in the ensuing months revealed Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort—who kept an apartment in Trump Tower—was surveilled by the FBI during its investigation into ties the campaign had to the Russian government. Other Trump officials were also surveilled by the government.
Prior to the tweet, an investigation into Russian meddling was slowly underway in Congress and the Justice Department. A year later, Congressional committees are bitterly divided on the issue, a Special Counsel is investigating the president’s behavior, numerous former campaign officials have been indicted, Trump has dismissed and tried to fire officials investigating him, and American democracy is basically hanging by a thread.
Anyway, happy anniversary!