Ex-Bush attorney general: Trump likely right about surveillance of Trump Tower
Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey came to President Donald Trump's defense on Sunday, saying that the president is conceivably right in his claims that Trump Tower was likely surveilled for U.S. intelligence purposes during the 2016 election.
But he disagreed with one key aspect of Trump's claim -- that President Barack Obama called for or was aware of the surveillance as president.
Mukasey, who served as the head of the Justice Department during President George W. Bush's administration, said during an appearance on ABC's "This Week" that news reports he had read led him to believe the surveillance claims.
SEE MORE: Read Trump's original accusations against Obama
"I think he's right in that there was surveillance and that it was conducted at the behest of the attorney general -- at the Justice Department," Mukasey said.
He noted that if Trump Tower had been wiretapped, it would suggest investigators inside the Justice Department believed he had been working with Russians or acting as a Russian agent.
Trump sparked a major uproar over the weekend when he took to Twitter on Saturday morning, alleging that while president, Obama "tapped" his phones during the election
"How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!," Trump said during the series of tweets.
Obama's spokesperson responded shortly afterwards, stating that "no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice.
"As part of that practice," the statement continued, "neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen."
