Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) (Photo: Stewart for Utah)
Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT) demanded that President Donald Trump declassify any evidence he has that former President Barack Obama wiretapped him at Trump Tower.
In an interview, Monday with CNN's Erin Burnett, Stewart, who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said that he knows of no evidence that this claim is true. Still, he called on Trump to provide some kind of evidence to support the claim.
He explained that Congress began an investigation in September about the Trump campaign's ties to Russia and urged others to refrain from "political grandstanding" so that they can focus on the investigation instead of "on the cameras."
"On the issue of wiretapping, the president could clear this up so quickly, if there's proof he knows about it," Burnett said. "If a request to wiretap him came, he has the ability to declassify that request, he could that right now and that would mean you, me, the if the request exists why isn't he declassifying it and letting us all see the classified information?"
Stewart agreed with her premise, saying that he thinks the quicker the evidence comes out the better.
"If the president has information and he could declassify that without endangering national security, I would encourage him to do that," Stewart continued. "We're left doing our work and doing the very best we can to answer these questions for the American people."
Stewart also came to the defense of FBI Direct James Comey, calling him "one of the finest men in government." If Obama ordered a wiretap it would have been through the FBI and Comey would have knowledge of it. However, Comey announced it never happened and asked the Department of Justice to come out against the claim.
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