Republican Senator: Trump causing a 'civilization-warping crisis' for US with wild 'wiretap' charges

Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse has called on Pres. Donald Trump to provide proof of his wild accusations that former Pres. Barack Obama wiretapped his phones before the 2016 election.

In a statement posted to Twitter Saturday afternoon, Sasse accused Trump of creating a "civilization-warping crisis of public trust" with his erratic and unsupported accusations that Obama tapped the phones at Trump Tower, which Sasse said call for a "thorough and dispassionate" investigation.

"The president today made some very serious allegations, and the informed citizens that a republic requires deserve more information," Sasse wrote. "If there were wiretaps of then-candidate Trump's organization or campaign, then it was either with FISA Court authorization or without such authorization. If without, the President should explain what sort of wiretap it was and how he knows this. It is possible that he was illegally tapped."

"On the other hand, if it was with a legal FISA Court order, then an application for surveillance exists that the Court found credible," he explained. "The President should ask that this full application regarding surveillance of foreign operatives or operations be made available, ideally to the full public, and at a bare minimum to the U.S. Senate."'

He concluded, "[T]he President's allegations today demand the thorough and dispassionate attention of serious patriots. A quest for the full truth, rather than knee-jerk partisanship, must be our guide if we are going to rebuild civic trust and health."

Some unlikely allies appear to agree with Sasse, including Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu (CA), who on Saturday tweeted to Trump that he's "in deep sh*t" if he's being wiretapped by the federal government because that means a judge found probable cause of a crime.

This is not Sasse's first run at Pres. Trump. He was a staunch critic of Trump throughout the 2016 campaign and is expected to be a thorn in Trump's side on certain issues.