Trump revives debunked surveillance claim

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - President Donald Trump sought to use the dated remarks of a former attorney general Monday to defend his belief that his self-named Manhattan tower was under FBI surveillance during the 2016 White House race.

"Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey said that President Trump is probably correct that there was surveillance on Trump Tower. Actually, far greater than would ever have been believed!" Trump said.

Which comments Trump is referring to are unclear. Mukasey, who served as the U.S.'s top lawyer under former President George W. Bush, has not publicly commented on the ongoing special counsel probe into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and the Trump campaign since March 2017.

Mukasey said that month Trump's claim that former President Barack Obama had his "wires tapped" is incorrect.

"I think the president was not correct certainly in saying that President Obama ordered a tap on a server in Trump Tower. However, I think he is right in that there was surveillance, and that it was conducted at the behest of the Justice Department through the FISA court," he said during an interview with ABC News.

But Mukasey said that since a FISA court issued a warrant it had determined there was "some basis to believe that somebody in Trump Tower may have been acting as an agent of the Russians."

Last year, Obama, through a spokesman, denied he ordered surveillance on any American citizen, stressing he did not interfere in Justice Department investigations.

Trump's tweet Monday morning appears to be out the blue, and it is unclear if the "far greater" surveillance he is claiming is based on any new information.