Donald Trump Demands Investigation Into Whether Justice Dept. ‘Surveilled’ His Campaign

President Donald Trump has grown visibly exasperated with the Russia probe, and on Sunday made a bold new claim about the possibility that Barack Obama‘s administration may have asked the FBI to monitor his 2016 campaign.

Trump Demands Probe Into Potential Spy From FBI

Trump took to Twitter to slam both federal investigators and his predecessor’s administration.

“I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes,” the president tweeted. “And if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

This is not the first time the president has accused Obama, without evidence, of surveilling him. Last year, Trump claimed his predecessor tapped his phones in Trump Tower.

Special counsel Robert Mueller‘s inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential collusion between Trump campaign officials and the Russian government has now entered its second year. Aside from Trump, Vice president Mike Pence and other administration officials, as well as well-known conservative pundits, have all called for the investigation to end soon.

The case has often been compared to the Watergate scandal that Richard Nixon became involved with. Nixon saw many top officials in his administration resign, and the president himself ordered the firing of a special prosecutor who was probing him.

Likewise, many lawmakers and top government officials have feared that Trump may fired Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — another major figure overseeing the investigation — or other top officials. Trump has repeatedly decried the Russia probe as a “witch hunt.” Thus far, the investigation has yielded 22 indictments and five guilty pleas, as well as one conviction.

In a publicly released statement, Rosenstein said: “If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action.”

Mueller is also seeking to determine whether Trump obstructed justice by firing former FBI Director James Comey last year, or in any other way.

CNN’s Jake Tapper shared the Justice Department’s full response to Trump’s claim.

Rudy Giuliani — the former New York City mayor who is now a member of Trump’s legal team — said over the weekend he believes Mueller may end his “collusion” portion Russia by Sept. 1. Giuliani — who has caused problems for the president by contradicting him and making bombshell statements — also said in an interview on Fox News last week that any possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and the Russians to obtain damaging information about Hillary Clinton would not constitute a crime.

“There is nothing illegal about that. Even if it comes from a Russian or a German or American, it doesn’t matter,” Giuliani said Wednesday on the Ingraham Angle.

Trump was referring to his claim that a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court warrant that was handed to monitor Carter Page — one of his campaign aides — was improperly acquired and based on false information given by his opponents.

The Justice Department reported at the end of 2017 that Mueller’s probe had cost $6.7 million or more just for the first four and a half months.