A REAL AUTHORITY SPEAKS – AT 8:57 A.M. ET:  With all kinds of creatures weighing in on the wiretapping story, it's a relief to have a real expert render an opinion.  Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who served under George W. Bush, assesses the controversy.  From The Hill:

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Sunday said that President Trump is likely correct that there was surveillance on Trump Tower for intelligence purposes, but incorrect in accusing former President Barack Obama of ordering the wiretapping.

“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 told ABC’s “This Week.”

Trump on Saturday accused Obama of wiretapping Trump Tower in New York City just before the November election.

A spokesman for Obama denied that the former president or the White House ordered any such surveillance.

"A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice," Kevin Lewis said in a statement.

"As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen," Lewis added. "Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."

Mukasey, who served as the attorney general under former President George W. Bush, said he believes there was surveillance on Trump Tower after reading certain news reports.

Mukasey said if there were a wiretap on Trump Tower, it would mean that there was suspicion someone had been acting as Russian agent.

COMMENT:  One thing that might also be considered is that any wiretapping could have been conducted by a secret contractor, Watergate style.  Recall that the Watergate "break-in" was carried out by a clandestine group called "the plumbers," on behalf of some people in the Nixon 1972 presidential campaign.  The assumptions now are focusing only on the FBI, which may be too narrow.

It's unlikely we'll know the real story until the Congressional probes are held.  Recall also that it was a Congressional inquiry that led to the discovery of the Nixon taping system in the White House.  Alexander Butterfield, a Nixon administration official, revealed it in sworn testimony.

March 6,  2017