On Wednesday, House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes claimed that Donald Trump may have been "incidentally" surveilled during his transition into the White House. In response, backlash quickly occurred, with some lashing out more than others.
Hannity on Twitter
Over the last month, President Donald Trump has done his best to deflect attention away from the growing scandal surrounding his administration and the Russian government. After the Washington Post reported that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had been in contact with the ambassador to Russian at least twice during the election, the former host of "The Apprentice" was forced to change the narrative.
In doing so, Trump made a baseless allegation against Barack Obama, claiming the former president took part in the wiretapping of Trump Tower. No evidence has been presented to back up the conspiracy, with the FBI, Department of Justice, and others all dismissing the claim. However, Republican Rep. Devin Nunes came forward on Wednesday and revealed that not only was Trump Tower and the president's transition team the possible victims of unknown surveillance, but that he spoke to Trump and informed him of the information gathered during a congressional investigation. As seen on his Twitter account on March 23, Fox News host and loyal Trump supporter, Sean Hannity, was not pleased.
Prediction: these same Libs and "never trumpers" will be proven wrong again, and people will go to jail. HIGH LEVEL OBAMA SUPPORTERS IN Govt
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) March 23, 2017
Taking to his Twitter feed shortly after 1 a.m.
on Thursday morning, Sean Hannity sent out a string of angry tweets in defense of Donald Trump, while going as far as predicting that former members of the Obama administration will end up behind bars. "Prediction: these same Libs and 'never trumpers' will be proven wrong again, and people will go to jail," Hannity tweeted, before adding, "HIGH LEVEL OBAMA SUPPORTERS IN Govt."
Last point. These same Libs and Never Trump hacks never vetted Obama, never told the truth about his failures &colluded with HRC vs @POTUS !
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) March 23, 2017
In a follow-up post on Twitter, Sean Hannity continued to lash out.
"Last point. These same Libs and Never Trump hacks never vetted Obama, never told the truth about his failures &colluded with HRC vs @POTUS !" he wrote. While the Fox News host said it would be his "last point," he still had a few things to get off his chest.
Unmasking is NOT standard operating procedure. Minimization IS SUPPOSED TO BE!! Read the espionage act, especially the part on leaking intel https://t.co/1nqcB9a2KV
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) March 23, 2017
Hannity continues
"Unmasking is NOT standard operating procedure.
Minimization IS SUPPOSED TO BE!! Read the espionage act, especially the part on leaking intel," Sean Hannity added. In his final tweet on the matter as of press time, Hannity appeared to attack the alleged "ignorance" of Democrats and liberals. "Their ignorance is breathtaking. The law requires minimization, which was clearly not done AGAIN. 'Unmasking' is NOT SOP. Leaking a felony!" he pointed out.
Their ignorance is breathtaking. The law requires minimization, which was clearly not done AGAIN. "Unmasking" is NOT SOP. Leaking a felony!
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) March 23, 2017
Next up
While Sean Hannity and other supporters of Donald Trump were furious, so were Democrats, but for much different reasons.
Democrats were quick to note that Devin Nunes' allegation came without evidence, which he claims can not be revealed due to the documents not being in possession of the House Intelligence Committee. Further more, Nunes confirmed that the Obama administration didn't wiretap Trump Tower, which has been left out of many conservative and right-wing news broadcast.
.@RepAdamSchiff questions if @DevinNunes is acting as ‘surrogate of the White House’ https://t.co/FDo4IkuVhi pic.twitter.com/nQOrlksJRe
— POLITICO (@politico) March 23, 2017
The third complaint from liberals and the Democratic Party is that Devin Nunes went straight to Donald Trump, tipping the president off about the details of the investigation before other committee members could review the information collected.
Responding to Nunes was the top Democrat on the Intel Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, who ripped into the chairman, while asking if he is prepared to take part in a nonpartisan investigation, or if he was just going to be a "surrogate" for the White House.