Leon Panetta says when President Trump issues allegations without evidence, "it makes us vulnerable and it makes us weaker to our enemies." pic.twitter.com/V1KaSn4HrQ
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) March 5, 2017
Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Sunday raised concerns about President Trump's claims that former President Barack ObamaBarack ObamaDems slam Trump as 'deflector in chief' for wiretap claims House intel chief: Russia probe will include potential surveillance of campaigns Schiff: Not even Spicer wants to speak about Trump's wiretapping claim MORE wiretapped Trump Tower before the election.
"Every time these things happen, every time he tweets, every time these issues come up that indicate that there's obviously something to this Russian issue and the administration is not cooperating," Panetta said on CBS's "Face The Nation."
"When that happens, when he accuses a past president of wiretapping without any evidence of that being the case, it makes us vulnerable. It weakens the United States and it makes us vulnerable to our enemies. That's the danger."
He noted that people he's talked to abroad are "very concerned" about the new administration and Trump.
"They're concerned about whether he truly is going to be committed to the kind of world leadership that we've seen the United States provide," he said.
The president on Saturday claimed Obama had his "wires tapped" at Trump Tower before his presidential victory.
He laid out the claims without any evidence and questioned whether it was legal for a sitting president to be "'wire tapping' a race for president prior to an election."