Trump says he's 'vindicated' by Rep. Nunes statement on wiretap

President Trump responded positively Wednesday to a statement by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) that he says vindicates his accusation that Obama wiretapped him.

Trump was asked by a reporter if he felt the Nunes statement vindicated him.

"I somewhat do, I must tell you," he responded," I somewhat do, I very much appreciate the fact that they found what they found, but uh, I somewhat do."

.@POTUS feels "somewhat" vindicated by announcement he & transition team may have been "monitored" after election in "incidental collection" pic.twitter.com/dd387HYRaj

— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 22, 2017

Devin Nunes chairs the House Intelligence Committee that is investigating the leaks from the White House, and the accusation by Trump that Obama had wiretapped him. In a statement to reporters Wednesday, he said that information was "incidentally" collected by the U.S. intelligence community.

"So first, I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions," Nunes began, "the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition. Details about U.S. persons associated with the incoming administrations, details with little or no apparently foreign intelligence value were widely disseminated in intelligence community reporting."

"Third I have confirmed that additional names of Trump transition team members were unmasked," he continued. "And fourth, and finally, I want to be clear, none of this surveillance was related to Russia, or the investigation of Russian activities, or of the Trump team."

"The House Intelligence Committee will thoroughly investigate surveillance," he concluded, "and its subsequent dissemination to determine a few things here that I want to read off. Who was aware of it, why was it not disclosed to Congress, who requested and authorized the additional unmasking, whether anyone directed the intelligence community to focus on Trump associates, and whether any laws, regulations, or procedures were violated."

BREAKING: TRUMP WAS RIGHT (AGAIN)! Devin Nunes confirms Trump Transition Team WAS wiretapped! pic.twitter.com/fAMoVNhcCZ

— Newt-Trump Fan Club (@NewtTrump) March 22, 2017

U.S. politics has been tossed into a maelstrom after the president accused the former president of wiretapping Trump Towers without presenting evidence, and then demanded that the Congress investigate the matter.

Administration officials and allies have since said that Trump misspoke by tweeting that Obama "wiretapped" him, but that he meant he was the target of surveillance in a broad understanding of the term.