Rick Santorum: Donald Trump Is 'Hurting Himself' With His Wiretap Obsession

President Donald Trump is hurting himself by insisting that the Obama administration wiretapped him after the FBI and the Senate Intelligence Committee dismissed the claims, former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum warns.

Santorum had supported Trumps presidency bid and backs many of his policies , but the former Pennsylvania senator said Thursday night that its time for the commander in chief to leave the campaign behind and act like a president.

Were not in an election anymore, and its not his opponent hes throwing off, he said of Trump during an appearance on CNN . I think its him that hes throwing off.

Santorum said Trump has no opponent in this case. And who hes hurting is not a rival, hes hurting himself, because hes now the president and it doesnt matter whether he blames Barack Obama or not, he added. People dont care about Barack Obama anymore. They care about one person. They care about the president, and hes the president.

Trump indicated yet again Friday during a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that his phones had been wiretapped . He referenced a comment by former judge Andrew Napolitano on Fox News Thursday, who cited unnamed sources that British intelligence agents from GCHQ spied on Trump for former president Obama which the agency called utterly ridiculous . He added that Napolitano was a very talented legal mind. Napolitano is a 9/11 truther, a movement of conspiracy theorists who are skeptical that the U.S. government told the truth about the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

Fox News host Shep Smith said Friday that the network could not substantiate Napolitanos allegations or any claims that Trump was ever under surveillance from the Obama administration.

Shepard Smith just said Fox News has no evidence of any kind that Trump was surveilled at any time, any way.\" pic.twitter.com/0pzP1WWr2t

Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) March 17, 2017","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Michael M. Grynbaum","author_url":"https://twitter.com/grynbaum","cache_age":60,"description":"Shepard Smith just said Fox News has no evidence of any kind that Trump was surveilled at any time, any way." pic.twitter.com/0pzP1WWr2t— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) March 17, 2017\n","provider_name":"Twitter","title":"Michael M. 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Shepard Smith just said Fox News has no evidence of any kind that Trump was surveilled at any time, any way." pic.twitter.com/0pzP1WWr2t
Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) March 17, 2017

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Trump said earlier while alongside Merkel that as far as wiretapping, I guess, by this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps, eliciting a puzzled look from the chancellor. Trump was likely referring to information that former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden leaked four years ago, which revealed that the Obama administration had listened in on Merkels cell phone conversations.

Santorum also took a swipe Friday at Trumps reading material and his dependence on the media, rather than government experts.

Id like to see the president come out there and talk about what he knows, not what hes read in the paper, Santorum explained. When youre the president of the United States, the assumption is that you have better information than whats in The National Enquirer or even The New York Times.