>But the illegal wiretap claim and Caldwell’s denials fueled a breakdown in trust between the Pentagon and the White House, where the Trump advisers tracking the investigation have privately suggested they no longer have any idea about who or what to believe.

If your leader is happy to lie about just about anything as long as it benefits them, and you bring like minded people onboard, isn't this just a natural consequence?

I would tend to think that the government setting up illegal wiretaps on private citizens would be worse than doing the same for citizens in public offices likely holding TS-SCI clearances, and possibly even asking for those people to sign away their rights to privacy with the DoJ or pentagon in this administration.

OTOH, if you have placed loyalists in the NSA willing to do the dirty work under the prospect of a pardon, well you now have a weaponized NSA -- and illegal wiretaps are the least of the problem.