--- title: Donald Trump: Barack Obama Disputes Wiretap Claim description: Barack Obama responded to President Donald Trump's accusation of Obama ordering the wiretapping of Trump Tower phones while still in office canonical: https://time.com/4691226/barack-obama-president-donald-trump-wiretap/ author: Aric Jenkins article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-04T19:42:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:40:04.569Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Spokesman Says President Trump's Wiretapping Claim Is 'Simply False' og:description: The former president fired back at Trump's claim, which was made without evidence og:url: https://time.com/4691226/barack-obama-president-donald-trump-wiretap/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93fe0636057aff09/6988b681fb4eac1ec9890795/gettyimages-632231452.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama walk out prior to Obama's departure during the 2017 presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Spokesman Says President Trump's Wiretapping Claim Is 'Simply False' twitter:description: The former president fired back at Trump's claim, which was made without evidence twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93fe0636057aff09/6988b681fb4eac1ec9890795/gettyimages-632231452.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Spokesman Says President Trump's Wiretapping Claim Is 'Simply False' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Mar 4, 2017 7:42 PM UTC  President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama walk out prior to Obama's departure during the 2017 presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama walk out prior to Obama's departure during the 2017 presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. Pool/Getty Images by [Aric Jenkins](https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Mar 4, 2017 7:42 PM UTC Former president [Barack Obama](http://time.com/4653909/barack-obama-immigration-ban-protests/) responded to President Donald Trump’s [accusation that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower phones while still in office](http://fortune.com/2017/03/04/president-trump-obama-wiretapping-trump-tower/). “A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,” Obama spokesperson Kevin Lewis said in a statement on Saturday. “As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.” > [](https://twitter.com/KLewis44/status/838088430810718208) Earlier Saturday morning, Trump posted a series of tweets claiming that Obama in October sidestepped a court ruling to wiretap the then-presidential candidate’s phones on a level that was “Nixon/Watergate.” Trump did not include any evidence or links to back up his assertion. “I’d bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!” Trump tweeted just before 7 a.m. eastern. “How low has President Obama gone to tapp \[sic\] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!” the president added. > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837989835818287106) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837993273679560704) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837994257566863360) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837996746236182529) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4691226/barack-obama-president-donald-trump-wiretap/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4691226/barack-obama-president-donald-trump-wiretap/"},"headline":"Obama Spokesman Says President Trump's Wiretapping Claim Is 'Simply False'","datePublished":"2017-03-04T19:42:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:40:04.569Z","description":"The former president fired back at Trump's claim, which was made without evidence","url":"https://time.com/4691226/barack-obama-president-donald-trump-wiretap/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93fe0636057aff09/6988b681fb4eac1ec9890795/gettyimages-632231452.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93fe0636057aff09/6988b681fb4eac1ec9890795/gettyimages-632231452.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama walk out prior to Obama's departure during the 2017 presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC.","caption":"President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama walk out prior to Obama's departure during the 2017 presidential inauguration at the U.S. Capitol January 20, 2017 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4691226/barack-obama-president-donald-trump-wiretap/","name":"Obama Spokesman Says President Trump's Wiretapping Claim Is 'Simply False'"}}]}] ```