--- title: Donald Trump: James Clapper Says No Wiretap of Trump Tower description: Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said there was no wiretap of Trump Tower during the election canonical: https://time.com/4691286/james-clapper-donald-trump-barack-obama-wire-tap/ author: Mahita Gajanan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-05T16:22:51.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:40:09.944Z article:section: Politics og:title: Former U.S. Intelligence Chief James Clapper Denies Wiretap of Trump Tower og:description: "I can deny it" og:url: https://time.com/4691286/james-clapper-donald-trump-barack-obama-wire-tap/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c54b595104ddef6/6988bd057cdbac8fe5d575a9/james-clapper.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Top Intelligence Officials Testify To Senate Committee On Hacking By Russia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former U.S. Intelligence Chief James Clapper Denies Wiretap of Trump Tower twitter:description: "I can deny it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c54b595104ddef6/6988bd057cdbac8fe5d575a9/james-clapper.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former U.S. Intelligence Chief James Clapper Denies Wiretap of Trump Tower > 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 [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Mar 5, 2017 4:22 PM UTC  Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan (L-R) testify before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill January 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan (L-R) testify before the Senate (Select) Intelligence Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill January 10, 2017 in Washington, DC. Joe Raedle—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Mar 5, 2017 4:22 PM UTC Former Director of National Intelligence [James Clapper](http://time.com/4632743/james-clapper-donald-trump-russia/) denied in an interview Sunday President Trump’s claims that there was a court-ordered wiretap of Trump Tower prior to the 2016 election. Clapper, who served as the head of the intelligence agency under former President Barack Obama, said he would have known about a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court Act (FISA) order if one existed, he told [NBC’s _Meet the Press_](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/former-dni-james-clapper-i-can-deny-wiretap-trump-tower-n729261). “There was no such wiretap activity mounted against the president, the president-elect at the time, or as a candidate, or against his campaign,” Clapper told NBC’s Chuck Todd. Todd pressed him to confirm or deny the President’s claims. “I can deny it,” Clapper said. > [](https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/838400609506058240) Clapper said he would “certainly hope” that he and his agency would have been in the loop about a FISA order, though he added, “I can’t speak for other authorized entities in the government or a state or local entity.” His comments followed Trump’s allegations in a series of tweets Saturday that Obama had bypassed a court rejection to [wiretap Trump Tower](http://time.com/4691226/barack-obama-president-donald-trump-wiretap/). The White House on Sunday [demanded](http://time.com/4691279/white-house-trump-obama-wire-tap/) Congress probe whether Obama abused executive branch powers during the 2016 election. Obama has denied the accusation and said through a spokesman that Trump’s claim was “simply false.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4691286/james-clapper-donald-trump-barack-obama-wire-tap/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4691286/james-clapper-donald-trump-barack-obama-wire-tap/"},"headline":"Former U.S. Intelligence Chief James Clapper Denies Wiretap of Trump Tower","datePublished":"2017-03-05T16:22:51.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:40:09.944Z","description":"\"I can deny it\"","url":"https://time.com/4691286/james-clapper-donald-trump-barack-obama-wire-tap/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c54b595104ddef6/6988bd057cdbac8fe5d575a9/james-clapper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c54b595104ddef6/6988bd057cdbac8fe5d575a9/james-clapper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Top Intelligence Officials Testify To Senate Committee On Hacking By Russia","caption":"Top Intelligence Officials Testify To Senate Committee On Hacking By Russia","creditText":"Joe Raedle—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/4691286/james-clapper-donald-trump-barack-obama-wire-tap/","name":"Former U.S. Intelligence Chief James Clapper Denies Wiretap of Trump Tower"}}]}] ```