--- title: Mike Pence Deflects on Donald Trump Wiretap Claim description: Mike Pence is not explicitly backing Donald Trump on his unfounded and widely disputed accusation that Obama wiretapped him canonical: https://time.com/4696515/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-mike-pence/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-09T13:07:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:33.366Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mike Pence Won’t Say if He Believes Trump’s Wiretapping Claim og:description: The Vice President deflected when asked about the unsubstantiated allegations og:url: https://time.com/4696515/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-mike-pence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62b353cd8e7883dc/6988bdb60b72e3033e6ece6d/mike-pence-donald-trump-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2454 og:image:height: 1380 og:image:alt: Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana and Vice Presidential Candidate, with Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention: Day Three og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mike Pence Won’t Say if He Believes Trump’s Wiretapping Claim twitter:description: The Vice President deflected when asked about the unsubstantiated allegations twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62b353cd8e7883dc/6988bdb60b72e3033e6ece6d/mike-pence-donald-trump-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mike Pence Won’t Say if He Believes President Trump’s Wiretapping Claim > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=b52664ce-705c-4b42-9746-d428a30e0f35&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Obama Spokesman Says President Trump's Wiretapping Claim Is 'Simply False' [Watch (HLS stream): Obama Spokesman Says President Trump's Wiretapping Claim Is 'Simply False'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pLVPzBqw.m3u8) (1:32)  _Published 2017-03-04. Former president Barack Obama responded to President Donald Trump's accusation that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower phones while still in office._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 9, 2017 1:07 PM UTC  Then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump stands with Mike Pence at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Then-GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump stands with Mike Pence at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 9, 2017 1:07 PM UTC [President Donald Trump ](http://time.com/4696428/donald-trump-war-state-government/) ignited controversy last weekend when he tweeted that then-President Barack Obama had [wiretapped Trump Tower](http://time.com/4691679/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-whitehouse/) during the 2016 campaign. But his top elected deputy, [Vice President Mike Pence](http://time.com/4681507/conservatives-cpac-trump-pence/), is not explicitly backing him on that unfounded and widely disputed accusation. In an interview with Cleveland television [_WEWS_](http://www.newsnet5.com/news/political/did-obama-wiretap-trump-tower-vice-president-pence-deflects-question-from-news-5)_,_ Pence declined to answer directly when asked if he believed his boss’ claim. “What I can say is that the President and our Administration are very confident that the congressional committees in the House and Senate that are examining issues surrounding the last election, the run-up to the last election, will do that in a thorough and equitable way,” he [told _WEWS_](http://www.newsnet5.com/news/political/did-obama-wiretap-trump-tower-vice-president-pence-deflects-question-from-news-5). Pence then pivoted to stressing that the White House’s focus is on domestic policies for job creation and improving health care. Here is the full transcript of the exchange, courtesy of [_WEWS Cleveland_.](http://www.newsnet5.com/news/political/did-obama-wiretap-trump-tower-vice-president-pence-deflects-question-from-news-5) **John Kosich:** The president has alleged that the former president committed a felony in wiretapping Trump Tower. Yes or no — do you believe that President Obama did that? **Vice President Pence:** Well what I can say is that the president and our administration are very confident that the congressional committees in the House and Senate that are examining issues surrounding the last election, the run-up to the last election, will do that in a thorough and equitable way. They’ll look at those issues, they’ll look at other issues that have been raised. But rest assured our focus is right where the American people are focused and that’s on bringing more jobs here to Ohio, creating a better healthcare system built on consumer choice. ## Transcript [ SOUND ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4696515/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-mike-pence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4696515/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-mike-pence/"},"headline":"Mike Pence Won’t Say if He Believes President Trump’s Wiretapping Claim","datePublished":"2017-03-09T13:07:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:33.366Z","description":"The Vice President deflected when asked about the unsubstantiated allegations","url":"https://time.com/4696515/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-mike-pence/","keywords":["White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62b353cd8e7883dc/6988bdb60b72e3033e6ece6d/mike-pence-donald-trump-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt62b353cd8e7883dc/6988bdb60b72e3033e6ece6d/mike-pence-donald-trump-rnc.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana and Vice Presidential Candidate, with Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention: Day Three","caption":"Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana and Vice Presidential Candidate, with Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention: Day Three","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—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/4696515/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-mike-pence/","name":"Mike Pence Won’t Say if He Believes President Trump’s Wiretapping Claim"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Obama Spokesman Says President Trump's Wiretapping Claim Is 'Simply False'","description":"Former president Barack Obama responded to President Donald Trump's accusation that Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower phones while still in office.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/pLVPzBqw/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-03-04T22:46:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pLVPzBqw.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4696515/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-mike-pence/","duration":"PT1M32S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4696515/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-mike-pence/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```