--- title: Donald Trump Stands by Wiretapping Claims description: Spicer's comments came right after two ranking members of the Senate committee said they had no evidence to support these claims. canonical: https://time.com/4704515/donald-trump-wiretap-sean-spicer/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-16T20:31:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:54:33.015Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Says Trump Stands by Wiretapping Claims og:description: Even as members of Congress say there's no evidence. og:url: https://time.com/4704515/donald-trump-wiretap-sean-spicer/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ed591e5c3e4765d/6988bec0e20a872c61a947f9/spicer-wh-briefing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: OMB Director Mick Mulvaney And White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer Brief The Media At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Says Trump Stands by Wiretapping Claims twitter:description: Even as members of Congress say there's no evidence. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ed591e5c3e4765d/6988bec0e20a872c61a947f9/spicer-wh-briefing.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Says President Trump Stands by Wiretapping Claims ## Video: House Intel Chair Says There's No Evidence of Trump's Wiretapping Allegations [Watch (HLS stream): House Intel Chair Says There's No Evidence of Trump's Wiretapping Allegations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bX8LNfdQ.m3u8) (1:22)  _Published 2017-03-15. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said on Wednesday that the committee has seen no evidence supporting President Trump's claim that Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower last year._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 16, 2017 8:31 PM UTC  White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holds the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on March 16, 2017, in Washington, D.C. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer holds the daily press briefing in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on March 16, 2017, in Washington, D.C.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 16, 2017 8:31 PM UTC [White House spokesman Sean Spicer ](http://time.com/4698615/sean-spicer-upside-down-flag-pin/)said Thursday that [President Trump](http://time.com/money/4703965/president-trump-work-study-jobs/) has not backed down from his claims that [former President Obama ](http://time.com/4702883/barack-obama-2017-ncaa-bracket/)wiretapped Trump Tower, despite several members of Congressional intelligence committees saying there is no evidence. “He stands by it,” Spicer told reporters at his daily briefing. Shortly before Spicer’s briefing, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) released a statement there was no available evidence for these claims. “Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016,” the two senators said. On Wednesday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said [his committee](http://time.com/4702368/trump-wiretap-no-evidence-house-intel-chair/) had not seen any evidence either. But that same day, Trump told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, “wiretap covers a lot of different things. I think you’re going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4704515/donald-trump-wiretap-sean-spicer/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4704515/donald-trump-wiretap-sean-spicer/"},"headline":"White House Says President Trump Stands by Wiretapping Claims","datePublished":"2017-03-16T20:31:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:54:33.015Z","description":"Spicer's comments came right after two ranking members of the Senate committee said they had no evidence to support these claims.","url":"https://time.com/4704515/donald-trump-wiretap-sean-spicer/","keywords":["White House","Barack Obama","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0ed591e5c3e4765d/6988bec0e20a872c61a947f9/spicer-wh-briefing.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/blt0ed591e5c3e4765d/6988bec0e20a872c61a947f9/spicer-wh-briefing.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"OMB Director Mick Mulvaney And White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer Brief The Media At The White House","caption":"OMB Director Mick Mulvaney And White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer Brief The Media At The White House","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/4704515/donald-trump-wiretap-sean-spicer/","name":"White House Says President Trump Stands by Wiretapping Claims"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"House Intel Chair Says There's No Evidence of Trump's Wiretapping Allegations","description":"House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said on Wednesday that the committee has seen no evidence supporting President Trump's claim that Barack Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower last year.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/bX8LNfdQ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-03-15T16:39:39.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/bX8LNfdQ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4704515/donald-trump-wiretap-sean-spicer/","duration":"PT1M22S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4704515/donald-trump-wiretap-sean-spicer/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```