--- title: Donald Trump Wiretapping: Republicans Abandon Claim description: Top Republicans are backing away from President Trump's claim that Barack Obama wiretapped him during the campaign. canonical: https://time.com/4705124/donald-trump-wiretapping-republicans/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-17T15:00:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T07:20:52.735Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Is Now Completely Isolated In His Unfounded Wiretap Claim og:description: "We see no evidence of that." og:url: https://time.com/4705124/donald-trump-wiretapping-republicans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc78c1771b8fbde3c/6988be9bf887dc56afe99729/gettyimages-653565062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3200 og:image:height: 1800 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-TRUMP-AUTO og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Is Now Completely Isolated In His Unfounded Wiretap Claim twitter:description: "We see no evidence of that." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc78c1771b8fbde3c/6988be9bf887dc56afe99729/gettyimages-653565062.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Is Now Completely Isolated In His Unfounded Wiretap Claim > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=5fe2ab4d-6b13-408d-8245-b96909ad8c1e&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Sean Spicer Comments on Wiretapping Allegations [Watch (HLS stream): Sean Spicer Comments on Wiretapping Allegations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Emrptahy.m3u8) (0:54)  _Published 2017-03-17. Press Secretary Sean Spicer provides comments to the White House press pool on President Trump's wiretapping allegations._  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 17, 2017 3:00 PM UTC  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Mar 17, 2017 3:00 PM UTC When President Trump accused Barack Obama of wiretapping him when he was a candidate, Obama [denied it](http://time.com/4691226/barack-obama-president-donald-trump-wiretap/?iid=sr-link2) and Democrats criticized him for levying the claim without evidence. Now, even Trump’s allies are backing away from the accusation. Although the White House is [standing by](http://time.com/4704922/white-house-trump-wiretap-evidence/?iid=sr-link3) the claim, key Republican leaders are breaking with the President and mounting pressure for Trump to retract the statement. Here’s a look at the top Republicans who have distanced themselves from Trump on the issue. **Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.):** “At least so far with respect to our intelligence community, no such wiretap existed,” the House Speaker [said Thursday](https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/03/16/paul-ryan-on-president-trumps-obama-surveillance-allegation-no-such-wiretap-existed/21898519/). “We see no evidence of that.” **Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.):** The Senate Intelligence Committee chairman delivered a joint statement with the panel’s top Democrat Thursday, which said, “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.” **Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.):** “I don’t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower,” the House Intelligence Committee chairman [said](http://time.com/4702368/trump-wiretap-no-evidence-house-intel-chair/?iid=sr-link1) at a press conference Wednesday. Referencing Trump’s original claims on Twitter, Nunes added, “Are you going to take the tweets literally? And if you are, then clearly the president was wrong.” **Attorney General Jeff Sessions:** “Look, the answer is no,” the Sessions [said](http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/15/politics/jeff-sessions-donald-trump-wiretapping/) Wednesday when asked whether he had given Trump any reason “to believe that he was wiretapped by the previous Administration.” **Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.):** “We’ll hold up the deputy attorney general’s nomination until Congress is provided with information to finally clear the air as to whether or not there was ever a warrant issued against the Trump campaign,” Graham [said](http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/324033-graham-well-stall-doj-nominee-if-fbi-doesnt-comply-on-wiretaps) on NBC Wednesday, jumping off Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley’s [saying](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/03/14/senate-judiciary-chairman-no-deputy-ag-vote-until-we-get-an-fbi-briefing-on-russia/?utm%5Fterm=.86d9e9c25bce) that the committee would hold up the nomination until it received an FBI briefing on ties between the Trump Administration and Russia. Graham also threatened to subpoena the Justice Department for any evidence wiretapping warrants or applications. **Mike Pence:** On March 8, Trump’s own vice president shied away from defending his 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,” Pence [said](http://time.com/4696515/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretap-mike-pence/?iid=sr-link10) when WEWS asked him whether he believed Obama wiretapped Trump Tower. ## Transcript Last on Fox News on March 14, Judge Andrew Napolitano made the following statement. Quote, three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went out side the chain of command. He didn't use the NSA, he didn't use the CIA, he didn't use the FBI, and he didn't use the Department of Justice. He used GCHQ. What is that? It's the initials for the British intelligence spying agency. They show simply by having two people saying to them the president needs transcripts Of conversations involving candidate Trump's conversations involving President Donald Trump, he's able to get it and there's no American fingerprints on this. Putting published accounts and common sense together, this leads to a lot. All we're doing is literally reading off what other stations and people have reported. And I think that casts into concern some of the activities that may have occurred During the 16th election. Were not casting judgement on that. I think the idea is to say, that if these organizations, these individuals came to these conclusions. 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