--- title: DOJ Says No Evidence Barack Obama Wiretapped Donald Trump description: There is no evidence Barack Obama ever wire-tapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election, the Department of Justice said in a court filing. canonical: https://time.com/4926141/barack-obama-donald-trump-wiretap-doj/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-03T16:30:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:15:57.498Z article:section: Politics og:title: No Evidence Obama Ever Wiretapped Trump Tower, DOJ Says og:description: "Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps" og:url: https://time.com/4926141/barack-obama-donald-trump-wiretap-doj/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ff08c1dc9e4b235/6988dc4ae76ad2071162f027/trump-north-korea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4928 og:image:height: 2772 og:image:alt: US-JAPAN-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-ABE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: No Evidence Obama Ever Wiretapped Trump Tower, DOJ Says twitter:description: "Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ff08c1dc9e4b235/6988dc4ae76ad2071162f027/trump-north-korea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Justice Department Confirms There is No Evidence Barack Obama Wiretapped Trump Tower > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### 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 [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 3, 2017 4:30 PM UTC  President Donald Trump in February after North Korea reportedly fired a ballistic missile. President Donald Trump in February after North Korea reportedly fired a ballistic missile.Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Sep 3, 2017 4:30 PM UTC There is no evidence that Barack Obama ever [wiretapped Trump Tower](http://time.com/4762517/donald-trump-barack-obama-wiretapping-interview-cbs/) during the 2016 election, the Department of Justice said in a court filing on Friday. “Both FBI and NSD \[Department of Justice’s National Security Division\] confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets,” the DOJ [wrote in a summary judgment court filing](https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3985960/DOJ-Motion-for-Summary-Judgment-in-Trump-Tower.pdf) on Sept. 1\. “FBI again confirmed that Case 1:17-cv-00718-RCL Document 12 Filed 09/01/17 Page 4 of 39 they do not have any such records by consulting with personnel knowledgeable about Director Comey’s statements and the surveillance activities of the FBI. ” On March 4, just six weeks after he was inaugurated, Trump issued a series of early morning tweets claiming that Obama had wiretapped Trump tower before the 2016 election—but had not found anything. Although Trump decried the move as “McCarthyism,” he did not provide any evidence it had happened. Former President Obama’s spokesperson was quick to [refute the claims](http://time.com/4691226/barack-obama-president-donald-trump-wiretap/) at the time, stating “neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.” Leading Congressional Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, also said there was [no supporting evidence.](http://time.com/4705124/donald-trump-wiretapping-republicans/) The most recent claims from the Justice Department confirming a lack of evidence are in response to a lawsuit filed by American Oversight, a non-partisan oversight group who had filed a Freedom of Information Act to the FBI and the DOJ”s National Security Division for all records pertaining to this claim. Former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired in May, said during his congressional testimony in March that while he was still in his position at the FBI, he had no information to support this claim about wiretapping. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4926141/barack-obama-donald-trump-wiretap-doj/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4926141/barack-obama-donald-trump-wiretap-doj/"},"headline":"Justice Department Confirms There is No Evidence Barack Obama Wiretapped Trump Tower","datePublished":"2017-09-03T16:30:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:15:57.498Z","description":"\"Both FBI and NSD confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps\"","url":"https://time.com/4926141/barack-obama-donald-trump-wiretap-doj/","keywords":["lawsuits","Barack Obama","White House","Donald Trump","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7ff08c1dc9e4b235/6988dc4ae76ad2071162f027/trump-north-korea.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/blt7ff08c1dc9e4b235/6988dc4ae76ad2071162f027/trump-north-korea.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-JAPAN-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-ABE","caption":"US-JAPAN-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP-ABE","creditText":"Nicholas Kamm—AFP/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/lawsuits/","name":"lawsuits"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4926141/barack-obama-donald-trump-wiretap-doj/","name":"Justice Department Confirms There is No Evidence Barack Obama Wiretapped Trump Tower"}}]}] ```