--- 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 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=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Says President Trump Stands by Wiretapping Claims > 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. ## 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.” ## Transcript As I told you last week about the issue with the President talking about tapping Trump Tower, that evidence still remains the same, that we don't have any evidence that took place. And in fact, I don't believe just in the last week of time, the people we've talked to, I don't think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower. However, as I expressed last week and I remain even more concerned about this which are two fold. One, the incident with collection of Americans that were possibly tied to the Trump campaign that could have been leaked similar to General Flynn. And second, the unmasking of American's names [ INAUDIBLE ] Potentially for political purposes. Which, we're continuing to ask more about that. Mr. [ UNKNOWN ] and I are sending a letter today to Director Comey, Pompeo, and Admiral Rogers, asking for the total number of names that were unmasked over the course of the last six months. I want to. I join in saying that today I see no evidence of that supports the claim that President Trump made that his predecessor had wire tapped his associates at Trump Towers. 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