--- title: President Trump Repeats Wiretapping Claim description: "At least we have something in common, perhaps," Trump told a German reporter in a briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. canonical: https://time.com/4705639/trump-wiretap-obama-update/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-17T19:20:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:54:39.450Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Trump Repeats Wiretapping Claim as He Stands by Angela Merkel og:description: "At least we have something in common, perhaps." og:url: https://time.com/4705639/trump-wiretap-obama-update/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42ceb96134d28f44/6988bee04dd215319befe2b2/trump-merkel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: US-GERMANY-TRUMP-MERKEL og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Trump Repeats Wiretapping Claim as He Stands by Angela Merkel twitter:description: "At least we have something in common, perhaps." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42ceb96134d28f44/6988bee04dd215319befe2b2/trump-merkel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Repeats Wiretapping Claim as He Stands by Angela Merkel  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 17, 2017 7:20 PM UTC  Angela Merkel speaks as President Trump listens during a press conference in the East Room of the White House on March 17, 2017 in Washington, DC. Angela Merkel speaks as President Trump listens during a press conference in the East Room of the White House on March 17, 2017 in Washington, DC.Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 17, 2017 7:20 PM UTC [President Trump](http://time.com/4705544/trump-merkel-meeting-white-house/) repeated that he might have been [wiretapped by Barack Obama](http://time.com/4705124/donald-trump-wiretapping-republicans/) Friday, even as he held a White House claim that British intelligence was involved at arm’s length. Speaking at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump [alluded to reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/10/23/obamas-phone-call-with-angela-merkel-sounds-like-it-was-horribly-awkward/?utm%5Fterm=.0233575497aa) that the United States monitored Merkel’s cell phone under the Obama Administration. “As far as wiretapping by this last Administration — at least we have something in common, perhaps,” he said. But Trump also tried to distance himself from White House allegations that the British spy service GCHQ might have wiretapped Trump at Obama’s behest — something the [GCHQ called “nonsense”](http://time.com/4704774/donald-trump-barack-obama-gchq/) in a rare public statement. After noting that he “very seldom” regrets tweets, Trump argued that the White House was only repeating something Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano had said. “We said nothing,” he said. “All we did was quote a very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying it on television. I didn’t make an opinion on it. That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox. So you shouldn’t be talking to me you should be talking to Fox.” White House spokesman Sean Spicer added that he was simply “reading media accounts” when he made the claim about British intelligence. “I don’t think we regret anything,” he told reporters Friday. “We literally listed a litany of media reports that are in the public domain.” Several ranking members of both the House and Senate Intelligence committees have also said there is no evidence for Trump’s claims. _With Zeke J. Miller_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4705639/trump-wiretap-obama-update/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4705639/trump-wiretap-obama-update/"},"headline":"President Trump Repeats Wiretapping Claim as He Stands by Angela Merkel","datePublished":"2017-03-17T19:20:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:54:39.450Z","description":"\"At least we have something in common, perhaps,\" Trump told a German reporter in a briefing with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.","url":"https://time.com/4705639/trump-wiretap-obama-update/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","angela merkel","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt42ceb96134d28f44/6988bee04dd215319befe2b2/trump-merkel.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/blt42ceb96134d28f44/6988bee04dd215319befe2b2/trump-merkel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-GERMANY-TRUMP-MERKEL","caption":"US-GERMANY-TRUMP-MERKEL","creditText":"Brendan Smialowski—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/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4705639/trump-wiretap-obama-update/","name":"President Trump Repeats Wiretapping Claim as He Stands by Angela Merkel"}}]}] ```