The American Department of Justice says it needs more time to respond to a request from lawmakers for evidence about President Donald Trump's allegation that he was wired tapped by Barack Obama.
The White House is now downplaying President Trump's tweets where he accused his predecessor of wiretapping. Photo: AFP
Today was supposed to be the deadline for such evidence to be handed over to the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee.
Mr Trump provided no evidence when, earlier this month, he accused Mr Obama of wiretapping his New York headquarters during the 2016 election campaign.
The Department has just announced that it has asked for more time to review the request and to determine what documents may exist.
Wiretap claims 'not meant literally'
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr Trump had broadly meant "surveillance and other activities" when he made the allegation in a tweet earlier this month.
He also suggested the president was not accusing his predecessor specifically.
In his tweet Mr Trump said: "Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory."
He added: "Is it legal for a sitting President to be 'wire tapping' a race for president?"
The White House asked Congress to examine the allegations as part of an investigation into alleged Russian meddling in last year's election.
"The president used the word wiretap in quotes to mean broadly surveillance and other activities," Mr Spicer told reporters.
"There's a whole host of tactics that can be used to monitor somebody either through wiretap or other ways," he added, without giving details.
Mr Spicer also suggested Mr Trump was referring to the actions of the Obama administration and not accusing the former president directly.
Earlier, Senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway said she did not have any evidence to back up the wiretapping claim but said there were "many ways to surveil each other now".
"You can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets - any number of ways... microwaves that turn into cameras. We know this is a fact of modern life," she told New Jersey's Bergen County Record.
- RNZ / BBC
