House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes says he doesn't believe "there was an actual tap of Trump Tower," contrary to claims made by President Trump.
The top Democrat on the House committee, Adam Schiff, said he's seen "no evidence whatsoever" that supports Trump's claim.
Trump alleged that his predecessor, President Barack Obama, tapped his phone at Trump Tower in a pair of tweets earlier this month.
Trump has not produced any evidence to support his claim.
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
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https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/837996746236182529?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In Wednesday's press conference, Nunes added: "President Obama wouldn't physically go over and wiretap Trump Tower. So now you have to decide, as I mentioned to [the press] last week, are you going to take the tweets literally? And if you are then clearly the president was wrong. But if you're not going to take the tweets literally and there is a concern that the president has about other people, other surveillance activities looking at him and his associates — either appropriately or inappropriately — we want to find that out."
FBI Director James Comey is likely to face questions about whether the agency got a warrant to wiretap Trump Tower at a House committee hearing on Monday.
Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is also expecting some answers. In an interview on NBC's Today Show, Graham threatened to subpoena the Department of Justice to force officials to reveal whether they have been investigating the Trump campaign.
Graham, who chairs the Senate panel, said the Senate will also hold up the nomination of Rod Rosenstein, Trump's pick for deputy attorney general, until Congress is provided with information "to finally clear the air as to whether there was ever a warrant issued against the Trump campaign."
Graham and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the subcommittee's ranking Democrat, sent a letter to Comey two weeks ago asking him to provide the information by Wednesday.
The former president's office has denied the charge. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said he knew of no warrant to wiretap Trump.
Graham says he knows of no evidence of such a warrant, but added that he's now "getting concerned, because it's taking so long to answer my letter."
Intelligence officials have concluded that Russia employed cyberattacks during the presidential campaign intended to hurt the Hillary Clinton campaign and aid Trump.
Nunes said it's possible that conversations Trump campaign officials had with Russia were captured in surveillance of Russian officials.
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