No evidence to back Trump spy claims: Intel chairman

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - There is no evidence to corroborate President Donald Trump's claim that his Manhattan tower was tapped by his predecessor, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Wednesday.

"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 that took place," Rep. Devin Nunes told reporters on Capitol Hill.

"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," he added.

The repudiation of Trump's claims comes just two days after the Justice Department was expected to submit evidence of the claimed surveillance to Nunes' committee. As the deadline approached, the department requested an extension to March 20, which was granted.

FBI Director James Comey will testify before the intelligence committee on that date and is expected to answer questions regarding Trump's allegations.

The White House said Tuesday that Trump is "extremely confident" that the Justice Department will produce evidence to substantiate his claims.

"I think he feels very confident that what will ultimately come of this will vindicate him," spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters.

In a series of tweets at the beginning of the month, Trump said he "just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory.

"How low has President Obama gone to tapp (sic) my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!" he added in another post.