"He doesn't really think that President Obama went up and tapped his phone personally," Spicer said.

FBI chief James Comey reportedly urged the Justice Department to denounce Trump's claim because of a lack of evidence, but the department has not done so. Instead, the Justice Department requested on Monday more time to turn over evidence relating to Trump's claim to the House Intelligence Committee, which initially set a Monday deadline for that.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer on Tuesday said Trump is "extremely confident" that the Justice Department will produce evidence to back up his assertion, adding that the U.S. president believes the evidence will "vindicate him".

However, Spicer also suggested one day earlier that Trump means general surveillance when tweeting his Obama wiretapping accusation.

"The President used the word wiretaps in quotes to mean, broadly, surveillance and other activities," said Spicer.

On March 4, Trump claimed in a tweet storm that Obama had wiretapped Trump Tower before his election victory, offering no evidence.

"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!" Trump tweeted.

"Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!" he added in subsequent tweets.

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