FBI Director James Comey has debunked President Donald Trump's explosive claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped him in the weeks before last year's presidential election.
At a hearing before the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Monday, Comey also confirmed that his agency is investigating whether Trump campaign aides criminally colluded with Russian interests to help him win.
"I have no information that supports (Trump's) tweets" claiming that Obama eavesdropped on him at his Trump Tower headquarters in New York, Comey said.
Despite that statement, White House spokesman Sean Spicer later said Trump will not withdraw his wiretapping allegation. "We've started a hearing, it's still ongoing," Spicer said. "There's a lot of areas that still need to be covered. There's a lot of information that still needs to be discussed."
Comey told the panel that because the counter-intelligence investigation of Russian efforts to interfere in the U.S. election is classified, "I cannot say more about what we are doing and whose conduct we are examining." He said congressional leaders have been briefed behind closed doors.
But Comey said he has been authorized by the Justice Department to confirm that the FBI probe "includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government, and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts."
Hours earlier, Trump derided any suggestion that his campaign colluded with Russian interests to help him win the White House, saying it was an excuse "made up" by Democrats for losing the election.