There has been no evidence to support Donald Trump's claims that the Obama administration wiretapped him, Republican and Democratic leaders of the House Intelligence Committee have said.

In a tweet made at the start of March, President Trump accused former President Obama of tapping his phone during the election, even going as far as to compare the incident to the notorious Watergate scandal of the 1980s.



'No evidence' has been seen



Despite this, GOP Rep. Devin Nunes and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff have said they are still waiting for evidence to support this claim from the Justice Department.

The government-run body has until March 20th to comply with this request, which was submitted after Trump's claims were made at the start of March.

Schiff has said that both of them are prepared to take any necessary steps to compel the Justice Department into delivering evidence if it refuses to comply.

"As I told you last week, in regard to the President talking about tapping Trump Tower. That evidence still remains the same. We don't have any evidence that it took place," Nunes said.

"And I don't believe, having spoken to people just in the last week, I don't believe there was an actual tap of Trump Tower.

"Now you have to decide if you are going to take the tweets literally? If you are, clearly the president is wrong," Nunes added.

Trump has not provided any evidence to support these claims but instead asked Congress to start an investigation.

James Clapper, who was President Obama's director of national intelligence, said no activity matching Trump's claims had happened. However, this has not calmed suspicions that communications from Trump Towers in New York were monitored during Obama's presidency.

Both Clapper and the head of the National Security Agency will be called to testify at a public hearing on March 20th, though Nunes has said he doesn't believe there was a tap of Trump Tower.



Missed deadlines



The Justice Department has already missed its first deadline to submit evidence to the House Committee, and now have until the public hearing to supply the necessary information.

Speaking at a news conference, Nunes and Schiff both confirmed that neither of them has seen any evidence to suggest Trump Tower was wiretapped during the campaign. However, Nunes did say communications from any American could be picked up through ongoing monitoring of foreigners.



International battle



FBI director James Comey has apparently called on the US Justice Department to publicly refute Trump's accusations. Comey is also expected to announce whether the President is under FBI investigation because of his links to claims that there was Russian interference in the election.

Both of these matters have called many people to question the truthfulness of Trump's claims about the Obama administration.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions has also said he never gave Trump any reason to believe his campaign was wiretapped, when asked about it in a recent news conference. However, because he was an active party in the presidential campaign, he's not been allowed any involvement in the wiretapping investigations.



Republican tensions



Some key Republicans in Congress have already expressed their concerns about the FBI's activity, as they've not seen any evidence of the wiretapping claims made by the President.

There have been various tensions in the party, as Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Chuck Grassley threatened to block Trump's nominee for deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein until they get clarity from the FBI in a briefing.

Grassley holds a powerful position in the Republican party and could have a significant influence on proceedings. He has expressed his frustration with the FBI as they haven't been as forthcoming with information as Congress would like.

The Chairman even went as far as to say his committee hasn't been given the respect it deserves.



Clarification from Trump?



There have been various discussions about what the President could have meant by his tweet, and what could be considered 'wiretapping'. Trump himself, has suggested that there could be a broader meaning to his allegations.

Speaking to Fox News, he said "wiretap covers a lot of different things" but seemed to be remaining confident that his claims would be proven right.

"I think you're going to find some very interesting items coming to the forefront over the next two weeks," Trump added.

However, it's unclear whether Republicans will accept Trump's efforts to redefine his allegations. This will be one of many topics of discussion aired by the intelligence committee on Monday.

