The Department of Justice asked for more time "to review the request in compliance with the governing legal authorities and to determine what if any responsive documents may exist." | J. David Ake/AP Photo DOJ asks for more time to address Trump's wiretapping claim

The Justice Department is asking the House Intelligence Committee for more time to respond to a request intended to clear up President Donald Trump’s claim that President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in the run-up to the 2016 election.

The intelligence panel had asked the department to respond by Monday to a request for information on possible surveillance on Trump or his campaign aides.


“This afternoon, the Department of Justice placed calls to representatives of the Chairman and Ranking Member of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to ask for additional time to review the request in compliance with the governing legal authorities and to determine what if any responsive documents may exist,” a Justice Department spokeswoman, Sarah Isgur Flores, said in a statement Monday evening.

A congressional aide said the intelligence panel was seeking information such as Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant applications “that would indicate surveillance had been conducted on Trump or his associates during the campaign.”

“We asked to receive that information by today, but we haven’t got anything back yet,” the aide said earlier on Monday, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Once we get something, we’d like to make public as much of it as possible, though that will depend on the classification level of the information we get back.”

The House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Rep Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), is conducting a wide-ranging probe into Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election.

The panel’s top Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, said last week he believed Trump’s wiretapping claims would soon be put “to rest once and for all” — suggesting this could happen at a public hearing on March 20 where FBI Director James Comey is among the current and former officials invited to testify.

Schiff said he had not “seen any evidence whatsoever” to back up Trump’s claims.

Committee spokesman Jack Langer said the panel would extend the deadline to the day of the hearing.

"If the committee does not receive a response by then, the Committee will ask for this information during the March 20 hearing and may resort to a compulsory process if our questions continue to go unanswered," Langer added.