When pressed by ABC’s Martha Raddatz on Sunday, Josh Earnest opted not to categorically “deny that the Obama Justice Department” monitored Trump Tower during the 2016 election.

President Obama’s former press secretary opened his interview by calling reports that “President Obama ordered a wiretap” false, yet backpedaled when the “This Week” guest host asked him to “categorically deny” that President Trump’s campaign headquarters was under surveillance.

WATCH:

After Earnest dodged the question, Raddatz repeated it a second time.

“Here’s the simple answer to that question, Martha,” Earnest finally answered. “I don’t know, and it’s not because I’m no longer in government.”

“The fact is, even when I was in government, I was not in a position of being regularly briefed on an FBI criminal or counterintelligence investigation.”

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