Asked in a press briefing on Monday about Donald Trump's explosive tweets earlier this month, which accused the Obama administration of wiretapping during the election campaign, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer attempted to walk back the accusations.
"The President used the word 'wiretaps' in quotes to mean, broadly, surveillance and other activities," Mr Spicer said.
"If you look at the president's tweet, he said very clearly, quote 'wiretapping', in quotes," he said, gesturing with air quotes to emphasise the point.
"He doesn't really think that President Obama went up and tapped his phone personally."
Donald Trump made the accusations in a series of tweets earlier in March, with the White House offering no evidence to back up the incendiary allegations.
At the time Mr Spicer was unable to clarify what the president meant by the tweet.
"I'm just going to let the tweet speak for itself," he told reporters earlier in March.
As has , President Trump's early morning tweets appeared to echo a story on right-wing website Breitbart.
Spicer: You can trust what Trump says 'if he's not joking'
President Obama and the former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, have both denied the allegations.
FBI Director James Comey reportedly asked the Justice Department to publicly refute the claims, which would also implicate the FBI in illegal activity.
The Justice Department has not obliged.
Former Republican presidential nominee and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John MCain on Sunday said the president should back up his claims.
“The president has one of two choices, either retract of provide the information that the American people deserve,” the senator .
“If his predecessor violated the law, President Obama violated the law, we have got a serious issue here, to say the least.”
Senator McCain said he had “no reason” to believe the charge was true.
In his latest press conference, Mr Spicer cited “substantial discussion” of the campaign surveillance in media reports as a basis for President Trump's claim.
“There's been reports in the New York Times and the BBC and other outlets about other aspects of surveillance that have occurred,” he said.
The refers to a Department of Justice request for a warrant to investigate Russian banks over suspected unlawful support for the Trump campaign.
The refers to concerns over intercepted communications between Russian officials and Trump associates, including his former campaign chairman.
Neither report alleges unlawful wiretapping at the direction of the White House.
“The president was very clear in his tweet that it was, you know, ‘wiretapping’. That spans a whole host of surveillance types of options,” Mr Spicer said.
Concerns over intelligence agencies and electronic surveillance have risen to prominence in the months since President Trump’s election.
Intelligence agencies are continuing to investigate alleged Russian intervention in the November elections, including potential links between the American adversary and “Trump associates”.
In February, President Trump requested the resignation of his National Security Adviser, Michael Flynn, following that intelligence officials had recorded conversations between Mr Flynn and the Russian ambassador prior to President Trump taking office.
The recordings reportedly contradicted official assertations that Mr Flynn had declined to discuss Russian sanctions in his conversations.
In January news broke that intelligence agencies had briefed Mr Trump on the existence of an uncorroborated dossier alleging that Russian intelligence on the then President-elect.
President Trump slammed the dossier as “phony”.
President Trump has repeatedly accused the media of fabricating sources, claiming the focus on Russia is an attempt by Clinton supporters to account for the Democrats’ surprise loss in November.
