Justice asks for more time on Trump wiretap claim

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Comey's effort, pursued through intermediaries, was followed by statements from former director of national intelligence James Clapper, who flatly denied such surveillance efforts.

In recent days, Republican and Democratic members of Congress, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have stepped forward, indicating that they knew of no evidence to back Trump's assertions.

White House officials, meanwhile, have sought to shift the terms of Trump's claim, arguing that "wire tapping" could cover a number of forms of surveillance.

Neither Trump nor his aides have provided evidence for any of this, saying that is the purpose of the congressional investigation.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer cited news reports "about other aspects of surveillance that have occurred." Spicer said there have been "numerous reports from a variety of outlets over the last couple months that seemed to indicate that there has been different types of surveillance that occurred during the 2016 election."

"Is it legal for a sitting President to be 'wire tapping' a race for president prior to an election?" Trump said in one of his March 4 tweets. "Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!"

McCain told CNN over the weekend that Trump needs to provide such evidence.

"So I think the president has one of two choices," he said, "either retract or to provide the information that the American people deserve — because if his predecessor violated the law, President Obama violated the law, we've got a serious issue here to say the least."

Presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway told CNN that "I'm not Inspector Gadget" and "I'm not in the job of having evidence. That's what investigations are for."