Here's how Team Obama reacted to Trump's wiretap claim

 

Story highlights

 

• A former Obama spokesperson calls Trump's allegation "simply false"
• James Clapper denied the FBI could have tapped Trump's phones through a FISA court order

Washington (CNN)Former White House officials are strongly refuting President Donald Trump's stunning allegation that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped his phones at Trump Tower ahead of the 2016 election.

Although Obama has yet to respond to the claim himself, a spokesman to Obama called "any suggestion" that Obama or any White House official ordered surveillance against Trump "simply false."

"A cardinal rule of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice," Kevin Lewis said in a statement early Saturday afternoon. "As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false."