White House wants probe of its own wiretap allegations

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders called for a congressional investigation of allegations that the former Obama administration ordered wiretaps of Trump Tower during the last presidential campaign. But Sanders refused to say where the current president got his information or why he blamed the former president.

Sanders says on ABC's "This Week": "If they're going to investigate Russia ties, let's include this as part of it. That's what we're asking."

Sanders would not elaborate on what the president meant, saying his tweets speak for themselves. She also would not say exactly where the president got his information.

Without being specific, Sanders says Trump is "going off information that he's seen that have led him to believe that. ... And if it is, this is the greatest overreach and the greatest abuse of power that I think we've ever seen and a huge attack on democracy itself."

The White House says it wants the congressional committees that are investigating Russian interference in last year's U.S. presidential election to also examine whether "executive branch investigative powers" were abused in 2016.

That's a reference to President Donald Trump's claim in a series of Saturday tweets that former President Barack Obama had telephones at Trump Tower wiretapped.

Trump has offered no evidence or details to support his claim, and Obama's spokesman has denied it.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer says there'll be no further White House comment until the committees conclude their work.