White House counsellor Kellyanne Conway says she has no evidence to back Donald Trump’s claim that Barack Obama “wire-tapped” Trump Tower. Picture: AP Photo/Richard Drew

Instead, she suggested that enemies could potentially spy on the US president through other techniques — like putting hidden cameras in microwaves.

“Of course I don’t have any evidence for those allegations and that answer had nothing to do with what the President said last week,” Ms Conway told Good Morning America on Monday about Mr Trump’s wire-tapping claims.

She later tweeted that the administration is “pleased” with the ongoing congressional investigation and “will comment after.”

It comes after Ms Conway suggested that Trump Tower had been wire-tapped using technology like “microwaves that turn into cameras.”

Asked during an interview on Sunday about President Trump’s claim that former President Obama “wire-tapped” Trump Tower, Ms Conway said there are many ways to spy on somebody.

“You can surveil someone through their phones, certainly through their television sets — any number of different ways — microwaves that turn into cameras,” she said in an interview with the Bergen County Record .

In an interview with CNN, she tried to make light of her surveillance comments: “I’m not Inspector Gadget. I don’t believe people are using their microwave to spy on the Trump Campaign. However, I am not in the job of having evidence. That’s what investigations are for.”

Her comments were mocked on social media.

However, she walked back her comments on Good Morning America on Monday morning.

“I wasn’t making a suggestion about Trump Tower,” she said.

Journalist George Stephanopoulos asked Ms Conway if she was suggesting the surveillance techniques used by the CIA and revealed by WikiLeaks last week were used to listen in to phone conversations at Trump Tower.

“Those are two separate things. I answered about surveilling generally,” she said.

Pressed whether she had evidence of such hi-tech snooping, she said, no.

“I have no evidence but that’s why there’s an investigation in Congress,” Ms Conway said.

Members of the House Intelligence Committee sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking for evidence proving that Trump Tower had been wiretapped.

Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama (pictured with wife Michelle Obama) of wire-tapping Trump Tower. Picture: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez MonsivaisSource:AP

Mr Trump’s critics have slammed the president for making the explosive wire-tapping claim on his Twitter account without evidence. Wire-tapping a US citizen would require special permission from a court, and Mr Trump as president would have the ability to declassify that information.

James Clapper, who was Mr Obama’s director of national intelligence, has said that nothing matching Mr Trump’s claims had taken place.

Also this month, WikiLeaks released nearly 8000 documents that purportedly reveal secrets about the CIA’s tools for breaking into targeted computers, mobile phones and even smart TVs.