yet the explanation has evolved over the last nine days. and did so again today. >> thing are two things that are important what he said. i think recognizing that he doesn't really think that president obama went up and tapped his phone personally. >> reporter: after saying last week the president's tweets about the extraordinary allegations spoke for themselves, white house press secretary sean spicer said this today. >> there were action as about surveillance and other activities that occurred in the 2016 election that is a widely reported activity. the president used the word "wiretap" in quotes to mean broadly surveillance and other activities. >> reporter: but keeping them honest, that's not true. it was not widely reported surveillance took place in the campaign. and the president stated the wiretapping allegation as fact. in this tweet, how low has president obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process? this is nixon watergate, bad or sick guy. at his first cabinet meeting later in the afternoon, the