Why James Clapper's Trump comments may not conflict with reports of secret court order

The insistence by the former US intelligence chief James Clapper that there was no electronic surveillance of Donald Trump or his presidential campaign directly contradicted the president’s claims he was being wiretapped.

However, Clapper’s assertion does not necessarily conflict with reports that secret court orders were issued in the course of a justice department investigation of Russian efforts to skew the election in Trump’s favour, and possible collusion in those effort by his associates.