Updated March 05, 2017 00:26:10
US President Donald Trump has accused former president Barack Obama of "wire-tapping" his office phones during the 2016 election campaign.
Mr Trump made the accusation in a series of tweets from his personal Twitter account on Saturday morning (US time).
"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!" he tweeted.
He then followed it with a further series of tweets: "Is it legal for a sitting President to be 'wire tapping' a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
"How low has President Obama gone to tapp (sic) my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"
There was no information provided to substantiate Mr Trump's claims, and it was not clear on what he was basing them — although on Thursday, a conservative radio host made claims about alleged steps taken by the Obama administration to influence the election.
The comments were followed yesterday by far right-wing news outlet Breitbart, which published an article claiming the Obama administration eavesdropped on the Trump campaign.
Mr Trump's administration has come under pressure from FBI and congressional investigations into contacts between some members of his campaign team and Russian officials during his campaign.
During his series of tweets, Mr Trump also noted that Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak had visited the White House "22 times, and 4 times last year alone".
There have been calls for current Attorney-General Jeff Sessions to resign after it was revealed that he failed to disclose two conversations he had with Mr Kislyak during the presidential campaign.
At his confirmation hearing, Mr Sessions was asked whether "anyone affiliated" with the campaign had contact with Russian officials.
Mr Trump's national security adviser, Michael Flynn, also resigned in February after revelations that he had discussed US sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the US before Mr Trump took office.
ABC/Reuters
First posted March 04, 2017 23:40:41
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