Barack Obama denies ‘ever ordering surveillance on any US citizen’ following bombshell accusations he tapped Donald Trump’s phone during US presidential election
DONALD Trump's allegation that his predecessor ordered his phone to be tapped is "simply false", Barack Obama's spokesman says.
In an astonishing salvo of early morning tweets, the firebrand President claimed his predecessor had bugged his phones during the "very sacred election process", slamming the allegations as a "Nixon/Watergate" scandal.
Trump, who started the Twitter rant at 5:30am US eastern time, branded the claims a "new low" before appearing to call Obama a "bad (or sick) guy".
But Obama has strongly denied the allegations.
His spokesman Kevin Lewis said: "President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen.”
The property tycoon turned politician wrote: "How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"
Watergate refers to the early 1970s political scandal which forced the resignation of Republican President Richard Nixon.
It involved members of a campaign team to re-elect the President being caught breaking into Democratic party's headquarters in the Watergate Building and bugging their offices.
He also tweeted: "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"
McCarthyism was coined after the Communist witch-hunts of the early 1950s.
Trump later added: "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!"
Continuing his rant on his personal social media account, Trump wrote: "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!"
It is not clear what information Trump based his Tweets on.
Although on Friday, Breitbart News reported on radio host Mark Levin's claims that Obama had been involved in a "silent coup" against the Trump campaign using "police state" tactics during the election campaign.
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Breitbart News is a far-right political new site which was previously spearheaded by Trump's Chief Strategist Steven Bannon.
The article, which lays out conservative radio personality Levin's claims, states: "The Obama administration sought, and eventually obtained, authorisation to eavesdrop on the Trump campaign."
Levin also suggested that former President Obama should be the subject of a congressional investigation in light of the claims.
The day before the billionaire’s shock election win, former Heat Street editor Louise Mensch reported US spooks had been granted a court warrant to monitor Trump Tower.
Former Conservative MP Mensch reported that a "source within the intelligence community" had confirmed the story.
This week, the New York Times reported that officials within the Obama administration had attempted to spread information about Russian meddling during the divisive election.
And according to NYT, US intelligence agencies studied intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a probe into alleged links between Russian officials and the Trump campaign in January.
But authorities have confirmed there was no convincing evidence of wrongdoing.
President Trump also tried to defend Jeff Sessions, the US attorney general who is facing questions over two meetings with a Russian ambassador during the presidential campaign in 2016.
He wrote: "The first meeting Jeff Sessions had with the Russian Amb was set up by the Obama Administration under education program for 100 Ambs..."
He added: “Just out: The same Russian Ambassador that met Jeff Sessions visited the Obama White House 22 times, and 4 times last year alone.”
This week it emerged that Sessions had two meetings with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak – something he failed to disclose during his senate confirmation hearing.
On Friday, Sessions confirmed that he would recuse himself from investigations into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
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