Trump accuses Obama of tapping his phones during campaign

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Donald Trump on Saturday accused Barack Obama of tapping his phones during last year's White House campaign, charges that his predecessor denied as ''simply false.''

''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!'' Trump wrote on Twitter, without providing evidence of the explosive charge.

''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!'' he wrote in another tweet, referring to the political scandal that toppled president Richard Nixon in 1974.

An Obama spokesman called Trump's accusations ''simply false.''

''A cardinal rule of the Obama Administration was that no White House official ever interfered with any independent investigation led by the Department of Justice,'' spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement issued several hours later.

''As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen. Any suggestion otherwise is simply false.''

Trump leveled the charges in a flurry of tweets shortly after dawn, as his administration remains mired in controversy over communications between Russian officials and some of his senior aides including Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump and Obama frequently traded barbs on the campaign trail, and the Republican real estate magnate was a driving force behind the so-called ''birther'' movement that questioned whether Obama was born on US soil and eligible to be president.

The two men initially adopted a cordial tone as Trump took office, though the president has stepped up accusations against Obama in recent weeks, blaming his predecessor for being behind damaging leaks to journalists.

''Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found,'' Trump wrote a day after departing Washington for a weekend getaway at his Mar-a-Lago Florida resort for the fourth time in five weeks.

The president compared the alleged action to Senator Joe McCarthy's campaign in the 1950s to root out supposed Communists and sympathizers, which was marked by innuendo and abusive investigations.

''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!'' Trump said, again providing no proof of Obama's supposed efforts to seek a court order to spy on the then-candidate.