Trump calls for congressional probe into 'wiretapping' by Obama

U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called for congressional investigations into the previous Barack Obama administration potentially conspiring with Russia in the 2016 presidential elections to defeat then Republican nominee Trump.

"Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations immediately ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling. President Donald J. Trump is requesting that as part of their investigation into Russian activity, the congressional intelligence committees exercise their oversight authority to determine whether executive branch investigative powers were abused in 2016," Fox News quoted White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer as saying in a statement.

The statement follows allegations Trump made on Saturday that former President Barack Obama ordered phones wiretapped at Trump Tower.

"Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism," Trump wrote in one tweet Saturday.

"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!" he said in another tweet.

Trump also tweeted that a "good lawyer could make a great case of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to election!"

A spokesman for the former president Obama on Saturday denied President Trump's accusation that he had Trump Tower phones tapped in the weeks before the November 2016 election.