Earlier on Sunday, Donald Trump continued his attacks on Mr Obama by firing off a tweet in which he implicitly compared his own campaign team’s reported "secret" contacts with Russia and that of his predecessor.
Mr Trump recalled a March 2012 "hot mic" conversation between Mr Obama and the then Russian president Dmitry Medvedev in which the former US president privately admitted he would have “more flexibility” with Moscow after his November re-election. “Who was it that secretly said to Russian President, "Tell Vladimir that after the election I'll have more flexibility?" said Mr Trump.
His fresh attacks came a day after he accused Mr Obama of ordering a wiretap on his Trump Tower phones during last year’s election, calling the former president president “sick” and comparing his alleged conduct to the “Nixon/Watergate” scandal. Mr Trump’s attack was an unprecedented breach of the unwritten agreement that the small club of former presidents do not attack or criticise each other out of cross-party respect for the office of the US presidency.
Mr Obama issued a statement denying the allegation as “simply false”. Mr Trump produced no evidence to support his claims, which appeared to be based on allegations made in conservative media.Who was it that secretly said to Russian President, "Tell Vladimir that after the election I'll have more flexibility?" @foxandfriends— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2017
Mr Obama’s spokesman said a "cardinal rule" of the Obama administration was that no White House official ever interfered in Justice Department investigations, which are supposed to be conducted free of political influence.
"As part of that practice, neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any US citizen," he said, adding that "any suggestion otherwise is simply false."