Posted March 20, 2017 12:38:54

Photo: Donald Trump tweeted that Barack Obama had his phones tapped. (AP: Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

The US House intelligence committee says it has seen no evidence to show former president Barack Obama tapped President Donald Trump's phones during last year's election.

The committee also said there was no proof of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.

However, Democrat committee member Adam Schiff called for an investigation into other interference in the election.

"There was circumstantial evidence of collusion; there is direct evidence, I think, of deception," Mr Schiff said.

"There's certainly enough for us to conduct an investigation."

The head of the committee, Devin Nunes, told US network Fox News he had seen no ties to Russia and the Republican campaign.

"I'll give you a very simple answer, no. No evidence of any collusions. And this was after getting this information from the FBI. Up to speed, everything I have up to this morning, no evidence of collusion," Mr Nunes said.

"There was no FISA warrant I am aware of to tap Trump Tower," Mr Nunes added.

FISA stands for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires investigators to seek a warrant from a secret court to wiretap a foreign suspect.

FBI director to testify at committee hearing

The committee is due to begin hearings into Russia's role in cybersecurity breaches at the Democratic National Committee (DNC), as well as Mr Trump's unsubstantiated claim that his predecessor had authorised a wiretap of Trump Tower, on Monday (US time).

FBI Director James Comey and Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security Agency, are due to testify.

Intelligence officials have said that Russia was behind the theft of Democratic National Committee (DNC) emails last year.

The US government later concluded that the Russian government directed the DNC hack in an attempt to influence the outcome of November's presidential election.

"For the first time the American people, and all the political parties now, are paying attention to the threat that Russia poses," Mr Nunes said.

"We know that the Russians were trying to get involved in our campaign, like they have for many decades. They're also trying to get involved in campaigns around the globe and over in Europe."

Mr Nunes said the committee would also examine whether the Russians were trying to sow doubt in the US electoral system or whether they were trying to help Mr Trump get elected to the White House.

The president repeatedly insisted last week that Mr Obama had put Trump Tower put under surveillance in 2016.

He repeated an unsubstantiated claim that Britain's cyber intelligence organisation conducted the surveillance at Mr Obama's behest, a claim the agency, GCHQ, flatly denied.

The President also mentioned the Obama administration's monitoring of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone, a bruising incident in German-US relations.

"What the President said was just patently false," Mr Schiff said of the Trump Tower allegations, "and the wrecking ball it created has now banged into our British allies and our German allies and continuing to grow in terms of damage. And he needs to put an end to this."

ABC/AP

Topics: donald-trump, security-intelligence, government-and-politics, obama-barack, united-states