White House asks Congress to probe whether Barack Obama ordered wiretap

WASHINGTON: The White House on Sunday requested the US Congress examine whether the Obama administration abused its executive "investigative authority" during the 2016 campaign, as part of the ongoing congressional probe into Russia's influence on the presidential election.

The request came a day after President Donald Trump alleged, without supporting evidence, that then-President Obama ordered a wiretap of the phones in Trump Tower in New York, which was then Trump's campaign headquarters.