John McCain calls for evidence of Trump’s wiretapping claims

Republican Senator John McCain has called on Donald Trump to provide evidence backing up his claim that former president Barack Obama was involved in wiretapping his phones.

"I think the president has one of two choices: either retract or to provide the information that the American people deserve because if his predecessor violated the law, President Obama violated the law, we have got a serious issue here to say the least," he told CNN.

McCain added: "I have no reason to believe that the charge is true, but I also believe that the President of the United States could clear this up in a minute".

Trump made the claims in a series of tweets at the beginning of the month, writing: "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ’wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"

In another, he wrote: "How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"

The Guardian reports that McCain’s demand came after the House intelligence committee asked the President for evidence that phones at Trump Tower were tapped during the campaign.

Committee chairman Devin Nunes and ranking Democrat Adam Schiff have reportedly called on the administration to provide evidence of the wiretapping by next Monday.

"Obama’s director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has said that nothing matching Trump’s claims had taken place, but that has not quelled speculation that Trump’s communications were monitored by the Obama administration," Fortune says.