US President Donald Trump has accused his predecessor of wire-tapping his phone a month before he was elected.

President Trump tweeted early on Saturday: "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"

He went on to say that a court had earlier denied a wiretap request.

The US president has given no details to back up the claim - or suggested which court order he was referring to.

Media reports in the last few weeks have suggested the FBI had sought a warrant from the foreign intelligence surveillance court (Fisa) last summer in order to monitor members of the Trump team suspected of irregular contacts with Russian officials.

The warrant was first turned down but then approved in October, according to the media reports.

There has been no official confirmation and it is also not clear if this evolved into a full investigation.

There has been no comment from ex-President Barack Obama.

Mr Trump has been reeling from accusations of links between his campaign team and Russia, following an intelligence report that Moscow was involved in hacking in order to get Mr Trump elected.

In the latest twist, his Attorney-General Jeff Sessions has been forced to remove himself from an investigation into the Russian role.

This followed revelations that he had met the Russian ambassador during the campaign, despite denying this at his confirmation hearings.

Mr Trump's National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was forced to resign after four weeks in office for misleading the White House over his contacts with the Russian envoy during the election campaign. Sanctions against Russia were allegedly discussed.

Referring to contacts with Ambassador Sergei Kislyak, Mr Trump tweeted: "Just out: The same Russian Ambassador that met Jeff Sessions visited the Obama White House 22 times, and 4 times last year alone."