President Donald Trump says documents released by the FBI relating to a former adviser's ties to Russia showed that his campaign for the 2016 presidential election had been illegally spied upon by US law enforcement, but offered no evidence to support his assertion.
In a series of Twitter posts, Trump also accused the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice of misleading the courts during a probe of Russian interference in the election but did not elaborate.
The FBI documents released on Saturday showed how in 2016 the bureau requested surveillance of the former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, as part of that investigation, saying the bureau believed he had been collaborating with the Russian government.
"Looking more & more like the Trump Campaign for President was illegally being spied upon (surveillance) for the political gain of Crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC," Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to the Democratic National Committee. "Republicans must get tough now. An illegal Scam!"
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why Trump believed the 412 pages of heavily redacted documents proved the FBI and DOJ demonstrated illegal conduct or were misleading courts.
Carter Page, a former foreign policy adviser to Donald Trump,. Source: TASS
Trump has repeatedly criticised US law enforcement agencies that are investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the vote, and he has insisted there was no collusion with members of his campaign. Russia denies any interference.
Trump's statements on Twitter followed sharp criticism, including from some Republicans, of his meeting in Finland last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a joint news conference, Trump failed to confront the Russian leader over Moscow's alleged election interference and appeared to side with the Kremlin over US intelligence agencies.
The documents released on Saturday by the FBI included surveillance applications to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and warrants surrounding the investigation into Page. They included an initial application and requests for renewals that were filed in 2017 after Trump took office.
President Donald J. Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shake hands during a joint press conference Source: REX/Shutterstock
"The FBI believes that Page has been collaborating and conspiring with the Russian Government," the surveillance application filed in October 2016 said.
On CNN, Page called the documents a "complete joke" and insisted they overstated his relationships with the Russian government.
"I've never been an agent of a foreign power by any stretch of the imagination," Page told CNN. "I've never been anywhere near what's being described here."
