US President Donald Trump has backed the US House Intelligence Committee chairman's efforts to investigate actions by US security and other officials under previous president Barack Obama, inserting himself into a political feud amid the panel's Russia probe.
"The big story is the 'unmasking and surveillance' of people that took place during the Obama Administration," Trump said in a tweet, one day after the committee's Republican chairman subpoenaed the CIA, FBI and National Security Agency.
Democrats shot back, accusing Trump, a Republican, of diverting attention from the ongoing scandal that now hangs over his young presidency and criticising committee Chairman Devin Nunes' subpoenas.
On Wednesday, Nunes asked the agencies for details of any requests made by two top Obama administration aides and the former Central Intelligence Agency director to "unmask" Trump campaign advisers inadvertently picked up in top-secret foreign communications intercepts.
In April, Nunes recused himself from leading the panel's investigation into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election following a secret visit he paid to White House officials, but retains subpoena power.
Representative Jim Himes, a Democrat on the House Intelligence panel, replied to Trump's tweet, calling it a "pathetic distraction."
Ed Markey, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told CNN: "Nunes is too close to the Trump White House."
In a separate statement on Wednesday, Republican Representative Mike Conaway and Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who are leading the committee's Russia probe, announced subpoenas for Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, as well as their firms.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied leading efforts to interfere in last year's US election, and on Thursday said some Russians might have acted on their own but not with their government's involvement.
Trump has denied any collusion between Russia and his campaign.
The House Intelligence Committee's investigation is one of several congressional probes into Russia, along with one by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Former FBI Director James Comey, whom Trump fired last month, could testify as early as next week and planned to confirm the president's pressure to drop the agency's investigation into Flynn, according to CNN.
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