Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claim that he had been wiretapped by Barack Obama before the election was yesterday rejected by the former director of national intelligence, in a further twist to an extraordinary furore unleashed by the president.
James Clapper, who served in the post from 2010 to 2017, said there was no wiretap of Mr Trump or his campaign that he was aware of while in office, and that there had been no court order for one to be imposed.
Mr Clapper also told NBC that he was not aware of any evidence of collusion between members of the Trump camp and the Russians during the campaign — a suspicion that has dogged the White House since Mr Trump’s inauguration.