House Intelligence Committee row as Schiff slams Nunes over Trump team's monitoring claims

A row has broken out among members of the House Intelligence Committee over the investigation into allegations that Donald Trump was wiretapped during the presidential election.

The chairman of the committee, Devin Nunes, said members of Trump's transition team had been under surveillance - comments that the committee's top Democrat, Adam Schiff, slammed for their "profound irregularity".

Nunes said the information that intelligence was gathered on members of Trump's team was not related to the investigation over Russia's alleged involvement in the election and had been "widely disseminated" in reports.

"I recently confirmed that on numerous occasions, the intelligence community collected information on US individuals involved in the Trump transition," Nunes said, in comments carried by The Hill.

His comments prompted Trump to claim he had been "partially vindicated" by the House intelligence Committee, and prompted a backlash from Schiff, who said he had "grave concerns" over how the matter had been handled.

"If accurate, this information should have been shared with members of the committee, but it has not been," Schiff said in a statement.

"The chairman also shared this information with the White House before providing it to the committee, another profound irregularity given that the matter is currently under investigation. I have expressed my grave concerns with the chairman that a credible investigation cannot be conducted this way," he added.

The investigation into wiretapping began after Trump wrote on Twitter on 3 March: "How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!

"I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!"

Trump has suggested that the committee's admission about intel gathered on members of his team backed up his claim.

Asked by CNN on Wednesday (22 March) whether he believed he had been vindicated by the claim, Trump responded: "I somewhat do. I must tell you I somewhat do.

"I very much appreciated the fact that they found what they found."

Obama has denied the claims made by Trump, and is said to be livid at the accusation he would wiretap Trump Tower.

Thus far no evidence has been provided that Trump was wiretapped, and both the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have found no evidence to support Trump's claim.