Trump repeats wiretap claim against Obama

US President Donald Trump on Friday repeated his charge that predecessor Barack Obama had ordered a wiretap against him, rejecting rising calls from Republicans and Democrats to withdraw the charge and apologise.

Speaking at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Trump answered a question on the wiretap allegation by referring to the US National Security Agency's reported tapping of Merkel's phone several years ago.

"As far as wiretapping, I guess, by this past administration, at least we have something in common perhaps," Trump said.

But Trump also said he did not endorse a Fox News claim that Britain's GCHQ spy agency did the wiretapping for Obama -- an allegation repeated by Trump's spokesman Thursday, sparking a sharp rebuke from London.

Trump has accused Obama of ordering wiretaps at his Trump Tower in New York, but two weeks after the extraordinary claim, he has not delivered any evidence.

The claim has led to investigations in Congress and by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but so far no one has provided any evidence to substantiate it.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration on Friday appealed a Maryland court's block of its revised travel ban, aiming to reinstate the temporary halt to immigrants and visitor arrivals from six majority Muslim countries.

The Justice Department filed a notice of appeal with the district court in Greenbelt, Maryland, two days after that court and one in Hawaii dealt a new blow to the White House's travel ban, both ruling that it discriminated against Muslims.

The case now goes to a federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia.

Trump has said a travel ban is needed to preserve US national security and keep out extremists.