London: The former head of Cambridge Analytica said on Wednesday that his political consulting firm got "an incredibly huge target" on its back because of its involvement in Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.

Alexander Nix said his now-defunct firm had become the subject of global derision and was unfairly blamed for putting Trump in office.

The remarks came as an unrepentant Nix clashed with British lawmakers investigating the use of Facebook data in election campaigns. The Parliament's media committee sought his testimony to clarify his previous remarks. While lawmakers had once listened with rapt attention as former employee Christopher Wylie discussed how the Facebook material was gathered and used by the firm, they grew visibly impatient with Nix, who challenged their questions.

The sheer tone of the hearing was unusual, marked at times by exchanges that seemed somewhat personal. Nix repeatedly suggested that lines of questioning were politically motivated, such as when Ian Lucas, a Labour lawmaker, challenged Nix's claim that the firm had nothing to do with the campaign supporting Britain's departure from the European Union.