Donald Trump must provide proof that Barack Obama ordered a wiretap on him during his presidential campaign by Monday, a bipartisan group from the House intelligence committee, has said.

Last week Trump tweeted: 'Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!'

He continued the allegation against former President Barack Obama in other tweets but offered no evidence.

Now he is being taken to task in a letter sent by the committee chairman Rep Devin Nunes (R-Calif) and the panel's ranking Democrat, Rep Adam Schiff (D-Calif), a source said.

Donald Trump (pictured on Friday) has until Monday to provide proof for his claim that Barack Obama tried to wiretap him, a House committee said in a letter, according to an insider source

Trump made the announcement on Twitter on Saturday March 4. Obama's director of national intelligence has denied the claim

He claimed that Obama had personally requested a tap on Trump Tower, but was 'turned down by court'

Trump called his claim a 'fact' even though he has not yet produced any evidence of a wiretap having been ordered

Trump had previously said that he enjoyed Obama's company, but in these tweets referred to him as 'low,' 'bad' and 'sick'

The claim comes from a senior congressional aide who wasn't authorized to discuss the request by name and has requested anonymity.

Obama's director of national intelligence, James Clapper, has said that nothing matching Trump's claims had taken place.

But that has't quelled speculation that Trump's communications were monitored by the Obama administration.

Trump has asked Congress to investigate, and early this week Schiff said the committee would answer the president's call to investigate the claim.

He also said that he would ask FBI Director James Comey directly when he appears later this month before the full committee, which is investigating Russian activities during the election.

'We should be able to determine in fairly short order whether this allegation is true or false,' Schiff told reporters Tuesday evening at the Capitol.

Nunes has said he hasn't seen any evidence to back up Trump's claim so far and that the news media has been taking the president's weekend tweets too literally.

'The president is a neophyte to politics - he's been doing this a little over a year,' Nunes told reporters earlier this week.

Other lawmakers have also asked for similar evidence.

Declaring that Congress 'must get to the bottom' of Trump's claim, Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), contacted Comey and Acting Deputy Attorney General Dana Boente.

They asked the pair to produce the paper trail created when the Justice Department's criminal division secures warrants for wiretaps.