This past month, President Donald Trump claimed that both the British intelligence agency and former President Barack Obama spied on him during his campaign. Although these claims were deemed false by many reputable sources, the allegations remain prominent in the media.

The claims against Obama began with a tweet from Trump’s account.

“Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!” the tweet said.

This unprofessional statement, backed by no evidence, gained a lot of attention. More tweets were later sent out, one of which said, “How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”

A spokesman for Obama quickly responded to these claims stating they were “simply false.” His following tweets did not offer credentials; they only caused tension between the United States and Britain. No further evidence pertaining to these allegations has come to light.

Congress decided to research the claim; congressional Democrats immediately voiced their disapproval, while Republicans supported the action. Democrats accused Trump of causing unnecessary trouble to distract citizens from allegations of Trump’s ties with Russia, along with legislation he is pushing to pass.

“You make up something and then you have the press write about it, and then you say, ‘everybody’s writing about this charge.’ It’s a tool of an authoritarian, to just have you always be talking about what you want to be talking about,” Democrat Nancy Pelosi said to CNN.

Pelosi’s statement conforms to the overall disapproval of the president from congressional Democrats; Trump continues to openly lie and to cause upheaval within the government. House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff said Trump’s allegations were as “destructive as [they were] baseless.”

When Trump was cited as saying that Britain’s spy agency had kept too close of an eye on him, Obama responded by claiming the allegations were false almost immediately, as did British officials. However, Trump would not back down from his claims, stating that he had nothing to apologize for. Trump continues to worsen international relations, and this claim further deteriorates his reputation as this country’s leader. He is causing harm to not only himself and our government, but to the reputation of the United States worldwide.