A former associate of the Trump campaign who was the subject of a secret surveillance warrant during the FBI’s Russia investigation says in a federal lawsuit that he was the victim of “unlawful spying”.

The suit from Carter Page alleges a series of omissions and errors made by FBI and Justice Department officials in applications they submitted in 2016 and 2017 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to eavesdrop on Page on suspicion that he was an agent of Russia.

“Since not a single proven fact ever established complicity with Russia involving Dr Page, there never was probable cause to seek or obtain the FISA Warrants targeting him on this basis,” the lawsuit says, using the acronym for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Page has received death and kidnapping threats and has suffered economic losses and “irreparable damage to his reputation”, according to the lawsuit, which was filed on Friday in a federal court in Washington.

The soon-to-be former first lady, Melania Trump, has been “taking meetings” to discuss writing a memoir about her time in the White House, according to reports.

Ms Trump will leave the role on 20 January and will likely establish permanent residence at the Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida.

Speculation is now mounting that she will use that time to publish an account of her life over the past four years.

Trump is spending the weekend at Camp David – the presidential retreat in the Catoctin Mountain Park, 60 miles northwest of Washington DC.

On Saturday, the president and his two sons, Eric and Don Jr,  headed from the camp to the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, using the Marine One helicopter.

Trump is reported to have paid more than 300 visits to golf courses since becoming president.

In other dispiriting news for the president, a recount of votes in Wisconsin which cost $3m actually ended up boosting Joe Biden’s vote tally.

The presidenti-elect’s ballot count increased by 132 votes in Milwaukee County – the largest county in the state, and one of two districts where Trump sought a recount.

The president, however, refused to be disheartened, telling his supporters: “Stay tuned!”

President Trump suffered another blow to his claims of a rigged election on Saturday night when Pennsylvania’s highest court threw out a lower court’s order preventing the state from certifying dozens of contests on its election ballot.

The state supreme court, in a unanimous decision, threw out the three-day-old order, saying the underlying lawsuit was filed months after the expiration of a time limit in Pennsylvania’s mail-in voting law allowing for challenges to it.

“They have failed to allege that even a single mail-in ballot was fraudulently cast or counted,” Justice David Wecht wrote.

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