White House Formally Apologizes For Suggesting A British Intelligence Agency Helped Obama Wiretap Trump

During the daily press briefing Thursday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer suggested that the British intelligence agency GCHQ helped Obama wiretap Trump last year.

“Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command – he didn’t use the NSA, he didn’t use the CIA, he didn’t use the FBI and he didn’t use the Department of Justice – he used GCHQ,” Spicer said.

The report originally came from Judge Napolitano. He said three intelligence officials told Fox News that if Trump was monitored, a friendly foreign intelligence agency could be behind it. More specifically, the British intelligence agency GCHQ, which has access to the NSA database. Keep in mind, that report was based off three anonymous officials. At this point, it’s pure speculation and certainly not something the White House should state as fact.

A GCHQ spokesman rebutted the claim, calling it “utterly ridiculous.”

“Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct ‘wiretapping’ against the then president-elect are nonsense. They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored,” a spokesman said.

Prime Minister Theresa May said the report should be ignored altogether.

“We’ve made clear to the administration that these claims are ridiculous and they should be ignored and we’ve received assurances that these allegations will not be repeated,” a spokesman said. “We have a close special relationship with the White House and that allows us to raise concerns as and when they arise as was true in this case.”

The White House has apologized directly to Britain and assured them that the allegation will not be repeated.

Stay tuned. This wiretapping business isn’t going away anytime soon.

Update: The White House denies formally apologizing to the UK.

WH now sez there was no apology to Brits from @PressSec /McMaster; they fielded complaints & defended Spicer's mention of wiretapping story

— Julie Davis (@juliehdavis) March 17, 2017