US makes formal apology to Britain after White House accuses GCHQ of wiretapping Trump Tower
The US has made a formal apology to Britain after the White House accused GCHQ of helping Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump in the White House.
Sean Spicer, Mr Trump’s press secretary, repeated a claim on Thursday evening – initially made by an analyst on Fox News – that GCHQ was used by Mr Obama to spy on Trump Tower in the lead-up to last November’s election.
The comments prompted a furious response from GCHQ, which in a break from normal practice issued a public statement: “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.”
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Intelligence sources told The Telegraph that both Mr Spicer and General McMaster, the US National Security Adviser, have apologised over the claims. “The apology came direct from them,” a source said.
General McMaster contacted Sir Mark Lyall Grant, the Prime Minister’s National Security adviser, to apologise for the comments. Mr Spicer conveyed his apology through Sir Kim Darroch, Britain’s US ambassador.
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Mrs May’s official spokesman said the White House has assured the Government that allegations that British intelligence services spied on Donald Trump will not be repeated.
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BLUF: Spicer needs to go, now. And POTUS needs to make a personal public apology to HMG — and Pres Obama. Period.https://t.co/n6Js0pdzz8
— John Schindler (@20committee) March 17, 2017
U.K. official: White House promised not to repeat wiretap claim https://t.co/zeehkosNZE pic.twitter.com/66Csa5WapU
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 17, 2017
White House does however reserve the right to invent new hoaxes https://t.co/zJo4EdCanQ
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 17, 2017
Experts say Spicer's GCHQ comment was a heavy blow to the UK-US intel relationship, which is "built on trust" https://t.co/VuQOxW7Rm7 pic.twitter.com/oLBTCYvRrr
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) March 17, 2017
Spicer on British wiretapping claim: "I don't think we regret anything. We literally listed a litany of media reports in the public domain."
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) March 17, 2017
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