White House claim Brit spooks were ordered to bug Donald Trump’s phone by then-President Obama dismissed as ‘nonsense’ by GCHQ
Press Secretary Sean Spicer suggested intelligence officers in the were asked to listen in on the tycoon at his New York HQ
THE White House's outrageous claim that British spooks may have wiretapped Donald Trump’s phones at the request of then-President Barack Obama has been dismissed as "nonsense" by GCHQ.
Press Secretary Sean Spicer read out a Fox News report last night that suggested UK intelligence officers were asked to listen in on the tycoon at his New York HQ ahead of the US election.
But furious spy chiefs adamantly denied the wild accusation, which has threatened to spark a major diplomatic incident.
Issuing a rare public statement last night, a GCHQ spokesman told The Sun: "These allegations are complete and utter nonsense".
And a UK Government spokesman told Fox News: “No part of this story is true.”
But Mr Spicer omitted that denial from his daily briefing in Washington and told reporters that Mr Trump “stands by” his allegations.
Instead he repeated claims from the TV network’s top judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano that Mr Obama used UK spies so “no American fingerprints” were left.
He also said his boss had not spoken to PM Theresa May about the issue.
He called his predecessor “sick” and declared: “This is Nixon/Watergate.”
On Tuesday, Judge Napolitano said three intelligence sources had told Fox News that Mr Obama “went outside the chain of command”.
He added: “He didn’t use the NSA (National Security Agency), he didn’t use the CIA, he didn’t use the FBI and he didn’t use the Department of Justice.
“He used GCHQ. That’s the initials for the British spying agency. They have 24/7 access to the NSA database.”
Mr Spicer claimed Mr Obama was “able to get transcripts of conversations involving President-elect Trump”.
But the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee said they had found no evidence to back the claims.
The allegations are believed to be based on a 'fake news' blog on a Russian website, and it is thought Sean Spicer was ordered to issue the highly damaging claim on President Trump's direct orders.
But GCHQ issued a furious denial, with a spokesman saying: “Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wire tapping' against the then President-elect are nonsense.
"They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored."
An intelligence source added: "Under the Five Eyes convention, we never spy on our main allies, and that includes the United States.
"This allegation is so off the scale crazy, it's very hard to understand."
The Five Eyes countries - who share almost all intelligence with each other and work very closely - are the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.