GCHQ took the unusual step of issuing a statement after Fox News analyst and former judge Andrew P. Napolitano backed up claims by Trump that the Obama administration had bugged his office with the aid of Britain's GCHQ.
British intel were ordered by Obama administration to spy on Trump says Judge Andrew Napolitano. No US paper trail left behind. #Wiretap pic.twitter.com/HZvYhk59ZY
— Data Debunk (@data_debunk) March 14, 2017
Napolitano said that GCHQ had assisted the US National Security Agency (NSA) is the wiretap and that it had been done on the orders of the Obama administration.
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 4 March 2017
Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 4 March 2017
However, GCHQ responded saying the allegation was nonsense and that the UK would never have agreed to such a request.
"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," GCHQ said in a statement.
The former Deputy Director for Intelligence and Cyber Operations at GCHQ, Brian Lords, dismissed the claims as another example of "fake news."
"The activity of which Fox News has reported does not fall anywhere near the constitutional remit of GCHQ. I think the key thing here is: what is the story? Is the story: GCHQ spied on President Trump? O is the story about the use of fake news as a political and geopolitical tool? What we are seeing i a trend towards using false news, manipulated news as a political and geopolitical tool. Part of the cut and thrust of political activity," he told the BBC Today program.
Meanwhile, the Senate Intelligence Committee said, March 16, there was no evidence to support Trump's claim.
"Based on the information available to us, we see no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance by any element of the United States government either before or after Election Day 2016," read a statement by Republican Chairman Richard Burr and Senator Mark Warner, the committee's Democratic vice chairman.
Despite this, the White House press secretary, Sean Spicer said — of the original allegation of spying — that Trump "stands by it."
"There's widespread reporting that throughout the 2016 election, there was surveillance that was done on a variety of people," Mr. Spicer said.
