NỖI NHỤC CỦA TRUMP & TÒA BẠCH ỐC về CÁO GIÁC OBAMA NGHE LÉN
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By Steven Swinford, deputy
political editor
The
Telegraph | 17 Mar 2017, 12:48pm
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."
Sean Spicer, White House communications director CREDIT: AP
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.
Mr Spicer had earlier repeated claims that
Barack Obama used GCHQ to spy on Mr Trump before he became president.
"He’s able to get it and there’s no American
fingerprints on it," Mr Spicer said of the intelligence supposedly
provided to Mr Obama by Britain.
"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."
US President Donald Trump greets Theresa May at the White House in
January CREDIT: EPA
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.
The Government "made clear" to the US that
the "ridiculous" claims should be ignored and received assurances in
return that they will not be repeated, showing that the administration does not
give them any credence, Mrs May's spokesman said.
Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat
leader, described Mr Spicer's comments as "shameful".
"Trump is compromising the vital UK-US security
relationship to try to cover his own embarrassment," he said. "This
harms our and US security."
Susan Rice, National Security Adviser for former
president Barack Obama, tweeted:
The cost of falsely blaming our
closest ally for something this consequential cannot be overstated. And from
the PODIUM. https://twitter.com/andrewbeatty/status/842492580038430720 …
The president is under increasing pressure to
justify his claims, which his opponents charge calls the whole integrity of
his administration into question.
In an attempt to provide credibility to the claims,
Mr Spicer quoted from a series of articles which discussed surveillance.
He referenced comments made earlier this week on Fox
News TV by former judge Andrew Napolitano in relation to Mr Trump's
controversial claim that wiretaps had been installed at his New York residence:
Last on Fox News, on March 14th, Judge Andrew
Napolitano made the following statement:
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. What is that? It's the initials for
the British intelligence-finding agency. So, simply by having two people saying
to them president needs transcripts of conversations involving candidate
Trump's conversations, involving president-elect Trump, he's able to get it and
there's no American fingerprints on this. Putting the published accounts and
common-sense together, this leads to a lot.
British officials were quick to rubbish Mr
Napolitano's claims earlier this week. A government source reportedly said the
claim was "totally untrue and quite frankly absurd".
The British
official told Reuters that under British law, GCHQ "can only
gather intelligence for national security purposes" and noted that a US
election "clearly doesn't meet that criteria".
Mr Spicer’s press conference on Thursday was held
shortly after the
senate intelligence committee published a statement saying they had no
evidence for Mr Trump's claim, made on March 4, that Mr Obama ordered wiretaps
on Trump Tower.
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