Sean Spicers Baseless Wiretapping Accusations Are Fueling a Full-Blown Diplomatic Disaster

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The latest bit of “fake news” emanating from the White House sparked a minor diplomatic scandal on Thursday after press secretary Sean Spicer, under pressure to provide evidence to support Donald Trump’s baseless assertion that Barack Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower, accused the British government of doing Obama’s dirty work.

In a heated exchange with reporters during Thursday’s press briefing, Spicer, increasingly more comfortable mirroring his boss’s thinking and syntax, cited a recent Fox News segment in which cable news pundit and former judge Andrew Napolitano explained how Obama could have wiretapped Trump without using any of the U.S. military or intelligence agencies. “Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command,” Spicer told reporters. “He didn’t use the N.S.A., he didn’t use the C.I.A., he didn’t use the F.B.I., and he didn’t use the Department of Justice. He used G.C.H.Q. What is that? It’s the initials for the British intelligence spying agency.” As a result, Spicer posited, there would be “no American fingerprints on this.”

The British were outraged, naturally, at being accused by their closest ally of illegally spying on Trump after both the Democratic and Republican heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that there were “no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance” by the U.S. government, much less wiretapping. The normally secretive G.C.H.Q. issued a rare public statement denying Spicer’s claim and demanding an apology from the White House.

“Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about G.C.H.Q. being asked to conduct ‘wiretapping’ against the then president-elect are nonsense,” the British spy agency said in a notably pointed statement. “They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored.” (The White House did not respond to *Vanity Fair’*s request for comment.)

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/white-house-british-wiretapping-apology

[democratisphere]

1. Mr. Chaos stirring up worldwide trouble again.

This will continue again and again and again and again.

[brewens]

2. A lot of this stuff is so idiotic that even my RW FB friends won't touch it. They have gotten tired

of stuff blowing up in their faces and making them look even stupider.

[gratuitous]

4. My advice: Stay on them

Don't let them just shine on this nonsense. Make sure you bring it up to them, and that they have to face it. Over my lifetime, I've had to hear ad nauseam about all those dead people who voted for JFK in 1960, what a hash LBJ made of Vietnam, Chappaquiddick, how wimpy Carter was, "I did not have sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski," and "You can keep your (remarkably crappy, no coverage) insurance."

We shouldn't forget or gloss over any part of the never-ending stream of bullshit out of the Trump administration. And we shouldn't let his supporters do it, either.

[Kimchijeon]

5. Oh I agree with you

This administration is by far the most embarrassing, and the supporters need to be repeatedly shamed.

[AgadorSparticus]

9. +1000!!!! Do not let them get away with it. Repeat repeat repeat....

[rzemanfl]

3. Just wait until next winter when the British and German tourists (and whoever else the orange

one offends) don't visit Florida. I think a lot of Canadians will stay home too or go elsewhere, e.g., Cuba, Mexico.

[spanone]

6. this so-called administration is pissing on our allies

[GallopingGhost]

7. Yes, let's antagonize

one of our staunchest allies in the world, who hopefully realizes this Titanic meets Ringling Bros. daily shit show doesn't represent the majority of Americans.

[ProudLib72]

8. "Former" closest ally

I'm guessing MI6 will not be apt to share secrets with us anymore.