A spokesman for Britain's prime minister says the White House has promised that it won't repeat a claim that U.K. spies snooped on U.S. President Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman, James Slack, says the British government has made it clear to the U.S. that the "ridiculous" claims should be ignored. He said Friday that Washington has assured Britain they will not be repeated.
The White House said Friday that spokesman Sean Spicer had not accused Britain of spying on President Donald Trump when he repeated a Fox News report claiming that London's GCHQ intelligence agency had done so.
"Mr. Spicer was simply pointing to public reports, not endorsing any specific story," the White House explained.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Thursday cited Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano, who suggested that the British electronic surveillance agency GCHQ had helped then-President Barack Obama spy on Trump before last year's presidential election.
GCHQ took the unusual step of releasing a statement calling the claims "nonsense."
It said "they are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored."