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| File photo: Satellite dishes are seen at GCHQ’s outpost at Bude, close to where trans-Atlantic fibre-optic cables come ashore in Cornwall, south-west England |
A UK spy agency did not eavesdrop on Donald Trump during and after last yearโs US presidential election, a British security official said on Tuesday, denying an allegation by a US television analyst.
The official, who is familiar with British government policy and security operations, told Reuters that the charge made on Tuesday by Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano, was โtotally untrue and quite frankly absurd.โ
Trump, who became president in January, tweeted earlier this month that his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped him during the late stages of the 2016 campaign. The Republican president offered no evidence for the allegation, which an Obama spokesman said was โsimply false.โ
Senior Obama administration officials, including former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, have also denied any such wiretapping occurred.
On Monday, the US Justice Department told the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee that it needed more time to respond to a demand for copies of any documents that might show Obama ordered eavesdropping on Trump.
On the โFox & Friendsโ program, Napolitano, a political commentator and former New Jersey judge, said that rather than ordering US agencies to spy on Trump, Obama obtained transcripts of Trumpโs conversations from Britainโs Government Communications Headquarters, or GCHQ, the equivalent of the US National Security Agency, which monitors overseas electronic communications.
โThree intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command โ he didnโt use the NSA, he didnโt use the CIA, he didnโt use the FBI and he didnโt use the Department of Justice,โ Napolitano said, adding that the former president โused GCHQ.โ
GCHQ has a close relationship with the NSA, as well as with the eavesdropping agencies of Australia, Canada and New Zealand in a consortium called โFive Eyes.โ
The British official said that under British law, GCHQ โcan only gather intelligence for national security purposesโ and noted that the US election โclearly doesnโt meet that criteria.โ
The official added that GCHQ โcan only carry out intelligence operations where it is legal in both the U.S. and UK to do so.โ
Under US law, presidents cannot direct wiretapping. Instead, the federal government can ask a court to authorise the action, but it must provide justification.
The British agency declined a request for comment.
