British Prime Minister Theresa May has received assurances from the White House it will not repeat allegations that Britain's GCHQ spy agency helped former US President Barack Obama eavesdrop on Donald Trump, her spokesman says.
A spokesman for May said on Friday that the charge, made on Tuesday by Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano, that the UK's signals intelligence agency GCHQ had helped Obama to wire tap Trump after his victory in last year's US presidential election, was "ridiculous".
"We've made clear to the administration that these claims are ridiculous and they should be ignored and we've received assurances that these allegations will not be repeated," May's spokesman told reporters.
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"We have a close special relationship with the White House and that allows us to raise concerns as and when they arise as was true in this case."
Representatives for the White House did not immediately reply to a request seeking comment following May's spokesman's remarks.
Trump tweeted earlier this month that his Democratic predecessor had 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 "simply false".
On the Fox & Friends program, Napolitano, a political commentator and former New Jersey judge, said that rather than ordering US agencies to spy on Trump, Obama had obtained transcripts of Trump's conversations from GCHQ so there were "no American fingerprints" on it.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer on Thursday quoted Napolitano's comments about GCHQ when he spoke to the media.
Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper, citing unnamed intelligence sources, reported on its website that Spicer and Trump's national security adviser Lieutenant General Herbert McMaster had made formal apologies to Britain.
In a rare public statement, Britain's GCHQ, Britain's Government Communications Headquarters, the equivalent of the US National Security Agency which monitors overseas electronic communications, said the claims were "nonsense" and should be ignored.
Reuters reported earlier this week that an unidentified British security official had denied the allegations about Trump.
Trump not backing down
Yet the White House still has not backed down from Trump's original claims - nor has it offered any evidence to support them.
The tweets remain online, and Trump told Fox News late Wednesday that he was going to produce evidence - eventually.
"Let's see whether or not I prove it. I just don't choose to do it right now," he said. "I think we have some very good stuff. And we're in the process of putting it together, and I think it's going to be very demonstrative."
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Yet few in Washington are expecting he can do that.
This week, the top four lawmakers in Congress dealing with intelligence issues, Republicans and Democrats, all said that they have been given no evidence to support Trump's allegations.
Spicer, struggling with intense questioning on the issue at each media briefing, has also not provided any proof.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey has so far been silent on the issue, but he is due to testify on Capitol Hill on Monday.
Republicans press for Trump apology
On Friday, Republicans in Congress, having earlier skirted the issue, showed concern that it was overwhelming the need to focus on major policy issues.
Several called on Trump to admit his blunder and apologize to Obama.
"I see no indication that that's true," Representative Tom Cole told CNN. "Frankly, unless you can produce some pretty compelling proof, then I think president Obama is owed an apology."
"It's inexplicable," said Representative Charlie Dent. "I think he should simply retract it."
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