C Before D Roger
May Day… May Day Over
Barack Obama had “used GCHQ”
In 2017, Sean Spicer, who was White House press secretary at the time, repeated allegations originally made by Fox News legal analyst Andrew Napolitano that president Barack Obama had “used GCHQ”. American officials were quick to dismiss the claims, showing a “complete lack of understanding” of US-UK intelligence relations. “It would be epically stupid,” said one official. GCHQ were quick to issue an unprecedented rebuke, and US officials promptly denied the claims, saying they would “not repeat” them, following pressure from UK officials.
https://www.econotimes.com/Trump-accuses-the-UK-of-spying-again–but-intelligence-agencies-have-learnt-to-ignore-him-1529373
Brennan Knew
Reports quoting sources from both UK and US intelligence agencies – and supported by European agencies – do, however, suggest that GCHQ found out about “interactions” between Russian agents and figures close to Trump’s inner circle in 2015. The issue was deemed so sensitive it was handled at director level by GCHQ’s then director Robert Hannigan, who shared the material with CIA head John Brennan.