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Mark Thompson targeted President Trump after the billionaire refused to back down after claims the UK's GCHQ spy agency carried out wiretapping on him during the US election campaign. Mr Trump argued that the White House had quoted a legal commentator who appeared on US TV channel Fox News. The chief executive was shocked that the President had “not retracted” the comments which were categorically rejected by the agency. Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, he said: “Donald Trump seems to have a view that he can make things true by saying them. If he says them, they have a validity.

GETTY•BBC Mark Thompson accused Donald Trump of being self-obsessed

“He doesn’t really accept that there is a common reality with common facts, which we are all bound by.” Mr Thompson continued suggesting that the President will support his claims regardless of their validity before he described the US leader as “self-obsessed”. He added: “Most conventional politicians, if there is a categorical denial by a by GCHQ and the British Government, they would somehow alter their stance - but he simply presses on.” “I think that he has got a view and he is a man obviously with immense willpower, as I say, he can make things true and if they are not true today, he can make them true tomorrow. “I think it’s a demonstration of his immense will, and also, a kind of self-obsession which is also very clear when you meet him.”

Merkel meets Trump at the White House Fri, March 17, 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump has welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the White House in Washington DC Play slideshow REUTERS 1 of 18 U.S. President Trump and German Chancellor Merkel hold a joint news conference in Washington

Donald Trump seems to have a view that he can make things true by saying them Mark Thompson