Second, Ms. Farkas did not say Mr. Obama spied on Mr. Trump, but instead expressed concern that intelligence on Russia would be buried or sources would be compromised under the new administration.

According to Mr. Spicer, this is what Ms. Farkas said, although the part in bold seems to be Mr. Spicer’s own addition:

“I was urging my former colleagues, frankly speaking, the people on the Hill. I was telling people on the Hill, ‘Get as much information as you can. Get as much intelligence as you can.’ I had a fear that they were essentially watching the Trump staff and he was worried about the Trump administration.”

Here is what Ms. Farkas actually said:

“I was urging my former colleagues, and, frankly speaking, the people on the Hill — it was more, actually, aimed at telling the Hill people: Get as much information as you can, get as much intelligence as you can, before President Obama leaves the administration, because I had a fear that somehow that information would disappear with the senior people that left. So it would be hidden away in the bureaucracy.”

She went on to say: “That the Trump folks, if they found out how we knew what we knew about their, the staff, the Trump staff’s dealing with Russians, that they would try to compromise those sources and methods, meaning we would no longer have access to that intelligence. So I became very worried, because not enough was coming out into the open, and I knew that there was more.”