Spicer accuses media of cherry-picking comments on Trump wiretapping claims

White House press secretary Sean Spicer accused the media of cherry-picking quotes from Republican lawmakers who are increasingly saying there is no evidence to back up President Donald Trump’s claim that Barack Obama wiretapped his phones.

Shortly after the Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee issued a joint statement casting doubt on Trump’s claim, Spicer lashed out at reporters during the daily press briefing.


Spicer said there had been “crickets” from the media in response to House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ statements saying the surveillance was possible.

“It's interesting to me that, you know, just as a point of interest that when one entity says one thing that claims one thing, you guys cover it ad nauseam, when Devin Nunes came out and said, ‘I think it's very possible,’ there was crickets. When Devin Nunes said there was no connection to Russia, there was crickets,” he said.

Nunes on Wednesday said it was “very possible” Obama’s administration could have surveilled Trump. However, he also said he didn’t think there was “an actual tap of Trump Tower” and if you take the tweets literally, “clearly the president was wrong.”

During the briefing on Thursday, Spicer said the president still stands by his allegation and that he believes the president will be vindicated.

“The bottom line is the president said last night that he will be providing, there would be additional information coming forward,” he said. “There is a ton of media reports out there that indicate that something was going on during the 2016 election.”



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Despite Spicer's accusations, the statements from the House Intelligence Committee’s leaders were widely covered by the media, as have been official's denials of evidence of connections between the Trump campaign and Russia.

For example, Spicer said Nunes’ statement that he had seen no evidence of a connection between Trump and Russia “got zero reporting.” But many outlets including the Washington Post , POLITICO , and CNN covered the story.

Spicer sparred with ABC’s Jonathan Karl during the briefing, when Karl pushed Spicer to answer his question regarding how the White House responds to the intelligence committees in both the House and Senate saying they have seen no evidence of wiretapping.

“I’m trying to answer your question, Jonathan, if you can calm down,” Spicer said. “Where was your passion, and where was you concern when they said there was no connection to Russia? Where was it then? Crickets from you guys.”

The press secretary then read long passages from other media reports, including from the New York Times, Fox News, Heat Street and the National Review, describing the government’s investigations into the Trump campaign’s connection with Russia. Spicer cited the organizations’ reporting on a possible FISA warrant to examine the connection of a Trump campaign server and two Russian banks and the Times’ reporting on “phone records and intercepted calls."

However, none of the reporting Spicer cited confirmed Trump’s claim that Obama had “wire tapped” him.

Spicer also faced off with CNN’s Jim Acosta, accidentally saying that Acosta “has zero intelligence” while meaning to say “zero intelligence clearance.”

“Maybe both,” Spicer then joked.