(CNN) White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Wednesday falsely blamed journalists for thwarting US spying on Osama bin Laden just years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"The media routinely reports on classified information and government secrets that put lives in danger and risks valuable national security tools," Sanders said Wednesday as she answered a question about threats and insults reporters have faced from Trump supporters. "One of the worst cases was the reporting on the US ability to listen to Osama Bin Laden's satellite phone in the late 90s. Because of that reporting, he stopped using that phone and the country lost valuable intelligence."

That assertion is false and it has previously been debunked years ago.

Sanders did not respond to CNN requests asking which article she was specifically referring to, but Sanders appeared to be drawing on a claim by former President George W. Bush and the 9/11 Commission.

Bush and the commission in 2005 blamed an August 1998 article in The Washington Times for revealing that the US government had the ability to monitor bin Laden's satellite communications.

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