Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair denies Trump spying claim

Jane Onyanga-Omara | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Tony Blair denies telling Jared Kushner the British spied on Trump Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has denied claims that during the 2016 presidential elections he warned Jared Kushner that British intelligence may have spied on President Trump’s staff.

LONDON — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has rejected a claim that he warned Jared Kushner that British intelligence might have spied on President Trump’s staff during the 2016 presidential election.

U.S. author and columnist Michael Wolff wrote in his controversial new book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House that Blair shared a “juicy rumor” with Trump’s son-in-law “that the British had the Trump campaign staff under surveillance, monitoring its telephone calls and other communications and possibly even Trump himself,” the Times of London reported.

Wolff also speculated that Blair wanted to be Trump’s Middle East envoy, according to the Guardian.

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Blair, who was prime minister from 1997 to 2007, dismissed both claims in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today program.

“This story is a complete fabrication, literally from beginning to end. I’ve never had such conversation in the White House, outside of the White House, with Jared Kushner, with anybody else,” he said.

Blair, who was from 2007 to 2015 the special representative for the quartet of international powers — the United Nations, the U.S, the European Union, and Russia — seeking an Israel-Palestinian peace deal, said he had met Kushner, Trump's Middle East peace envoy, about other issues.

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“Of course I’ve met him and we discussed the Middle East peace process,” he said. “I wasn’t angling for some job. I did the quartet role. I’m still very active on the Middle East peace process, but I’ve got absolutely no desire for an official position. I never sought one, it was never offered, don’t want one.”

“The story is a sort of reflection on the crazy state of modern politics,” Blair added.

“Here’s a story that is literally an invention and is now half way around the world with conspiracy theories attached to it. That’s modern politics.”

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said Woolf's book is "filled with false and misleading accounts from individuals who have no access or influence with the White House."