White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer (above) said Monday that CIA employees were the ones heard cheering Donald Trump during his appearance at the agency's Langley, Virginia, headquarters

US government sources are denying a claim made Monday by the chief White House spokesperson that CIA employees cheered President Donald Trump's overtly political remarks during his controversial appearance at the agency's Langley, Virginia, headquarters on Saturday.

Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, told reporters on Monday that the applause that was heard in the background during Trump's appearance at CIA headquarters on Saturday were not from 'Trump or White House folks.'

'There were no Trump or White House folks sitting down,' Spicer said.

'They were all CIA (unintelligible). So, not in rows one-through-anything, from what I'm told.'

But an unnamed government official said that the audience members who were heard clapping for Trump were actually a group of 40 supporters of the president, Vice President Mike Pence, and House Rep. Mike Pompeo, according to CBS News.

White House officials said that 400 CIA employees attended the event.

Some of those in attendance were supporters of Pompeo, whom Trump had picked to be CIA director.

Pompeo's nomination is still pending after Senate Democrats delayed confirmation.

The front rows were also occupied by the agency's higher echelon leadership who did not cheer at all during the speech, a government source told CBS News.

But a government source says that the people heard cheering during Trump's (left) appearance on Saturday were actually non-CIA supporters of the president and his pick for CIA director, Rep. Mike Pompeo (right)

Spicer, however, refuted the claims made in the CBS News report, calling them 'not accurate at all,' according to Yahoo! News.

When asked if the audience members seated in the front row were CIA employees, Spicer said: 'Honestly, I don’t have a seating chart.'

'I think we had a very small footprint going over. I don’t know exactly who went over. I don’t know, maybe 10 people at most.'

After Spicer consulted with a deputy, he said that 10 people traveled from the White House to Langley.

'I’m not really sure why this matters. Ten people did not yell that loud,' he said.

During Trump's appearance at CIA headquarters, he claimed that the feud between the president and the intelligence community was started by the media.

When Spicer was asked if he believed Trump's statement to be true, he said there was no feud.

CNN reporter Jim Sciutto refuted a claim by Spicer that Trump was given a standing ovation at CIA headquarters on Saturday

The press secretary then said that Trump was greeted at the CIA with a 'five-minute standing ovation' of 'hooting and hollering.'

But raw footage of Trump's appearance at the CIA does not corroborate Spicer's claims.

A CNN reporter who was there also said that Spicer's assertion that there was a 'standing ovation' was simply not true.

'No one who was there described a "five-minute standing ovation" for Trump at CIA as [Spicer] just described,' tweeted the reporter, Jim Sciutto.

The latest revelations are likely to once again call into question Spicer's credibility with the media.

The White House press secretary was lambasted over the weekend for insisting that the crowd for Trump's inauguration in Washington, DC, was the 'largest ever'.

Press reports citing photographic evidence and official transit data indicate that the audience was significantly smaller than that which turned out for Barack Obama's inaugurations in 2009 and 2013.

Spicer offered some words of contrition to reporters during his first White House briefing – but then repeated his claim that Trump's was the 'most watched inauguration ever.'

After he got asked point blank about whether he would tell the truth, Spicer offered a few accommodating remarks.

'Our intention is never to lie to you,' he told ABC's Jonathan Karl.

'It's an honor to do this. And yes, I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may – we may not fully understand when we come out,' he explained.

A government source said that Trump's appearance 'made relations worse' with the intelligence community, particularly because the president made an overtly political speech in front of the CIA's Memorial Wall which honors agents who died in the line of duty (above)

On his first full day as president, Trump paid a visit to Langley in what was expected to be a fence-mending appearance aimed at patching up relations with the spy agency.

While Trump did praise the agency and its spies, the president ignited criticism for devoting a large portion of his remarks to criticizing press coverage of his inauguration.

The former head of the CIA, John Brennan, was incensed after Trump stood in front of the CIA's Memorial Wall - which is dedicated to those who died in the line of service - and took the opportunity to boast about his inauguration crowds and decry the 'lying media'.

The cheering and applause that was heard for Trump's remarks raised eyebrows among Washington observers who say that the agency should not be endorsing such an overtly political speech.

Sources also said that rather than improve relations with the intelligence community, Trump's 'uncomfortable' visit actually 'made relations worse'.

In recent weeks, Trump took aim at the CIA and other intelligence officials, blaming them for leaking information about alleged ties to Russia and Moscow's purported attempts to hack into the email accounts of Trump's political opponents to help him win the presidency.