The latest bit of “fake news” emanating from the White House sparked a minor diplomatic scandal on Thursday after press secretary Sean Spicer, under pressure to provide evidence to support Donald Trump’s baseless assertion that Barack Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower, accused the British government of doing Obama’s dirty work.

In a heated exchange with reporters during Thursday’s press briefing, Spicer, increasingly more comfortable mirroring his boss’s thinking and syntax, cited a recent Fox News segment in which cable news pundit and former judge Andrew Napolitano explained how Obama could have wiretapped Trump without using any of the U.S. military or intelligence agencies. “Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command,” Spicer told reporters. “He didn’t use the N.S.A., he didn’t use the C.I.A., he didn’t use the F.B.I., and he didn’t use the Department of Justice. He used G.C.H.Q. What is that? It’s the initials for the British intelligence spying agency.” As a result, Spicer posited, there would be “no American fingerprints on this.”

The British were outraged, naturally, at being accused by their closest ally of illegally spying on Trump after both the Democratic and Republican heads of the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that there were “no indications that Trump Tower was the subject of surveillance” by the U.S. government, much less wiretapping. The normally secretive G.C.H.Q. issued a rare public statement denying Spicer’s claim and demanding an apology from the White House.

“Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about G.C.H.Q. being asked to conduct ‘wiretapping’ against the then president-elect are nonsense,” the British spy agency said in a notably pointed statement. “They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored.” (The White House did not respond to *Vanity Fair’*s request for comment.)

According to The Telegraph, Spicer and National Security Adviser General H.R. McMaster formally apologized to the agency, though neither released a public statement apologizing to the American public. CNN later confirmed that McMaster had been in touch with his British counterpart on Thursday to discuss Spicer’s comments, which a White House official said McMaster described as “unintentional.”

McMaster also told his counterpart that “their concerns were understood and heard and it would be relayed to the White House.”

The official said there were “at least two calls" from British officials on Thursday and that the British ambassador to the United States called Spicer to discuss the comment.

“Sean was pointing to the breadth of reporting, not endorsing any specific story,” the official said.

A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Theresa May also told reporters on Friday that they had “received assurances that these allegations will not be repeated.” Still, the White House appeared unwilling to concede that those private reassurances constituted an actual apology. “The U.K. demanded an apology, N.S.C. worked overnight to try and smooth things over,” an administration source told BuzzFeed News. The White House later released a statement saying that McMaster had explained that Spicer “was simply pointing to public reports, not endorsing any specific story.”

Administration officials were even less contrite when speaking anonymously. Spicer “didn’t apologize, no way, no how,” an unnamed senior West Wing official told The New York Times. The official said they weren’t sure whether McMaster actually apologized, either.