ABC's George Stephanopoulos Calls Out Trump Team's Lie About Wiretapping Allegations
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ABC’s George Stephanopoulos called out deputy White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ false claim that reporting in mainstream news outlets, such as The New York Times and BBC, substantiated President Donald Trump's false assertion that former President Barack Obama ordered that Trump Tower be wiretapped during the 2016 campaign. Sanders first made the suggestion on the March 5 edition of ABC's This Week, saying those outlets “have also talked about it and reported on the potential of this having had happened.” On the March 6 edition ABC's Good Morning America, Sanders repeated her claim that “the wiretapping has been discussed in The New York Times, BBC, Fox News.” Stephanopoulos slammed her claim, noting that “every single article you just mentioned does not back up the president's claim that President Obama had him wiretapped.” Stephanopoulos added, “One of them, based on anonymous sources, says there might have been a court ordered FISA wiretap. That has been denied by the former director of national intelligence, James Clapper.” Additionally, Stephanopoulos pointed out that there is “a world of difference between an illegal wiretap ordered by a president and court-ordered wiretap approved by a federal judge.” As the Washington Post’s Fact Checker blog explained, “No article says that Obama requested the order or that it resulted in the tapping of Trump's phone lines.” Similarly, PolitiFact wrote, “If the basis of Trump’s comment is media reports, he doesn’t have a case,” rating Sanders’ claim “false.” From the March 6 edition of ABC’s Good Morning America: