The biggest story to dominate American politics since the election revolves around what impact Russia had on the 2016 presidential election, and the campaign of Donald Trump. After even more news was uncovered in relation to the scandal, the White House did their best to shift the narrative.
Spicer's media clash
Ever since the election of Donald Trump, speculation has increased on an almost daily basis about what role Russia had on helping the new president into the White House. Earlier this months, the Washington Post revealed that current Attorney General Jeff Sessions had been in contact with the ambassador to Russia at least twice during the election.
In an attempt to deflect from the report, Trump took to his Twitter account and pushed the baseless conspiracy theory that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his office at Trump Tower. No evidence has been released to back up the allegation, though House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes told the president in private that someone could have bugged his office at some point, but did rule out that Obama was the culprit. Nunes broke protocol by bypassing the Intel Committee and going directly to Trump, which was a topic of debate during the March 30 press briefing at the White House.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported that the Devin Nunes' claim of Trump Tower being wiretapped came from two sources in the White House, despite the administration denying that could be the case over the last week.
CBS News reporter Major Garrett pressed the issue with the White House Press Secretary, while quoting a previous Sean Spicer statement in the process from when he denied that the White House was involved with the Nunes story.
Revelation that White House officials helped provide reports to Devin Nunes will likely fuel criticism over his role https://t.co/6MvfIIeBTB
— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 30, 2017
"Your obsession with who talked to whom and when is not the answer," Sean Spicer said, while adding, "you continue to look at it from a backwards prism." The confrontation continued, with the press secretary becoming obviously frustrated.
'Please Don't Put Words in My Mouth': Spicer and Major Garrett Clash Over Nunes Reports https://t.co/jlXcCUB0N5 (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/VVb7iNGUKZ
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) March 30, 2017
Double denial
"You told us you're willing to look into and ask questions about the process and provide us answers," Major Garrett said. In response, Sean Spicer fired back, stating, "Please don’t put words in my mouth...I never said I would provide you answers." As of press time, neither Donald Trump nor Devin Nunes has not offered a response to the report in question.
