Refusing to apologize for citing another baseless claim. The latest allegation that by britain spied on him at the request of president obama. The British Spy Agency in a rare Public Statement called the claim nonsense. Trump, who demands apologies from everyone who crosses him obviously not capable of apologizing himself. Hes admitted that. But in a press conference with the german chancellor he made a joke about merkel being spied on and for his claim cited fox news. As far as wiretapping, i guess, by, you know, this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps. [ laughter ] and just to finish your question, we said nothing. All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I didnt make an opinion on it. That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on fox, and so you shouldnt be talking to me. You should be talking to fox. By the way, youll hear what fox had to say about this. It comes just hours, what donald trump just said, after Top White House aides had already offered what amounted to an apology to furious Government Officials. Even trumps lone source of the claim of british spying, fox news, as i said, not standing by him today. Okay . Here is what fox news anchor Shepard Smith said very specifically this afternoon. Fox news knows of no evidence of any kind that the now president of the United States was surveilled at any time in any way, full stop. Jim acosta begins our coverage out front at the white house. Jim, the white house, the cnn person in the white house apologized to the british but sean spicer after donald trump did that thing with Angela Merkel is now saying, oh, no, theres been no apology, sort of trickling back against himself. Reporter thats right, erin. White House Press Secretary sean spicer said to me after that News Conference today with Angela Merkel that the Trump Administration is not apologizing for spreading that bogus story about British Intelligence being involved in wiretapping then candidate donald trump over at trump tower. Just another sign that this white house is not backing down. They are doubling down. It was an opportunity for President Trump to withdraw a baseless accusation that former president Obama Wiretapped him and apologize. But for a president who never admits mistakes it was an opportunity missed. The tweets that you regret and very seldom. Very seldom. So you never would have very seldom. Probably wouldnt be here right now. Very seldom. Reporter at a News Conference with german chancellor Angela Merkel the president refused to back down, pointing to past reports that merkel was once surveilled by the u. S. Intelligence community during the obama administration. As far as wiretapping, i guess, by, you know, this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps. Reporter the white house is digging in, even afterpress Secretary Sean Spicer sparked a diplomatic uproar defending the president s comments. You also tend to overlook all the other sources, because i know you want to cherrypick it. No, no, but you do. But where was your concern about the New York Times reporting . Reporter to back up the president s wiretapping allegations, spicer cited an substantiated report from a fox news commentator. Last on fox news on march 14th judge Andrew Napolitano said, three intelligence sources have informed fox news president obama went outside the chain of command, didnt you the cia, the nsa, the fbi, or the department of justice. He used gchq. What is that . The initials for the British Intelligence spying agency. Reporter the British Government was outraged. Utterly ridiculous, should be ignored said the british signals intelligence community. The Prime Ministers Office added we made clear to the administration these claims are ridiculous and should be ignored. Weve received assurances they wont be repeated. But President Trump said no apology was necessary. All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television. I didnt make an opinion on it. That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on fox. And so you shouldnt be talking to me. You should be talking to fox. Reporter after the press conference, spicer told reporters he was just passing on news reports from various outlets. I dont think we regret anything, he said. For the president , the merkel visit was a chance to mend fences. He had tweeted, i told you Time Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the favorite. They picked the person who is ruining germany. Ive always said its much better to talk to one another and not about one another, and i think our conversation proved this. Reporter earlier today, the Justice Department handed over to the House Intelligence Committee some documents that the Trump Administration is saying would bolster the president s claims about wiretapping over at trump tower. The chair of that committee, devin nunes, is expected to make a statement on all of this within the next hour. I should point out i did go back to the British Government earlier this afternoon and asked them whether or not they had another comment about what the president had to say today and the white House Press Secretary for that matter because they did not back off of that claim that the British Government was perhaps involved in the wiretapping at trump tower. They again used it during this News Conference today and the president said you can talk to fox news about all this. The British Government told me through a spokesperson, erin, theyre not commenting any further on this matter. All right. Thank you very much, jim. Obviously, were awaiting that statement from chairman nunes. The documents from the department of justice. Nunes has read it. That statement could come any moment. Our chief National Security correspondent jim sciutto, you heard jim talking to british officials. Youve also been speaking to your sources in British Intelligence. How are they responding to this accusation, the fact we were told they were apologized to by Trump Officials and now no, far from it, a double back, a no, we didnt apologize. In a word, apoplectic. I was at gchq last week outside of london, and this is a reticent organization. They dont like to comment publicly, certainly on intelligence matters. That tends to be the way they go. On this one, they went out pretty far. The words nonsense, calling this an allegation that should be ignored, calling it utterly ridiculous, thats a pretty Clear Communication of how they feel about it. That was yesterday. Today as the president given an opportunity to move beyond this or perhaps walk it back, and he doesnt take that opportunity, its mesmerizing to folks in the British Intelligence world, also diplomat si as to why that is between two of the closest allies, right . Hard to pick a closer ally than the uk for the u. S. But as jim is hearing, im hearing the same, no immediate plans for further Public Comment on this. I think they made their feelings clear yesterday by calling this ridiculous. I want to bring in the rest of my panel. Were awaiting chairman nunes and this statement. John avlon from the daily beast, david urban, Trump Campaign strategist, and julia, former assistant secretary for dhs. David urban, heres what happened today. Trump went against his own team. His National Security adviser had spoke on the british and said one thing. Senior Administration Official tells us both mcmaster and spice spice together had delivered what amounted to an apology to the british. The british told reporters they were sure these allegations wouldnt be repeated. When trump is asked about it, takes it all back. What was he thinking . Im not sure the president took it all back, erin. Im not sure what transpired there. Look, all this is about is this president s credibility. Do our allies abroad think this president will stand by them and honor his word when he gives his word . I dont think that the british have anything to fear in that regard. I think they believe that. I dont think that the chancellor sitting next to the president believes that. Listen, lets harken back and think back a year or so ago to president obama with the red line in the sand hold on. I have to interrupt you. What you just said is something i have to get everyone in on that. But before that, manu raju, because we have the statement from chairman nunes. Manu, he had seen these documents from the department of justice. What is he saying . Reporter that he got them and thats about it. Were not learning about the contents of the documents according to what mr. Nunes just said. Ill read you this brief statement from chairman nunes saying the committee is satisfied that the department of justice has fully complied with our request for information from our march 8th letter on possible surveillance related to donald trump or his associates. He also said the committee has not received information from the cia and fbi related to a separate matter. That matter involving the issues of leaks and whether any of his information was mishandled in the way this information was leaked. He said the nsa had partially met their request regarding leaks. But saying that he is satisfied that the department of justice has fully complied with our request for information related to the surveillance of President Trump. Lets unpack that. Hes saying he got the information but not whats in the document. Probably one reason why im told the information was classified. Devin nunes entering this room where he was going to read this letter told me as he went into the room, said this is a classified document. I said do you think this is going to back um what President Trump has been saying, that he was wiretapped under the orders of barack obama . He said i dont think so. Those were his exact words. I dont think so. And adam schiff, the top democrat on the committee, i asked him the same thing. He said theres absolutely no way this would back up what donald trump has been saying. He said hes spoke on the all the appropriate people and theres no way it would support what he had to say. Schiff did not review those documents because they came in the afternoon right as he was leaving town and a lot of members did not get to review it because it was a hard copy they received but theres some frustration they did not get it in time. Nevertheless, this statement saying they got the documents, well see what they say and what james comey says on monday when he testifies before the House Intelligence Committee. Julia, we understand obviously this is classified, but you heard what the chairman said to manu going into the room, he doesnt think theres anything in there that would change his view to the fact that wiretapping had not occurred. Whats your take on the statement . Ive been in government enough to ill interpret it for everyone theres nothing in there to suggest wiretapping a occurred. How do i know that . If there were the fbi would be investigating it. And therefore the chairman would not be as confident saying what he had said publicly. This tweet investigation is over. The trump white house, its like monty python, im not dead yet, they keep insisting theres going to be something out there. Theres nothing out there. The story is done. The fbi handled over information saying is the case is closed, were not boerting ourselves with this tweet madness anymore. On to the real news. Jim sciutto, do you agree with that . Devin nunes is a republican and he told our manu raju he doesnt think theres anything to prove it. The fact is weve heard pretty categorical denials of any evidence from republicans and democrats from the u. S. Attorney general on down. It seems very unlikely. All right. Of course well be joined by congressman herd on that committee in a couple moments. I want david urban yes, i would like to finish my point. I want to highlight, the held line of what you were saying is what matters is whether our allies believe that our president can be trusted and our government can be trusted to say what it means and means what its saying. Youre saying the answer to that is yes, they do believe it. I believe that. I believe the South Koreans believe the president , if he says something, will stand up with them. I believe that chancellor merkel will believe that. Today she sat there. If the russian rus were to pour across, the u. S. Would be there. That wasnt the case as i was pointing out in syria with the red line. We had the president say definitively that president obama definitively said, and jim im sure was around, said if the syria regime used chemical weapons on their people the u. S. Would it would result in u. S. Military intervention. Right. That happened and it didnt occur. Before you deskrepd into the game of what aboutism, lets acknowledge the fact what you just said makes no sense. Not true. You just said our allies have every e reason to take the president at his word when hes doubling down on things that are false. [ talking over each other ] youre trying to defend the indefensible. No respect for the American People as well as the intelligence and the allies. Im asking for what evidence you have that they dont. Exactly what the right accused obama of every time, alienating allies. Hes alienating allies left and right. We had a president who told the world oh, just [ talking over each other ]. We are dealing with this president right now. [ talking over each other ] we told a bad guy what erp we were going to do and didnt do it p. This has nothing to do with assad. Paul ryan, devin nunes, senator burr, john mccain, tom cole, all these guys have said theres nothing there. Thats one thing. The second thing is on this issue specifically of britain, our biggest ally, he came out today and said you shouldnt be talking to me, you should be talking to fox. Can i play you what fox said . I think this is important. Listen hold on. When you get an opportunity to apologize, the National Security adviser and press secretary had already delivered what amounted to an apology, this was his answer. Heres fox news. Fox news knows of no evidence of any kind that the now president of the United States was surveilled at any time in any way, full stop. David . So what are you looking for, erin . He keeps bringing up an allegation that appeared on fox. Fox is saying theres no evidence of it. Give an chance to apologize today and doesnt. Youre saying that doesnt cause any issue with our biggest ally. I dont think it does. Jim sciutto, you talked to them. Does it . I just went to europe and i met with leaders and officials from a number of u. S. Allies. And this is the issue they have here. They dont know whose statement holds because they will listen to President Trump, theyll read his tweets, and then theyll get a facetoface with the general mattis or a secretary tillerson or others and oftentimes the message is different, even contradictory. So in private they wont say this in public because theyre allies and theyre careful about it. In private they express deep concerns because they dont know what holds today. And the real concern is when theres a crisis, when those statements really matter. When north korea launches a missile. Right . Or russia to your point the Syrian Government using chemical weapons on their people. We saw wit president obama. I dont do political commentary. Im telling you what i heard from british officials about what they believe about statements from the u. S. Theyre confused. They dont know what to believe. To this point, mcmaster calls his counterparts and delivers what amounts to an apology and trump doesnt back him um. You dont see that as a problem, undermining his own National Security adviser . As jim stated the british and the u. S. Obviously have an incredible special close relationship. Historically our closest ally. Im not quite certain where the president was given an opportunity to apologize and he walked it Alejandra Oraa did something that did not support what general mcmaster or sean did at the press conference. I didnt see that or hear that. During when he was asked at the press conference with the chancellor, i dont think that he negated what either of those individuals said. He obviously did. Im sorry. He obviously did. Look, general mcmaster and general mattis, people serving their country with incredible distinction, being undermined and therefore you get engaged in a surreal game of contain the president , and thats a really unusual situation for the country for reasons we should not ignore. Where was the question he was asked do you refute or repudiate the statements by general mcmaster and talk to fox news, the president said. Let me play how he answered it again, okay . He said we said nothing. Lets be