Tapper unloads on Trump's 'baseless' wiretap claim: The 'White House continues to argue the Earth is flat'
Jake Tapper (CNN / Screengrab)

CNN’s Jake Tapper was stunned Thursday by the White House's continued defense of his dubious claim that former President Barack Obama wire tapped Trump Tower during the 2016 election, noting, “It’s amazing to watch the White House continue to argue that the Earth is flat.”


White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer engaged reporters in a “contentious” press conference Thursday afternoon, where he once again dug in his heels over the president’s assertion that he was wire tapped by his predecessor.

“Despite leaders from both the Democratic and Republican parties … all saying that they have seen zero evidence and have reason to believe that President Trump’s claim that President Obama had him wiretapped at Trump Tower is true,” Tapper said on CNN’s “The Lead.”

“Well despite that, today the White House stood by the president’s claim.”

Tapper rolled footage of Spicer’s press conference Thursday, where the White House press secretary “stands by” his charge

“It’s been almost two weeks, gentlemen, since this wild and apparently baseless claim has been made and the White House has gone through several responses,” Tapper said, noting the administration originally demanded an investigation into the president’s claim before refusing to comment on the matter. More recently, Trump claimed he meant “wire tapping” as general surveillance, despite describing it as a “fact” that “Obama was tapping [his] phones in October.”

“Now we have this anger from Sean Spicer, who cannot defend the indefensible so he’s trying to change exactly what happened,” Tapper noted.

“It’s amazing to watch the White House continue to argue that the Earth is flat,” Tapper said.

Watch the video below, via CNN: