The lie that won’t die

When it comes to his bogus wiretap allegations President Trump is like a dog with a bone.

Once the allegations were simply a national embarrassment, now Trump has escalated them into an international faux pas.

After protests lodged by British officials, the White House agreed Friday morning not to repeat a claim suggesting GCHQ, the British electronic intelligence agency, had helped the Obama administration wiretap Donald Trump.

Press secretary Sean Spicer, who reportedly was told Tuesday the claim was false, nonetheless read from a Fox News report Thursday to bolster his boss’s claim.

GCHQ called the allegation “utterly ridiculous.”

Then Trump insisted during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that “we said nothing. All we did was quote a certain very talented legal mind who was the one responsible for saying that on television.”

He added, “You shouldn’t be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox.”

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith then went on record saying the network “cannot confirm” the statements by analyst Andrew Napolitano and “knows of no evidence that the president was surveilled.”

But Trump wasn’t giving up. Recalling a rather unpleasant moment in 2013 when Wiki-Leaks revealed the U.S. had listened in on Merkel’s cellphone calls, the president turned to her and noted that when it came to wiretapping, “At least we have something in common, perhaps.”

A breathtaking moment for American diplomacy.