Trump jokes that he and Merkel were both wiretapped by Obama

President Trump on Friday joked that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel might find common ground over allegations of wiretapping by the Obama administration. 

“As far as wiretapping by this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps,” Trump said during a joint news conference with the German leader Friday, prompting laughs from the room.

The president was apparently referring to 2010 WikiLeaks revelations that the National Security Agency under Obama had tapped Merkel’s phone.

{mosads}Trump leveled unfounded wiretapping accusations against the former president earlier this month, positing a series of tweets claiming that Obama had ordered surveillance of Trump Tower during his 2016 presidential campaign. He also called on Congress to investigate the alleged wiretapping.

But those statements were met with skepticism by both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, as well as FBI Director James Comey, who reportedly urged the Justice Department to publicly knock down the allegations.

Trump also faced questions about press secretary Sean Spicer’s Thursday remarks about allegations that Obama used a British intelligence agency to spy on Trump’s presidential campaign, which he pulled from Fox News analyst Andrew Napolitano.

That accusation reportedly ignited fury among British lawmakers and intelligence officials, who outright rejected the claim.

“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 didn’t make an opinion on it. That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox,” Trump said.