Obama subsequently called Merkel and told her he was not aware her phone had been hacked, U.S. officials said.

Another boldfaced lie from Obama is that he ordered spying on leaders to be stopped. It has not stopped.

Any decision to spy on friendly foreign leaders is made with input from the State Department, which considers the political risk, the official said. Any useful intelligence is then given to the president’s counter-terrorism advisor, Lisa Monaco, among other White House officials.

If U.S. spying on key foreign leaders was news to the White House, current and former officials said, then White House officials have not been reading their briefing books.