last night. he talked about it as you see. >> reporter: he wasn't clear. >> he put it in quotes, very broad. >> reporter: so was it phone tapping? >> no, it was sveillance and i think we've covered this ten times. >> now the controversy has triggered what could be considered an international incident. the white house having to explain to british officials that spicer was simply pointing to public reports, not endorsing any specific story or the information in it. after the british spy agency in a rare public statement vehemently denied claims, calling them nonsense, all this as the president's top diplomat secretary of state rex tillerson is overseas and issuing a stark warning that military action against north korea is "on the table." we're covering all the big headlines. andrea is in south korea covering secretary tillerson, here in washington nbc white house correspondent hallie jackson, "the guardian" political supporter sabrina