Trump Coins Term ‘Spygate’ Increasing Attacks On FBI’s Investigations Of His Campaign Team
President Donald Trump recently claimed that the FBI planted a “spy” in the White House in order to obtain information from members of his 2016 campaign, and on Wednesday he ramped up his criticism of the bureau, seeming to try to popularize the term “Spygate” for the so-called scandal.
Trump Ramps Up Claims About FBI Spy
Trump called over the weekend for an investigation into the possibility that the FBI and the Justice Department “infiltrated or surveilled” his campaign, and even suggested his predecessor Barack Obama may have requested the spy to be planted. The president’s demand came after reports surfaced last week that the FBI used a confidential source as part of its probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Lawmakers met on Thursday to discuss the issue surrounding Trump’s allegations. Earlier this week, it was announced that Democrats were reportedly excluded from attending a Justice Department briefing about the alleged FBI informant. White House chief of staff John Kelly set up this meeting after speaking with Trump, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
“SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!” Trump said in a tweet Wednesday morning.
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SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018
Trump made similar claims while speaking to reporters on Tuesday:
Trump: “If they had spies in my campaign, that would be a disgrace to this country, that would be one of the biggest insults that anyone’s ever seen … It would make probably every political event ever look like small potatoes” https://t.co/OFMUFBlxex
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 22, 2018
According to The Washington Post, the FBI’s source is a conservative former University of Cambridge professor named Stefan A. Halper who “had contact with at least three advisers to Trump during the campaign.”
In other Twitter posts, Trump cited comments made by former New Jersey judge Andrew Napolitano. Napolitano, who has often appeared on Fox News, said “it’s clear that they had eyes and ears all over the Trump campaign.” The former judge was interviewed on Fox & Friends on Wednesday.
…Follow the money! The spy was there early in the campaign and yet never reported Collusion with Russia, because there was no Collusion. He was only there to spy for political reasons and to help Crooked Hillary win – just like they did to Bernie Sanders, who got duped!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018
Former national intelligence director James Clapper said in a television interview on Tuesday that there is no evidence that the FBI spied on Trump’s campaign.
“They were not. They were spying — a term I don’t particularly like — on what the Russians were doing,” Clapper said on The View.
Clapper has a new book out called Facts and Fears.
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