‘Bigger than Watergate’ if FBI spied on campaign, Trump says
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump responded Thursday to reports that FBI informants had infiltrated his presidential campaign, saying that “if so, this is bigger than Watergate!”
Mr. Trump made the comment on the one-year anniversary of Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel to head the Justice Department investigation into possible coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. He has repeatedly called the investigation a “witch hunt.”
“Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI ‘SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT,’” Mr. Trump tweeted.
“Andrew McCarthy says, ‘There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.’ If so, this is bigger than Watergate!”
Mr. McCarthy, a contributing editor at the National Review, wrote an article published last week headlined “Did the FBI Have a Spy in the Trump Campaign?”
In a second Thursday morning tweet, Mr. Trump wrote, in part: “Congratulations America, we are now into the second year of the greatest Witch Hunt in American History … and there is still No Collusion and No Obstruction.”
The New York Times reported separately this week that at least one government informant met several times with Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, both former foreign policy advisers on Mr. Trump’s Republican campaign. The newspaper attributed the information to current and former FBI officials.
‘Animals’ remark
Mr. Trump on Thursday defended his use of the word “animals” to describe immigrants who enter the country illegally, saying he would continue to use the term to refer to violent gang members in spite of a rebuke from Democratic leaders.
Answering a reporter’s question during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Mr. Trump said his comment a day earlier had clearly been directed at members of the MS-13 gang.
Responding to leaks
The White House communications office has canceled a daily morning meeting in response to the leak of a remark about Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., being close to death that a staff member made at one of those meetings, two people familiar with the matter confirmed Thursday.