Trump zeroes in on probe with ‘spygate’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has branded his latest attempt to discredit the special counsel’s Russia investigation as “spygate,” part of a newly invigorated strategy embraced by his Republican colleagues to raise suspicions about the probe that has dogged his presidency almost since the start.
Trump now is zeroing in on — and at times embellishing — reports that a longtime U.S. government informant approached members of his 2016 campaign during the presidential election in a possible bid to glean intelligence on Russian efforts to sway the election.
Trump’s latest broadsides set the stage for an unusual decision by the White House to arrange access to classified documents for just two Republican House members, both Trump allies, in a briefing expected Thursday, as Trump and his supporters in Congress press for information on the outside informant.
It remains unclear what, if any, spying was done. The White House has given no evidence to support Trump’s claim that the Obama administration was trying to spy on his 2016 campaign for political reasons. It’s long been known that the FBI was looking into Russian meddling during the campaign and that part of that inquiry touched on the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russian figures.
Democrats say the briefing — held as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates Trump’s campaign and whether it was involved in Russian meddling in the U.S. election — is highly inappropriate and should be given to a bipartisan group of congressional leaders, as is customary. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote to the Justice Department on Wednesday and said the GOP-only meeting is “completely improper in its proposed form and would set a damaging precedent for your institutions and the rule of law.”
Some Senate Republicans have asked to be invited to the meeting as well, saying they should be included. Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Texas Sen. John Cornyn made that request to White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on Tuesday. Cornyn is the No. 2 Republican in the Senate.
The meeting scheduled for Thursday was encouraged by Trump and brokered by the White House. Expected attendees are FBI Director Christopher Wray, National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, Justice Department official Edward O’Callaghan, House Intelligence Commit tee Chairman Devin Nunes and House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy.
Nunes, an ardent Trump supporter, has been demanding information on an FBI source in the Russia investigation. And Trump took up the cause as the White House tries to combat the threat posed by Mueller’s investigation.
Trump escalated his efforts to discredit that investigation Wednesday, saying the FBI has been caught in a “MAJOR spy scandal.”
He tweeted: “Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State. They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before! What goes around, comes around!”
Former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump last year, tweeted Wednesday morning that the agency’s use of secret informants was “tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country.”