Ryan contradicts Trump claim that FBI put a ‘spy’ in his camp
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Paul Ryan is breaking with President Donald Trump, agreeing with others who say there’s no evidence that the FBI planted a “spy” in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign in an effort to hurt his chances at the polls.
Trump has insisted the agency planted a spy “to help Crooked Hillary win.”
Both Ryan and House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Trey Gowdy attended a classified briefing last month following reports that the FBI used an informant in its Russian election med- dling investigation to speak to members of the Trump campaign who had possible connections to Russia. Gowdy said afterward that the FBI was doing its duty.
“I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got,” Gowdy, R-S.C., said on Fox News last week. “And that it has nothing to do with Donald Trump.”
Gowdy added, in a separate interview on CBS, that such informants are used all the time.
Ryan, R-Wis., told re- porters Wednesday that he thinks Gowdy’s “initial assessment is accurate,” and he has seen “no evidence to the contrary” of what Gowdy said.
On Trump’s orders, the Department of Justice conducted two briefings for a handful of members of Congress after House intelligence committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., had asked for documents concerning the informant.
Trump tweeted about the issue, asserting there was a spy and that it was “starting to look like one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history.”