US
President
Donald
Trump
speaks
to the
media as
he makes
his way
to board
Marine
One from
the
South
Lawn of
the
White
House on
May 23,
2018 in
Washington,
DC.
Trump is
heading
to New
York to
attend a
roundtable
discussion
on
immigration.
( AFP
PHOTO /
Mandel
NGANMANDEL
NGAN/AFP/Getty
Images)
Seething
over
Russia
probe,
Trump
tears
into
‘spygate’
By
MARY
CLARE
JALONICK
and
JONATHAN
LEMIRE
APNews.com
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
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.
Trump
has told
confidants
in
recent
days
that the
revelation
of an
informant
was
potential
evidence
that the
upper
echelon
of
federal
law
enforcement
has
conspired
against
him,
according
to three
people
familiar
with his
recent
conversations
but not
authorized
to
discuss
them
publicly.
Trump
told one
ally
this
week
that he
wanted
“to
brand”
the
informant
a “spy,”
believing
the more
nefarious
term
would
resonate
more in
the
media
and with
the
public.
He
went on
to debut
the term
“Spygate”
on
Wednesday,
despite
its
previous
associations
with a
2007 NFL
scandal
over
videotaping
coaches.
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.”
White
House
press
secretary
Sarah
Sanders
said no
Democrats
were
invited
because
they had
not
requested
the
information.
In fact,
Democrats
have
asked to
be shown
the
classified
material.
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
Committee
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.”
“Attacks
on the
FBI and
lying
about
its work
will do
lasting
damage
to our
country,”
he said.
“How
will
Republicans
explain
this to
their
grandchildren?
Trump
told
reporters
in
response:
“What
I’m
doing is
a
service
to this
country
and I
did a
great
service
to this
country
by
firing
James
Comey.”
The
back and
forth
between
Congress
and the
Justice
Department
over the
Nunes
request
— one of
many
over the
course
of the
Russia
investigation
— has
been
simmering
for
weeks.
The
department
originally
rejected
Nunes’
appeal,
writing
in a
letter
in late
April
that his
request
for
information
“regarding
a
specific
individual”
could
have
severe
consequences,
including
potential
loss of
human
life.
Negotiations
over the
information
stalled,
but
restarted
when
Trump
demanded
in a
tweet
Sunday
that the
Justice
Department
investigate
“whether
or not
the
FBI/DOJ
infiltrated
or
surveilled
the
Trump
Campaign
for
Political
Purposes.”
The
Justice
Department
agreed
by
expanding
an open,
internal
investigation
to
determine
whether
there
was any
politically
motivated
surveillance.
And the
White
House
said
Kelly
would
organize
the
meeting
with
House
lawmakers
to
review
the
documents,
although
he and
other
White
House
staffers
would
not be
present.
The
New York
Times
was the
first to
report
that the
FBI had
an
informant
who met
several
times
with
Trump
campaign
officials
who had
suspicious
contacts
linked
to
Russia.
No
evidence
has
emerged
to show
that
Obama-era
authorities
placed
an
informant
inside
the
Trump
campaign.
Separately
on
Wednesday,
Robert
Mueller’s
prosecutors
asked a
federal
judge to
start
the
process
of
sentencing
former
Trump
campaign
adviser
George
Papadopoulos,
who has
been a
key
witness
in the
investigation
since
his plea
last
year to
lying to
the FBI.
Prosecutors
had been
pushing
off
Papadopoulos’
sentencing
for
months
as he
cooperated
in the
probe.
Information
about
Papadopoulos’
contact
with
people
linked
to
Russia
during
the 2016
campaign
triggered
the FBI
counterintelligence
investigation
that
Mueller
took
over.