Trey Gowdy has publicly dismissed the claims of “Spygate” – that the FBI illegally surveiled President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign (and associates of his even after the election). (RELATED: GOP Leaders Want Special Counsel to Investigate Spying on Trump).
While the FBI’s secret counterintelligence operation into the Trump campaign (that has since been replaced by Robert Mueller’s special counsel) was initially believed to have just spied on the Trump campaign by going to a FISA court and surveilling the communications of Carter Page and Paul Manafort, that turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg.
Before the FBI’s counterintelligence operation even officially began, they sent a spy named Stefan Halper to infiltrate and gather intelligence on the Trump campaign. Halper met with George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, and Sam Clovis. Halper later attempted to pitch himself as an ambassador to Asia after Trump won the election, but wasn’t granted the position.
But according to Gowdy, sending in a spy to investigate a campaign that isn’t formally under investigation yet is A-OK. Appearing with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, Gowdy changed the subject away from the FBI spying on Trump when pressed and repeatedly insisted that the FBI was investigating Russia, not Trump.
According to The Federalist:
Rep. Trey Gowdy recently suggested the FBI did nothing wrong when it used at least one government informant to secretly collect information on Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Public reports indicate, however, that Gowdy never even reviewed the relevant documents on the matter subpoenaed by Congress. In fact, a spokeswoman for Gowdy told The Federalist that the congressman doesn’t even know what documents and records were subpoenaed by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Numerous reports from multiple news outlets indicated that the lawmakers DOJ invited to the briefing were not given access to all of the records HPSCI subpoenaed. Other comments Gowdy made during recent television interviews raise questions about how firm a grasp he has on the investigation and concerns the investigation has raised.
So, Gowdy thinks the FBI did nothing wrong, after having absolutely no understanding of what they did.
The National Review’s Andrew McCarthy shredded Gowdy’s incompetent remarks, noting that “It is a diversion for Gowdy to prattle on about how Trump himself was not a “target” of the Russia investigation. As we’ve repeatedly observed (and as Gowdy acknowledged in the interview), the Trump-Russia probe is a counterintelligence investigation. An accomplished prosecutor, Gowdy well knows that “target” is a term of art in criminal investigations, denoting a suspect who is likely to be indicted.”
And surely, Gowdy is aware that Russia is not a “suspect” in a counterintelligence investigation. Only people can be suspects.
The claims of Russian collusion weren’t the basis for the FBI’s investigation – they were just the excuse for a failed investigation aimed at digging up dirt on the Trump campaign.
Gowdy ought to know better.
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