May 23, 2018

Trump Ramps Up Attacks Against FBI and “Criminal Deep State”

He also debuted a new name for his latest unconfirmed rumor: “SPYGATE.”

Oliver Contreras/ZUMA

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President Donald Trump continued to fume over unconfirmed rumors that an FBI informant spied on his presidential campaign for political purposes, tweeting angrily Wednesday morning that this could be “one of the biggest scandals in history.” 

Contrary to Trump’s recent claims, there is no evidence that an FBI spy “infiltrated” the 2016 campaign. This has led Democrats and several former intelligence officials to suggest that the president is intentionally misrepresenting reports that an FBI source made contact with several Trump advisers to look into increasing concerns over foreign influence in the 2016 election, specifically his campaign’s ties to Russia.

Still, on Wednesday, Trump tweeted the rumor—which he coined”SPYGATE”—which is being aggressively pushed by his allies and conservative networks, as truth. 

Former FBI Director James Comey blasted the president for his ongoing attacks against career agents before posing a moral question to Republicans.

On Thursday, Republican lawmakers will meet with intelligence officials to review classified information related to the FBI informant. No Democrats have been invited to the meeting.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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