Wednesday, May 23, 2018
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump escalated his efforts to discredit the Russia investigation today, saying the FBI has been caught in a "MAJOR spy scandal" over their use of a secret informant to determine whether some of Trump's campaign aides were working with Russia ahead of the 2016 election.
"SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!" Trump said in an early morning Twitter tirade.
Trump and his GOP supporters in Congress are now demanding information on the outside informant, claiming it is proof that the Obama administration was trying to spy on his campaign for political reasons. The White House has negotiated rare access to classified documents for Trump's congressional allies in a briefing expected Thursday.
"Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State," Trump tweeted today. "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!"
The president's comments came a day after he increased pressure on the Justice Department, declining to say whether he has confidence in Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Over the weekend, Trump demanded that the Justice Department investigate the FBI and Justice Department's handling of the Russia probe.
The Justice Department agreed by expanding an open, internal investigation to determine whether there was any politically motivated surveillance. And the White House said that Trump chief of staff John Kelly would organize the meeting with House lawmakers to review the documents, although he and other White House staffers would not be present.