The claims that Gowdy had somehow “refuted” allegations that the FBI used at least one informant to spy on the Trump operation are in direct conflict with confirmed reporting from The New York Times and Washington Post that the FBI did, in fact, use at least one individual to secretly collect information against the Trump campaign for use in the bureau’s anti-Trump investigative efforts. Gowdy himself suggests confirmation that such a government agent was used to secretly collect information on the Trump campaign.
The actual dispute is not whether the FBI used at least one person to spy — or secretly collect information — on people in Trump’s orbit, but whether this is something routinely done against Republican candidates and should be accepted uncritically, or whether it should be fully investigated by the media, the public, government watchdogs, and elected lawmakers obligated by the Constitution to conduct oversight on the agencies to which they appropriate taxpayer funding.
Gowdy’s curious exoneration of the FBI caught many by surprise given his work on the previous HPSCI report that found widespread abuse of surveillance procedures targeting the Trump campaign.
“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 said in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Martha MacCallum on Tuesday night.
The next morning on CBS News, co-host John Dickerson asked Gowdy, “So you looked at this and you said what the FBI was doing was kosher, why does the president keep saying what he’s saying when he knows better?”
“I don’t know,” Gowdy responded.
During the interview, however, Gowdy seemed confused or mistaken about simple facts related to the investigation.
Trey Gowdy Didn’t Even See Documents He Claims Exonerate FBI On Spygate: Reports
For example, after suggesting that the word “spy” was not an appropriate characterization of the FBI’s use of a source who secretly tried to establish a relationship with Trump campaign affiliates in order to report back to the government, Gowdy said he’d never heard the term “spy” during his 20 years of criminal investigations. Note this exchange with co-host Norah O’Donnell:
Sorry Transmistaken Try Again ....
The actual dispute is not whether the FBI used at least one person to spy — or secretly collect information — on people in Trump’s orbit, but whether this is something routinely done against Republican candidates and should be accepted uncritically, or whether it should be fully investigated by the media, the public, government watchdogs, and elected lawmakers obligated by the Constitution to conduct oversight on the agencies to which they appropriate taxpayer funding.
Gowdy’s curious exoneration of the FBI caught many by surprise given his work on the previous HPSCI report that found widespread abuse of surveillance procedures targeting the Trump campaign.
“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 said in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Martha MacCallum on Tuesday night.
The next morning on CBS News, co-host John Dickerson asked Gowdy, “So you looked at this and you said what the FBI was doing was kosher, why does the president keep saying what he’s saying when he knows better?”
“I don’t know,” Gowdy responded.
During the interview, however, Gowdy seemed confused or mistaken about simple facts related to the investigation.
Trey Gowdy Didn’t Even See Documents He Claims Exonerate FBI On Spygate: Reports
For example, after suggesting that the word “spy” was not an appropriate characterization of the FBI’s use of a source who secretly tried to establish a relationship with Trump campaign affiliates in order to report back to the government, Gowdy said he’d never heard the term “spy” during his 20 years of criminal investigations. Note this exchange with co-host Norah O’Donnell:
O’DONNELL: Was there a spy?
GOWDY: That is not a term I’ve ever used in the criminal justice system. Undercover, informant, confidential informant, those are all words I’m familiar with. I’ve never heard the term spy used.
O’DONNELL: So when president says ‘spygate,’ there was no spy, and ‘inserted into the campaign’ — have you seen any evidence of that?
GOWDY: I have not. That’s an espionage term, that’s not a law enforcement term.
GOWDY: That is not a term I’ve ever used in the criminal justice system. Undercover, informant, confidential informant, those are all words I’m familiar with. I’ve never heard the term spy used.
O’DONNELL: So when president says ‘spygate,’ there was no spy, and ‘inserted into the campaign’ — have you seen any evidence of that?
GOWDY: I have not. That’s an espionage term, that’s not a law enforcement term.
Sorry Transmistaken Try Again ....
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