OPINION:
President Donald Trump is poised to officially demand a federal investigation into whether the Department of Justice “infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes,” as he put it.
And that means, once again, he is putting his mockers to shame.
Trump publicly mentioned this possibility as far back as March 2017, when he tweeted: “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ’wires tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!”
For that, he was mocked and derided, called a nutcase and conspiracy theorist, ripped by the left, the media and the anti-Trumpers on the right as a man whose demeanor shows him unfit for high office — and even low office, for that matter. Senate intelligence chiefs Richard Burr and Mark Warner turned away Trump’s claims, saying there was “no indication” of any such surveilling nonsense. Judge Andrew Napolitano, a Fox contributor and frequent Trump supporter, put out a statement that ran: “Mr. President, this is not the way to go. Spying is valid to find the foreign agents among us. But it’s got to be based on suspicion and not an area code.” The statement came as Trump tweeted about FISA, the “act that may have been used … to badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration.”
Now?
In February, a poll was reported by Investor’s Business Daily with a headline that went like this: “Most Think Obama White House Spied on Trump Campaign, Want Special Counsel: IBD/TIPP Poll.”
And it opened by saying that “Americans overwhelmingly believe the Obama administration ’improperly surveilled’ Donald Trump’s campaign.”
Fast-forward again to this month.
The news now is that Stefan Halper, a 73-year-old Cambridge professor tied to both U.S. and British intelligence, may have snooped on Campaign Team Trump.
Rep. Devin Nunes is now wondering if there wasn’t just one but more than one FBIer spying on the Trump campaign.
“We asked for specific documents that we have still not received from the Department of Justice,” Nunes said on Fox News over the weekend. “So they continue to leak out things about this informant, and we don’t know if there’s one informant or more informants.”
And now Trump is back at his Twitter feed, outraged — and rightly so.
“I hereby demand,” he wrote, “that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”
Another: “Things are really getting ridiculous. The Failing and Crooked (but not as Crooked as Hillary Clinton) @nytimes has done a long & boring story indicating that the World’s most expensive Witch Hunt has found nothing on Russia & me so now they are looking at the rest of the World!”
Another: “If the FBI or DOJ was infiltrating a campaign for the benefit of another campaign, this is a really big deal. Only the release or review of documents that the house Intelligence Committee (also, Senate Judiciary) is asking for can give the conclusive answers. Drain the Swamp!”
And one more: “Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a ’hot’ Fake News story. If true — all time biggest political scandal!”
The blooming scandal’s been likened to Watergate — and that’s apt.
Only thing is, don’t expect the mainstream media to come swooping in to divide and conquer on this one. The Deep State’s got fingers deep into the press, too. But you know what? It doesn’t matter. The swamp’s already being drained; the deep state’s been outed; the liars and hypocrites and anti-American forces are slowly but steadily being brought to light anyway.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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