2016 ELECTION/CONGRESS/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Trump accused federal investigators of using a spy inside his campaign, repeating unconfirmed claims and saying it could be one of the ‘biggest political scandals in history!’ The president also gave the scandal a name: ‘SPYGATE.’ But hours later, Mr. Trump slightly backed off the accusations, telling reporters, ‘I hope it’s not true, but it looks like it is.’ In a series of Twitter posts early Wednesday [5-23-18] about the continuing Russia investigation, Mr. Trump briefly departed from his previous language about the possibility that the government deployed a spy inside his presidential campaign. Instead, he stated it as fact…Mr. Trump has joined his allies in Congress in an offensive against the Justice Department, calling for the department to disclose the identity of an informant who approached several members of his campaign team who had been in contact with suspected Russian agents. The government’s use of the informant was to glean information about what the aides knew about the Russian efforts to hack into Democratic emails — not to spy on Mr. Trump’s campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. Top intelligence and law enforcement officials are scheduled to meet with Republican lawmakers on Thursday [5-24-18] to share highly classified information about the informant.”
-Eileen Sullivan, “Trump Repeats Unconfirmed Claims of Spies Inside His Campaign,” The New York Times online, May 23, 2018