Spygate

"We concluded that the FBI's use of this briefing for investigative reasons could potentially interfere with the expectation of trust and good faith among participants in strategic intelligence briefings, thereby frustrating their purpose," the Horowitz report said. Put it all together, and there was a lot of spying on the Trump campaign -- by confidential informants, in a wiretap, even in a supposed intelligence briefing. Yet defenders of the Trump-Russia probe still maintain that no spying took place, and that the FBI followed proper procedures. After Horowitz, that's a difficult case to make. The fact is, the FBI not only spied on the Trump campaign, it did it in the worst way.

We urge CHQ readers and friends of civil liberties of whatever political stripe to call Senator Lindsey Graham, the toll-free Capitol Switchboard number (1-866-220-0044), tell him that you want him to undertake an investigation to establish who at the Obama White House was involved in Operation Crossfire Hurricane and what Obama knew and when did he know it.

What the IG report describes are the middle steps in the circular proof cycle created to justify the surveillance and investigation of the Trump campaign and set-up the Russian collusion narrative. But the report doesn’t examine the predicate steps that brought Trump campaign volunteer George Papadopoulos into contact with Australian diplomat Alexander Downer, so, since the IG failed to do so, we will connect all the dots in the circle.

Yes, Obama was spying on the rival party’s presidential candidate — the very behavior for which the Democrats seek to impeach Trump. The difference is that Obama didn’t just consider such a politicized investigation of a foe; he followed through on it to disastrous effect. Trump’s complaints are all just a “conspiracy theory,” chants the media chorus, which the Horowitz report will “debunk.” Only in Washington, where the ruling class’s propagandistic quibbles are used to obscure reality with the help of the media, would such extensive and fruitless spying be deemed “proper.” The FBI’s scheming reeked of impropriety from beginning to end, and no amount of fragrant semantics can drive that odor away.

Fired FBI Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI General Counsel James Baker and several others are already in the crosshairs. Given U.S. attorney John Durham’s reputation for uncovering and prosecuting FBI corruption in the Bolger case, which one of the Spygate rats is going to flip first?

Although Gowdy intimated that the information he received in a briefing last week made clear the FBI did nothing wrong, numerous reports from multiple news outlets indicated that the lawmakers DOJ invited to the briefing were not given access to all of the records HPSCI subpoenaed. Other comments Gowdy made during recent television interviews raise questions about how firm a grasp he has on the investigation and concerns the investigation has raised.