As part of a large and baseless conspiracy theory, Donald Trump posited that Barack Obama had spied on him,[1] which Trump described as "the biggest political crime in American history, by far."[2] The series of accusations have been nicknamed Obamagate.[3][4][5][6] Obama had served as President of the United States from 2009 until 2017, when Trump succeeded him; Trump served as president until 2021.
During key points of the 2020 campaign, including the Republican National Convention[7][8] and both presidential debates,[9][10] Trump frequently repeated this theory, claiming "they spied on my campaign" in reference to these allegations.[11]
The specific allegations of inappropriate politically motivated surveillance or "spying" all involve the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Crossfire Hurricane investigation of the Trump campaign and transition and their ties to Russia.
No evidence has been found that legal surveillance, as part of Crossfire Hurricane, was at the direction of Obama, Obama administration political officials or improper deep state influence, or that the Steele dossier was used to launch the Russia probe,[12] or that the surveillance was designed to surveil the Trump campaign and Trump White House transition team for political purposes.
Trump has claimed that as part of Crossfire Hurricane, his "wires" at Trump Tower were wiretapped. This was refuted by Trump's own Justice Department.[13] In addition, Trump has claimed that after the Crossfire Hurricane investigation recorded Michael Flynn's conversations with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak, Flynn was improperly "unmasked". This was also refuted by the Trump Justice Department.[14]
Specific actions undertaken by the FBI that have been highlighted include the use of an informant who met with Trump advisors Sam Clovis, George Papadopoulos, and Carter Page,[15][16] as well as obtaining a FISA warrant to legally surveil Carter Page after he left the Trump campaign.
The Inspector General report on the Crossfire Hurricane investigation did not find evidence that "political bias or improper motivation influenced the FBI's decision to seek FISA authority on Carter Page", but did point out serious inconsistencies and improper procedures that were followed with regard to the obtaining of the warrants.[17] The Inspector General wrote that his review "found no evidence that the FBI attempted to place any" FBI source in the Trump campaign.[18][19] The review also "found no evidence" that the FBI had tried to "recruit members of the Trump campaign" to serve as their sources.[19] Finally, the review did not produce evidence that "political bias or improper motivations influenced" the FBI's usage of confidential sources or undercover agents for interactions with members of Trump's campaign.[18]
President Trump had a prolific day online, posting 126 tweets or retweets as part of his Mother's Day celebration. Several of the missives treated a new political project of his: Obamagate.
The president is trying to use the government to skew the election
Trump said ... without evidence, that Obama had committed "treason" by spying on his campaign, in reference to his years-old claim that the Obama administration tapped his phone lines at Trump Tower before the 2016 general election.
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).We found no evidence that the FBI used CHSs" — confidential human sources — "or UCEs" — undercover employees — "to interact with members of the Trump campaign prior to the opening of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation," the report states. "After the opening of the investigation, we found no evidence that the FBI placed any CHSs or UCEs within the Trump campaign or tasked any CHSs or UCEs to report on the Trump campaign." Horowitz's investigators also "found no documentary or testimonial evidence that political bias or improper motivations influenced the FBI's decision to use CHSs or UCEs to interact with Trump campaign officials in the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.
Third, it addresses allegations that the FBI planted an informant in the Trump campaign, saying "we found no evidence that the FBI attempted to place any CHSs within the Trump campaign, recruit members of the Trump campaign as CHSs, or task CHSs to report on the Trump campaign." [...] One supervisory special agent (SSA) describes believing a confidential human source's (CHS) information because the source was a Trump backer ... But it turns out that not only was the source a Trump supporter, so too were the agents involved in cultivating him.
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