Spygate (conspiracy theory)

Spygate is a disproven^[1] conspiracy theory peddled by 45th U.S. president Donald Trump and his political base on many occasions throughout his presidential term. It primarily centered around the idea that a spy was planted by the Obama administration to conduct espionage on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign for political purposes.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] On May 17, 2018, Trump tweeted: "Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI 'SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.'"^[6]^[7] In that tweet, he quoted Andrew C. McCarthy, who had just appeared on Fox & Friends^[7] repeating assertions from his own May 12 article for National Review.^[8]

Trump made more assertions, without providing evidence, on May 18^[9]^[8] and May 22–23, 2018, adding that it was done in an effort to help Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton, win the general election. He said the supposed spy, later identified as professor Stefan Halper, was paid a "massive amount of money" for doing so.^[10]^[11] In the middle and second half of 2016, Halper, a longtime confidential source for U.S. intelligence, began working as a secret informant for the FBI, targeting three Trump campaign advisers separately in a covert effort to investigate suspected Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. However, as of May 2018, the Trump administration had produced no evidence that Halper had actually joined the Trump campaign or any politically motivated surveillance of the campaign.^[12]

On June 5, 2018, Trump further alleged that a counterintelligence operation into the Trump campaign had been running since December 2015.^[13] The House Intelligence Committee, then in Republican control, concluded in an April 2018 report that the FBI counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign did not begin until late July 2016, while the February 2018 Nunes memo written by Republican aides reached the same conclusion, as did the February 2018 rebuttal memo by committee Democrats.^[14]^[15]^[16] Whether the use of the FISA warrant, which permits investigators to collect archived communications well prior to the issuance of the warrant, includes the December 2015 date remains partially classified.

Political commentators and high-ranking politicians from both sides of the political spectrum have dismissed Trump's allegations as lacking evidence and maintained that the FBI's use of Halper as a covert informant was in no way improper. Trump's claims about when the counterintelligence investigation was initiated have been shown to be false.^[17] A December 2019 Justice Department Inspector General report "found no evidence that the FBI attempted to place any [Confidential Human Sources] within the Trump campaign, recruit members of the Trump campaign as CHSs, or task CHSs to report on the Trump campaign."^[18]

Spygate is similar to but distinct from Trump's March 2017 assertion that President Obama "had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower," which the Trump Justice Department stated was untrue in September 2017 and October 2018 federal court briefs.^[19] It is also part of Trump's larger list of spying allegations against the Obama administration.^[20]

^ Beauchamp, Zack (May 25, 2018). ""Spygate," the false allegation that the FBI had a spy in the Trump campaign, explained". Vox. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
^ Davis, Julie; Haberman, Maggie (May 28, 2018). "With 'Spygate', Trump Shows How He Uses Conspiracy Theories to Erode Trust". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
^ Cite error: The named reference WaPo3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference LATConspiracy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Poole, Steven (May 31, 2018). "Spygate: why Donald Trump's use of 'gate' is a scandal". The Guardian. Retrieved June 29, 2022.
^ Cite error: The named reference Trump_5/17/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Rucker_5/17/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference Beauchamp_5/25/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Lima_5/18/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Greenberg, Jon. "Online story gets details wrong about informant payment in Trump Russia probe". Politifact. Archived from the original on May 24, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
^ Tatum, Sophie (May 23, 2018). "Carter Page: I 'never found anything unusual' in conversations with FBI source". CNN. Archived from the original on May 23, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2018.
^ Jalonick, Mary Clare; Lemire, Jonathan (May 24, 2018). "Seething over Russia probe, Trump tears into 'spygate'". Associated Press. Retrieved April 18, 2019. It remains unclear what, if any, spying was done. The White House has given no evidence to support Trump's claim that the Obama administration was trying to spy on his 2016 campaign for political reasons...No evidence has emerged to show that Obama-era authorities placed an informant inside the Trump campaign.
^ Chait, Jonathan (June 5, 2018). "Trump's Latest FBI Conspiracy Theory Is His Craziest Yet". New York. Retrieved June 7, 2018.
^ Cite error: The named reference Yen_Woodward_Tucker_4/1/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Qiu_5/21/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference Philips_2/24/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Jacobson, Lewis. "Was Donald Trump the target of a coup? No". Politifact. Retrieved July 3, 2019.
^ Blake, Aaron. "Analysis | 4 takeaways from the Horowitz report on the Russia investigation". The Washington Post.
^ "Trump Admin Says There is No Evidence Obama Wiretapped Trump". Lawandcrime.com. October 20, 2018.
^ "Opinion | Trump is desperate, so 'Obamagate' is back. But it still makes no sense". The Washington Post. October 8, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.

[1] Beauchamp, Zack (May 25, 2018). ""Spygate," the false allegation that the FBI had a spy in the Trump campaign, explained". Vox. Retrieved November 8, 2023.

[Davis_Haberman_5/28/2018-2] Davis, Julie; Haberman, Maggie (May 28, 2018). "With 'Spygate', Trump Shows How He Uses Conspiracy Theories to Erode Trust". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2018.

[WaPo3-3] Cite error: The named reference WaPo3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[LATConspiracy-4] Cite error: The named reference LATConspiracy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[5] Poole, Steven (May 31, 2018). "Spygate: why Donald Trump's use of 'gate' is a scandal". The Guardian. Retrieved June 29, 2022.

[Trump_5/17/2018-6] Cite error: The named reference Trump_5/17/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Rucker_5/17/2018-7] Cite error: The named reference Rucker_5/17/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Beauchamp_5/25/2018-8] Cite error: The named reference Beauchamp_5/25/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Lima_5/18/2018-9] Cite error: The named reference Lima_5/18/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Greenberg-10] Greenberg, Jon. "Online story gets details wrong about informant payment in Trump Russia probe". Politifact. Archived from the original on May 24, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2018.

[Tatum_5/22/2018-11] Tatum, Sophie (May 23, 2018). "Carter Page: I 'never found anything unusual' in conversations with FBI source". CNN. Archived from the original on May 23, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2018.

[Jalonick_Lemire_5/24/2018-12] Jalonick, Mary Clare; Lemire, Jonathan (May 24, 2018). "Seething over Russia probe, Trump tears into 'spygate'". Associated Press. Retrieved April 18, 2019. It remains unclear what, if any, spying was done. The White House has given no evidence to support Trump's claim that the Obama administration was trying to spy on his 2016 campaign for political reasons...No evidence has emerged to show that Obama-era authorities placed an informant inside the Trump campaign.

[nymag1-13] Chait, Jonathan (June 5, 2018). "Trump's Latest FBI Conspiracy Theory Is His Craziest Yet". New York. Retrieved June 7, 2018.

[Yen_Woodward_Tucker_4/1/2019-14] Cite error: The named reference Yen_Woodward_Tucker_4/1/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Qiu_5/21/2019-15] Cite error: The named reference Qiu_5/21/2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Philips_2/24/2018-16] Cite error: The named reference Philips_2/24/2018 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[PF1-17] Jacobson, Lewis. "Was Donald Trump the target of a coup? No". Politifact. Retrieved July 3, 2019.

[auto3-18] Blake, Aaron. "Analysis | 4 takeaways from the Horowitz report on the Russia investigation". The Washington Post.

[19] "Trump Admin Says There is No Evidence Obama Wiretapped Trump". Lawandcrime.com. October 20, 2018.

[20] "Opinion | Trump is desperate, so 'Obamagate' is back. But it still makes no sense". The Washington Post. October 8, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.

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