Originally posted by Mountain Man
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NPR FACT CHECK: No, Clapper Has Not 'Admitted That There Was Spying' On Trump Campaign:
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has not "admitted that there was Spying" on Donald Trump's campaign in 2016...
President Trump mischaracterized what Clapper said as part of his ongoing political counterattack against federal law enforcement and the intelligence community.
...In 2016, Russian intelligence agents began reaching out to members of Trump's presidential campaign. They offered dirt on Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton, and "off-the-record" meetings with Russian officials. When the FBI got wind of this, it opened a counterintelligence investigation.
As part of investigators' desire to find out what was happening, they sent a confidential informant, Cambridge University professor Stefan Halper, to talk with three of Trump's campaign advisers.
One of them, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russians. Another, Carter Page, had years-long connections with Russia's intelligence service and visited Moscow twice in 2016. A third, Sam Clovis, is believed to have encouraged Papadopoulos to cultivate his ties with the Russians. Clovis' attorney told NPR that Clovis remembered meeting with Halper but that their conversation was mostly about China.
[Clappers words:] "They were spying on — a term I don't particularly like ... what the Russians were doing," Clapper said on The View. "Trying to understand, 'Were the Russians infiltrating? Trying to gain access? Trying to gain leverage or influence?' Which is what they do."
President Trump mischaracterized what Clapper said as part of his ongoing political counterattack against federal law enforcement and the intelligence community.
...In 2016, Russian intelligence agents began reaching out to members of Trump's presidential campaign. They offered dirt on Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton, and "off-the-record" meetings with Russian officials. When the FBI got wind of this, it opened a counterintelligence investigation.
As part of investigators' desire to find out what was happening, they sent a confidential informant, Cambridge University professor Stefan Halper, to talk with three of Trump's campaign advisers.
One of them, George Papadopoulos, has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russians. Another, Carter Page, had years-long connections with Russia's intelligence service and visited Moscow twice in 2016. A third, Sam Clovis, is believed to have encouraged Papadopoulos to cultivate his ties with the Russians. Clovis' attorney told NPR that Clovis remembered meeting with Halper but that their conversation was mostly about China.
[Clappers words:] "They were spying on — a term I don't particularly like ... what the Russians were doing," Clapper said on The View. "Trying to understand, 'Were the Russians infiltrating? Trying to gain access? Trying to gain leverage or influence?' Which is what they do."
Eh? The contents of your linked story say the opposite to your summary. It quotes Clapper saying that as far as he was aware they only sent one person to 'spy'.
we know from other sources that the spying began before the official investigation!
Here you have Obama's Director of National Intelligence bluntly admitting to potentially criminal acts
To get from that, to criminal, you've got to invent some sort of crime (other than the crimes that the Trump team was conspiring to commit with the Russians).
As I asked previously, suppose we found out in 2020 that Trump had planted spies inside the campaign of his Democrat challenger
So far from the right-wing conspiracy theorists trying to counter the Mueller investigation we've had:
- The "unmasking" conspiracy.
- The "wiretapping" plot.
- Nunes' midnight rush to show the president a crucial document.
- The "release the memo" controversy.
- Nunes' memo itself.
And now:
- "Spygate".
None of them have had any merit.
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