A top House Democrat is trying to turn the tables on Trump's 'spygate' conspiracy

Rep. Jerrold Nadler wants a leak investigation

published 25 May 2018

Democrats can demand leak investigations, too. On Thursday, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray asking them to investigate who leaked the name of a confidential FBI and CIA informant who approached advisers to President Trump's campaign in 2016, apparently to find out if Russia was trying to use the aides to influence the election. These reports are the basis for Trump's "spygate" conspiracy and the extraordinary briefings on the informant the FBI and Justice Department gave to House Republicans then the bipartisan "Gang of Eight" on Thursday.

On Friday's New Day, Nadler laid out what Trump and his allies did improperly for CNN's Alisyn Camerota. First, Trump "demanded information which he had no right to have; two, he set up this meeting for his own benefit; No. 3, they outed a classified informant. ... I'm not sure who did. Whoever did ought to pay a price at law — it's a crime to do that." He pointed out that Wray told Congress last week "the day that we can't protect human sources is the day the American people start becoming less safe."

"The demand for a criminal investigation into the outing of a confidential government source could echo loudly in Washington," NPR says. The outing of the source, reportedly an American academic in Britain, "is unacceptable," Nadler wrote Wray and Rosenstein. "It is a breach of the duty we owe to these men and women, who serve our country at great risk and trust us to protect their identities." The informant's name was first floated at The Daily Caller and spread across conservative media before making its way to major national newspapers.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.