GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy and Andrew Napolitano gently demolish Trump's 'spygate' allegations on Fox News


Rudy Giuliani, one of President Trump's lawyers in the Russia investigation, has been pretty frank that Trump's claim about the FBI implanting spies in his campaign is a public-relations campaign to sway public opinion against Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. But as a matter of fact, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith isn't the only person at Trump's favorite cable news channel who isn't buying the "spygate" conspiracy.
After attending classified Justice Department briefings last week about the FBI informant, "I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got, and that it has nothing to do with Donald Trump,” House Oversight Committee Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) told Fox News host Martha MacCallum on Tuesday night.
"President Trump himself in the Comey memos said if anyone connected with my campaign was working with Russia, I want you to investigate it, and it sounds to me like that is exactly what the FBI did," Gowdy said. "I think when the president finds out what happened, he is going to be not just fine, he is going to be glad that we have an FBI that took seriously what they heard. ... We run toward the criminality, but I would think everyone would want to know what Russia did."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Former Judge Andrew Napolitano, a Trump favorite, followed Gowdy, and he was similarly unimpressed with the claims being made by Trump and Giuliani. The FBI spying allegations "seem to be baseless — there is no evidence for that whatsoever," he told MacCallum. "But this other allegation with this professor — whose name we're not supposed to mention — that is standard operating procedure in intelligence gathering and criminal investigations." Like Gowdy, Napolitano sympathized with Trump's frustration, but as for the claims of political spying, he said, "I'd want to see evidence before I made an allegation that outrageous." Watch below. Peter Weber
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants