The liberal mainstream media appear determined to either ignore the recent revelation of “Spygate” — the scandal of the FBI having planted a spy in the Trump campaign in 2016 — or spin it as an anti-Trump story. However, the reality is that this is (as President Trump tweeted) the “all time biggest political scandal.”
And, yes, that includes Watergate.
While “Watergate” refers generally to the overall scandal, it specifically refers to the break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters located in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. in June of 1972 for the purpose of bugging the offices of the DNC. The break-in and bugging were orchestrated within the highest ranks of the Nixon administration — and apparently with Nixon’s knowledge.
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The FBI investigated the break-in and quickly discovered a link to Nixon. Cash found on the five burglars was traced back to a secret slush fund associated with Nixon’s re-election campaign. Nixon obstructed the investigation from the beginning, causing Congress to investigate.
While Nixon attempted to dodge being implicated, the “smoking gun” tape was proof that he was at the head of efforts to obstruct the FBI’s investigation. The tape, ironically recorded by Nixon himself just days after the Watergate break-in, is of a conversation he had with his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, wherein they discussed “the Democratic break-in thing.” Specifically mentioned were “the problem area because the FBI is not under control” and the fact that the FBI investigation was “leading into some productive areas,” which Haldeman aptly described as “some directions we don’t want it to go.”
When it was discovered that Nixon used a tape recorder in the Oval Office to record conversations, investigators demanded the tapes. Nixon refused, and the Supreme Court ruled against him. One of the tapes he was eventually forced to turn over was the “smoking gun” tape mentioned above.
As a result of the evidence against Nixon, Congress began what certainly would have been a successful impeachment ending in Nixon’s conviction and removal from office. To avoid that, Nixon followed in the steps of his first vice president, Spiro Agnew, and resigned on August 9, 1974. Less than a month later, he was pardoned for his many crimes by Agnew’s (and Nixon’s) replacement, President Gerald Ford.
By the time the dust had settled, America had a new (unelected) president and vice president, 69 people involved in Watergate had been indicted, 48 (including some top Nixon officials) were convicted, and some 20 of them went to prison. Watergate so damaged the credibility of the Republican Party that it was perhaps the decisive factor in putting Jimmy Carter in the White House.
Largely due to the fact that the media had been involved in breaking the case through solid investigative journalism, the term “Watergate” has become metonymous with political scandal, with subsequent scandals being referred to by simply adding the suffix “gate” to the end of their names. The list of “gate” scandals includes:
• “Travelgate” to refer to the 1993 firing of staff members of the White House Travel Office by President Bill Clinton;
• “Chinagate” to refer to the 1996 Clinton re-election campaign finance scandal wherein China sought to influence the foreign and domestic policy of the United States;
• “Monicagate” and “Lewinskigate” to refer to President Clinton’s sexual relationship with a 22-year-old White House intern and his subsequent perjury to hide it;
• “Cablegate” to refer to the 2010 WikiLeaks publication of more than 250,000 classified (and embarrassing) State Department cables;
• and too many more to list in this article.
Now, you can add “Spygate” to that list. Spygate is a bigger scandal than Watergate. But the liberal mainstream media — acting as the propaganda arm of the Deep State — are trying to cover it up.
Consider the implications of the FBI planting a spy in the campaign of one candidate while violating both the law and the fundamentals of investigation to protect the other candidate from facing the consequences of her crimes. And remember that the text messages between FBI agent Peter Strzok and his mistress, DOJ lawyer, Lisa Page, mention both a “secret society” within the FBI and DOJ (including then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe) and an “insurance policy” in the event Trump won.
It now seems clear that — along with the false “Russia collusion” narrative — part of that “insurance policy” was an FBI spy in the Trump campaign.
Furthermore, when the House Intelligence Committee’s investigators managed to uncover the spy — later revealed to be University of Cambridge professor Stefan Halper — the DOJ initially refused to comply with a congressional subpoena for more information. In fact, Chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) — finally fed up with being “stalled” and “stonewalled” by the FBI and DOJ — had to threaten Attorney General Jeff Sessions with charges of contempt of Congress before the DOJ caved and briefed the committee on Halper.
Going back a little further, the FBI and DOJ — while protecting Hillary Clinton from being charged for her illegal use of a private e-mail server to send and receive thousands of classified documents — abused the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) process to illegally obtain a surveillance warrant on Trump campaign associate Carter Page. That warrant’s application was based on the now-discredited Trump “dossier” written by ex-MI6 agent Christopher Steele and illegally financed by the DNC and Clinton Campaign (and based on information provided by Russian government sources).
No wonder President Trump tweeted a quote by Fox Business Network anchor David Asman on May 18, saying, “Apparently the DOJ put a Spy in the Trump Campaign. This has never been done before and by any means necessary, they are out to frame Donald Trump for crimes he didn’t commit.” And on May 23 — as more information came to light — he tweeted, “Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State. They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before! What goes around, comes around!”
Whatever one’s opinion of President Trump, he is right about this. Spygate could be one of the biggest political scandals in history. It is certainly bigger than Watergate. While Watergate will likely continue to be the scandal by which all other scandals are measured (old habits die hard), the reality is that taken all together, Spygate makes Watergate look mild by comparison.
Watergate was about a president and key officials in his administration breaking the law both to spy on their political opponents and to cover up for their crimes. Spygate is about Deep State operatives in the FBI and DOJ conspiring against a presidential candidate and then against the president to manipulate the entire direction of the United States. In Watergate, the victims were Nixon’s political opponents. In Spygate, the victims are the American people.
President Trump was also right to demand an investigation of this. The Deep State needs to be exposed and in this, it may have left itself wide open to that exposure.
More will likely soon be revealed since the DOJ Inspector General’s next report on this whole debacle is set to be released in the coming days. When more of the truth comes out, it would not be surprising to see a litany of criminal indictments and convictions resulting from Spygate.
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