I’d suggest that Trump reflect on this fact: The Post and other news organizations apparently had no trouble getting inside sources to dish about the president’s mood swings. While Trump fumes about leaks from the intelligence community and the entrenched federal bureaucracy, his closest aides are bending journalists’ ears with self-serving narratives.
.. The White House press office later doubled down by demanding a congressional investigation of this alleged snooping.
Trump must be unfamiliar with the adage about being careful what you ask for.
.. What if Congress grants Trump’s demand, however, and launches an investigation? Any serious inquiry, it seems to me, would necessarily have to look into the alleged reason for the alleged wiretapping: contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russians.
.. Trump has put himself in a no-win position. If the Republican leadership in Congress denies his request for an investigation, he suffers an embarrassing public rebuke. If the request is granted, however, Trump sets in motion a process he will not be able to control.
While You Weren’t Looking, the Democrat–Media Election-Hacking Narrative Just Collapsed
I think, based on all the reporting we’ve seen (some of which, as the Weekly Standard’s Steve Hayes observes, is thinly supported), it is more likely that the feds got FISA surveillance authorization for some associates of Trump (the names of Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Carter Page are mentioned). But maybe the probable cause for any such surveillance involved those associates’ own business dealings with Russia — having nothing to do with Trump or the Trump campaign.
.. Now that they’ve been called on it, the media and Democrats are gradually retreating from the investigation they’ve been touting for months as the glue for their conspiracy theory.
Wiretap Claim Thrusts Nominee for No. 2 Spot in Justice Department in Spotlight
Confirmation hearing could turn into a free-for-all as senators prepare pointed questions
.. The respected career prosecutor who has been nominated for the No. 2 position at the Justice Department takes center stage Tuesday in a drama that has so far seen the Russians accused of interfering in the U.S. election, cost the national security adviser his job, forced the attorney general to take a step back from his duties and the president himself claim that his predecessor authorized surveillance on his campaign... Over the weekend, the FBI requested that the Justice Department issue a statement refuting Mr. Trump’s claims about wiretaps, according to people familiar with the matter, but the department didn’t do so. On Monday, White House officials said Mr. Comey should disclose publicly what he knows about any such surveillance. The FBI declined to comment on that request.The furor began with Mr. Trump’s tweets on being wiretapped, an assertion quickly denied by Mr. Obama’s office as well as James Clapper, who was director of national intelligence at the time... “I answered the question, which asked about a ‘continuing exchange of information during the campaign between Trump’s surrogates and intermediaries for the Russian government,’ honestly,” Mr. Sessions wrote. “I did not mention communications I had had with the Russian Ambassador over the years because the question did not ask about them.”
Reince Priebus Sought FBI’s Help in Refuting News Report on Russian Contacts
White House dismisses suggestions of inappropriate interaction with law-enforcement agency
The White House acknowledged Friday that its chief of staff asked senior officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation to publicly refute a news report alleging repeated contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence officials, after it says the FBI told him the story was inaccurate... Sean Spicer said that last week, FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe approached White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus after a meeting at the White House to tell him a New York Times story that morning reporting that Trump campaign aides had been in constant contact with Russian intelligence officials was “false.”.. “And the answer was, ‘We don’t want to get in the middle of starting a practice of doing this.’ So our answer is, ‘Why did you come to us with this information if not to elicit a response?’”.. Mr. Trump has previously said he would root out government officials who leak sensitive or classified information to the press... I think you’ll see it stopping because now we have our people in.”.. The attacks, criticism and leaks could have a long-term impact on the FBI, former officials said. “All it does is corrode the perception of independence,” said Ron Hosko, a former senior FBI official.