Spygate

About

Spygate is unverified conspiracy theory made by United States President Donald Trump, following a report that an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation spoke to members of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign while investigating communications between the campaign and Russia. Trump's Spygate theory should not be confused with the 2007 incident in the National Football League in which the NFL team the New England Patriots were reprimanded for videotaping a New York Jets practice.^[1]

Origin

On May 16th, 2018, the New York Times^[2] reported that in the summer of 2016, at the start of the investigation into the Trump campaign's ties to the Russian government, the FBI dispacted two informants to London to speak with then-campaign adviser George Papadopoulos to ascertain information on whether or not the campaign already knew about Russia's attempts to meddle in the U.S. election.

On May 23rd, several days of tweets on this and other related subjects in which the president accused the FBI of spying him and his campaign, similar to wiretapping allegation the year prior, President Donald Trump tweeted, ^[3] "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!" The post (shown below, left) received more than 24,000 retweets and 80,000 likes in 24 hours. He followed this tweet with,^[4] "SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!" The post (shown below, right) received more than 17,000 retweets and 63,000 likes in 24 hours.

Spread

At first, people online joked about Trump's usage of the term "Spygate," which was originally used to describe a 2007 NFL controversy. CNN anchor Jake Tapper tweeted^[5] a gif of New England Patriot's coach Bill Bellichick in response to the president. The post (shown below) received more than 495 retweets and 6,900 likes in 24 hours.

However, others disputed the charges made by the president, calling into question a number of Trump's assertions about the Russia investigation. Twitter^[6] user @SethAbramson tweeted, "THE DAY IRONY BROKE: a president who is accused of being, has daily acted as, and may well be a Russian asset--and who certainly knowingly employed several Russian assets--has now coined the term "Spygate" to describe America's attempts to investigate his crimes against the nation." The post (shown below, left) received more than 2,400 retweets and 6,300 likes in 24 hours.

Daily Beast reporter Justin Miller tweeted,^[7] "A year of faux Russia investigation scandals: -'Wiretapp' -Unmasking -Mueller 'conflicted' -Mueller attorneys are Dems -Strzok’s "secret society" -FISA application & Steele -'Spygate.'" The post (shown below, center) received more than 120 retweets and 395 likes in 24 hours.

Some within the conservative media purported reasons to believe "Spygate." YouTubers Diamond and Silk tweeted,^[8] "Why are Schumer and Pelosi trying to cancel a meeting about the spy placed in the Trump Campaign? What are they hiding? Americans need to know the truth about how all of this mess was manufactured & orchestrated by Obama and his Administration who were all Democrats #SPYGATE." The post (shown below, right) received more than 2,500 retweets and 5,900 likes in 24 hours.

Former FBI director James Comey tweeted twice on the subject.^[9][10] In the first tweet, he wrote, "Facts matter. The FBI’s use of Confidential Human Sources (the actual term) is tightly regulated and essential to protecting the country. Attacks on the FBI and lying about its work will do lasting damage to our country. How will Republicans explain this to their grandchildren?" The post (shown below, left) received more than 27,000 retweets and 74,000 likes in 24 hours.

Several media outlets covered the story, including Rolling Stone,^[11] Fox News, ^[12] The Washington Post^[13] and more.

Search Interest

External References