Trump says FBI tried to 'overthrow the
presidency'

President made comment in response to reports FBI
lawyer is suspected of altering document related to
surveillance Carter Page

Sat 23 Nov 2019 13.37 GMT

Donald Trump has long attacked as a “hoax” and a “witch-hunt”
the FBI’s investigation into ties between Russia and his 2016
presidential campaign.
On Friday night, he duly seized on news reports that an FBI
lawyer is suspected of altering a document related to surveillance
of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, alleging the FBI
tried to “overthrow the presidency”.
The allegation is part of a justice department
inspector general review of the FBI’s Russia
investigation, one of the most politically
sensitive investigations in the history of the
bureau which was ultimately taken over by
special counsel Robert Mueller and resulted
in charges against six Trump associates and
more than two dozen Russians.
The justice department inspector general,
Michael Horowitz, is expected to release his report on 9
December. Witnesses in the last two weeks have been invited in to
see draft sections.
The report, centered in part on the use of a secret surveillance
warrant to monitor the communications of a former Trump
adviser, is likely to revive debate about an investigation that has
shadowed Trump’s presidency since the beginning.
It will be released amid a House impeachment inquiry into
Trump’s efforts to press Ukraine’s president to investigate
Democratic rival Joe Biden at the same time military aid was
being withheld.
Trump and his supporters are likely to seize on any findings of
mistakes or bad judgment to support their claims of a biased
investigation. Supporters of the FBI are likely to hold up as
vindication any findings that the investigation was done by the
book or free of political considerations.
The New York Times and the Washington Post have reported that
the investigation is expected to find mistakes by lower-level
officials within the FBI but will not accuse senior leaders of being
motivated by political bias.
The allegation against the lawyer was first reported by CNN. The
Post subsequently reported that the conduct of the FBI employee
did not alter Horowitz’s finding that the surveillance application
of Page had a proper legal and factual basis, though the lawyer
was forced out.
“This was spying on my campaign – something that has never
been done in the history of our country,” Trump told Fox &
Friends on Friday. “They tried to overthrow the presidency.”
A person familiar with the case who was not authorized to discuss
the matter by name and spoke to AP only on the condition of
anonymity confirmed the allegation.
Spokespeople for the FBI and the inspector general declined to
comment.
The FBI obtained a secret surveillance warrant in 2016 to monitor
the communications of Page, who was never charged in the Russia
investigation or accused of wrongdoing. The warrant, which was
renewed several times and approved by different judges in 2016
and early 2017, has been one of the most contentious elements of
the Russia investigation and was the subject of memos last year
issued by Democrats and Republicans on the House intelligence
committee.
Republicans have attacked the credibility of the warrant
application since it cited information derived from a dossier of
opposition research compiled by Christopher Steele, a former
British spy whose work was financed by Democrats and the
Hillary Clinton campaign.
“They got my warrant – a fraudulent warrant, I believe – to spy
on myself as a way of getting into the Trump campaign,” Page
said in an interview with Fox’s Mornings with Maria. “There has
been a continued cover-up to this day. We still don’t have the
truth, but hopefully, we’ll get that soon.“
The FBI director, Chris Wray, has told Congress he did not
consider the FBI surveillance to be “spying” and that he has no
evidence the FBI illegally monitored Trump’s campaign.
The attorney Ggeneral, William Barr, has said he believed
“spying” did occur, but he also made clear at a Senate hearing
earlier this year he had no specific evidence that any surveillance
was illegal or improper. Barr has appointed the US attorney John
Durham to investigate how intelligence was collected, and that
investigation has since become criminal in nature, a person
familiar with the matter has said.
Trump insists that members of the Obama administration “at the
highest levels” were spying on his 2016 campaign.
“Personally, I think it goes all the way … I think this goes to the
highest level,” he said in the Fox interview. “I hate to say it. I
think it’s a disgrace. They thought I was going to win and they
said, ‘How can we stop him?”