Of course the FBI spied on the Trump campaign

The great debate about whether the FBI spied on the Trump campaign continues. The question is why there is still any argument. The newly released report from Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz shows that by any definition the FBI did indeed spy.

The proof is in the details of the report. In addition to the much-discussed wiretap of Trump campaign foreign policy adviser Carter Page, Horowitz discussed the bureau's use of what is called a CHS — a confidential human source, or, in more common terms, an informant, and a UCE — an undercover employee, or a secret agent, to gather information from at least three targets in the Trump campaign. One was Page, another was George Papadopoulos, also a member of the advisory team, and the third was an unnamed "high-level Trump campaign official who was not a subject of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation."

Horowitz described "multiple CHS operations undertaken by the Crossfire Hurricane team." There were "numerous CHS interactions with Page and Papadopoulos." There was the CHS contact with the high-level campaign official. And then there were "additional CHSs" who attempted to contact Papadopoulos but did not succeed.

All the meetings and conversations were secretly recorded by the FBI. Some were also monitored live, as they happened, by agents

and supervisors. The Horowitz report quoted liberally from transcripts of the recordings.

The Trump campaign was "clearly spied upon," Attorney General William Barr said in an interview with NBC Tuesday. "I mean, that's what electronic surveillance is. I think wiring people up to go in and talk to people and make recordings of their conversations is spying."

That is correct. But remember what Barr said back in April after he launched another investigation, this one by U.S. Attorney John Durham, of the Trump-Russia probe: "The question is whether it was adequately predicated." Did the surveillance have a proper basis?

Of course, even if it was adequately predicated, it was still spying. That's why the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, known as the FISA court, which approves wiretaps and other surveillance, is colloquially known as the "spy court."

Beyond that, Horowitz offered a mixed bag on the question of predication.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/of-course-the-fbi-spied-on-the-trump-campaign

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