Former Congressman Trey Gowdy said on Fox News that the FBI may have hidden “exculpatory” evidence showing that the Trump campaign was targeted for political reasons.
Earlier this year, Gowdy told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo that “game-changer” transcripts of a conversation involving ex-Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos could change the way the public sees the Russia investigation. In an interview Sunday, Gowdy did not push back when Bartiromo suggested that Papadopoulos was framed by an FBI informant who reportedly spoke with him.
“People get hanged for stuff like that”
According to the official narrative, the FBI launched its probe into the Trump campaign in July 2016 because of concerns over Russian election interference that were raised by conversations Papadopoulos had about “Russian dirt.”
But Republicans have long alleged that the FBI’s spying was a politically motivated set-up, pointing to the FBI’s use of informants and reliance on the infamous Christopher Steele dossier to spy on Trump campaign official Carter Page, among other things.
While noting that Gowdy could neither confirm nor deny if she was correct, Bartiromo said that Papadopoulos told her Saturday evening that the classified transcript records a conversation he had with FBI informant Stefan Halper in London at the Sofitel Hotel.
According to Bartiromo, Halper asked Papadopoulos if Democrat emails that had been hacked by Russia would be “good for you,” but Papadopoulos refused to entertain the topic, saying “that’s crazy,” “that would be treason,” and “people get hanged for stuff like that.”
“Just release the transcripts”
Gowdy, who read the mysterious transcript when he was chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, told Bartiromo he was “lost” as to why it is still classified, since it doesn’t impact U.S. relationships with allies.
While he didn’t go into detail, he didn’t push back on Bartiromo’s characterization, hinting that the transcripts contain “exculpatory” information that challenges the FBI’s claim that they intended to investigate “just Russia,” not the Trump campaign.
“Show us what questions you coached the informants or the cooperating witnesses to ask of the Trump campaign officials. If it’s not about the campaign, then you win! You’re right!” he said. But if the questions “are not solely about Russia, then you’ve been misleading us for two years… Just release the transcripts and we can tell for ourselves when it began and what it was about.”
“Textbook exculpatory information”
In an earlier interview, Gowdy said that the transcripts were a “game-changer” and should have been presented by the FBI to the FISA court when the FBI sought a surveillance warrant for Page. Gowdy was sharper this time, insisting that the transcripts contain “textbook exculpatory information” that would have been brought forth in a “fair” justice system.
Gowdy also noted that Papadopoulos was never charged with the crime of which he was suspected — collusion — and pleaded guilty instead to a process crime. He served 14 days in jail for lying to investigators about his contacts with Joseph Mifsud, a mysterious Maltese professor who Republicans like Devin Nunes (CA) and Jim Jordan (OH) believe may have been involved in a set-up of Papadopoulos.
“It also speaks to what the FBI and the department were doing back in 2016,” Gowdy said. “Was their target Russia, or was their target the campaign? We’re not going to know until you make the transcript public.”
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