White House counselor Kellyanne Conway on Monday taunted top-level officials in former President Barack Obama’s FBI and CIA Monday, asking why they’d be nervous about President Trump’s Justice Department investigating leaks they made to media in an attempt to hurt Trump.
“What is everyone afraid of?” Conway quipped during an appearance on “Fox and Friends.” “What do you have to hide? How did this all start? Bill Barr, the attorney general, made clear that perhaps there is an investigation into at least eight of these leaks.”
The “leaks” Conway are referring to are alleged communications between top Obama-era intelligence officials and members of the press during the 2016 presidential election and first year of Trump’s presidency.
In 2017, Trump famously fired former FBI Director James Comey — today a prominent anti-Trump figure who the president has dismissed as a “liar” and a “leaker.”
The same year, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe was forced to resign from the department after it was discovered he leaked information to the press about former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
[Opinion: Trump’s lawyer is right to blast James Comey]
When it comes to possible investigations into spying on Trump in 2016, @KellyannePolls asks: “What is everyone afraid of?” pic.twitter.com/fUG0oOfNg2
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) May 7, 2019
During a congressional testimony last week, Attorney General William Barr sent Republicans into a frenzy by citing spying on Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Barr’s statement gave fuel to an already red-hot narrative spun by the White House and leading Republicans who have railed against an anti-Trump bias at the highest levels of the Department of Justice and criminal intelligence agencies.
After Mueller found no collusion between the president and Russia, Trump encouraged his allies on Capitol Hill and Barr to “investigate the investigators.”
“Mueller, and the A.G. based on Mueller findings (and great intelligence), have already ruled No Collusion, No Obstruction,” Trump tweeted last month. “These were crimes committed by Crooked Hillary, the DNC, Dirty Cops and others! INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!”
Mueller, and the A.G. based on Mueller findings (and great intelligence), have already ruled No Collusion, No Obstruction. These were crimes committed by Crooked Hillary, the DNC, Dirty Cops and others! INVESTIGATE THE INVESTIGATORS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 15, 2019
Now that scrutiny has shifted in part to how the Mueller probe began, Conway smirked at the thought of anti-Trump figures shaking in their boots.
“I, for one, as a citizen of this country, want to know if intelligence officers were leaking information to the press,” Conway said. “I think a few of them look a little nervous these days.”
