Newt Gingrich is a believer in the “deep state” conspiracy of a behind-the-scenes bureaucracy controlling American politics.
“Of course, the deep state exists. There’s a permanent state of massive bureaucracies that do whatever they want and set up deliberate leaks to attack the president,” Newt Gingrich, former House speaker and Trump confidante, said, according to the Associated Press. “This is what the deep state does: They create a lie, spread a lie, fail to check the lie and then deny that they were behind the lie.”
Several right-wing news outlets, like Breitbart News and the Federalist, have run stories in recent days alleging that former President Barack Obama is developing a “shadow government” to take down President Trump’s administration. Some believers of the so-called “deep state” argue there is a behind-the-scenes regime trying to control American politics, even the presidency.
These articles follow a number of leaks from unnamed officials, that have raised questions on the Trump teams ties to Russia, and Trump’s assertion, without proof, that Obama ordered a wiretap of Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign.
Gingrich did not say whether any deep state operation was targeting Trump specifically but said he has discussed the deep state with White House chief strategist and former Brietbart executive Steve Bannon and compared the threat to a plotline in Showtime’s “Homeland” political thriller series.
The “deep state” discussion seemed take a turn last week when a sitting congressman, Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., was caught on video last week expressing his suspicion to a private gathering about the fact that after leaving the White House the Obama family moved into the Kalorama neighborhood in Washington, D.C., suggesting that perhaps it was planned in order “to run a shadow government.”
“I think we ought to pitch in to let him go someplace else, because he is there for one purpose and for one purpose only,” Kelly said. “And that is to run a shadow government that is going to totally upset the new agenda. It just doesn’t make sense. And people sit back and say, my gosh, why can’t you guys get this done?”
After the video came out, Kelly’s office explained that Kelly was simply “sharing the frustration in the room. A spokesman for the congressman, Tom Qualtere, reached out to the Washington Examiner to further clarify Kelly’s remarks.
“Because of the extraordinary interest in Rep. Kelly’s remarks, it is worth clarifying that Rep. Kelly does not believe that President Obama is personally operating a shadow government,” Qualtere said. “He does believe it would be helpful to the new administration if the former president would personally call for an end to all leaks and obstruction by personnel from his administration who currently serve in the executive branch under President Trump.”
