Where once a presidency seemed to depend on what the meaning of “is” is, 20 years later one may rest on the meaning of “spy.”

President Trump has rebranded the investigation into possible collusion between his 2016 campaign and Russian meddlers “Spygate” after it was revealed that FBI tasked one Stefan Halper with contacting campaign advisers Carter Page, Sam Clovis and George Papadopoulos, dismissing alternative explanations as a failed attempt to sound “less sinister.”