Another GOPer Breaks With Trump On ‘Spygate,’ Suggests POTUS Wants ‘More Chaos’

at The Recording Academy®'s annual GRAMMYs on the Hill® Advocacy Day, which brought more than 100 music creators from across the country to Washington, D.C. on April 6 to visit with lawmakers and bring music issues to the frontlines in hopes that Congress will better understand how these issues impact music creators nationwide. Bills discussed included the Fair Play Fair Pay Act, which seeks to reform music licensing for sound recordings in a logical, comprehensive way and close current corporate radio loopholes, as well as the Allocation for Music Producers Act (AMP Act), which includes producers in copyright law for the first time. For more information about The Academy's advocacy efforts, visit grammy.com/action, and follow the online conversation on Twitter @GRAMMYAdvocacy, #SupportMusic, and "like" GRAMMY Advocacy on Facebook.
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 06: Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL) at The Recording Academy®'s annual GRAMMYs on the Hill® Advocacy Day, which brought more than 100 music creators from across the country to Washington, D.C. on Apr... WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 06: Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL) at The Recording Academy®'s annual GRAMMYs on the Hill® Advocacy Day, which brought more than 100 music creators from across the country to Washington, D.C. on April 6 to visit with lawmakers and bring music issues to the frontlines in hopes that Congress will better understand how these issues impact music creators nationwide. Bills discussed included the Fair Play Fair Pay Act, which seeks to reform music licensing for sound recordings in a logical, comprehensive way and close current corporate radio loopholes, as well as the Allocation for Music Producers Act (AMP Act), which includes producers in copyright law for the first time. For more information about The Academy's advocacy efforts, visit grammy.com/action, and follow the online conversation on Twitter @GRAMMYAdvocacy, #SupportMusic, and "like" GRAMMY Advocacy on Facebook. (Photo by Paul Morigi/WireImage for The Recording Academy) MORE LESS
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Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL) is now the third Republican lawmaker to break with President Donald Trump in his assessment of the use of a government informant to meet with aides in his campaign who were in contact with Russian officials during the 2016 election, according to Politico.

“What is the point of saying that there was a spy in the campaign when there was none?” Rooney, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told Politico Wednesday. “You know what I’m saying? It’s like, ‘Lets create this thing to tweet about knowing that it’s not true.’ … Maybe it’s just to create more chaos but it doesn’t really help the case.”

Trump has claimed that the informant was a “spy” sent by the Obama administration to infiltrate his campaign and has seized on the reports as evidence of his belief in a “deep state” within the FBI that’s biased against him. As a President with a penchant for monikers, Trump has labeled the whole ordeal “spygate.”

Rooney’s pushback on Trump’s “spy” outcries is the most aggressive yet from a top Republican. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) was the first Republican to push back against Trump’s claims when he said during a TV interview last week that the FBI acted responsibly in deploying an informant to investigate the Russia lead.

On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, in weaker terms than Rooney, said he sided with Gowdy in his “initial assessment” and said there was “no evidence” to support Trump’s claims of inappropriate behavior by the FBI.

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