Pence: It’d Be ‘Troubling To Millions’ If Campaign Surveilled For Political Reasons

on May 18, 2018 in Washington, DC.
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 18: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a summit at the East Room of the White House May 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. The White House hosted a summit to discuss prison reform. (Photo by... WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 18: U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a summit at the East Room of the White House May 18, 2018 in Washington, DC. The White House hosted a summit to discuss prison reform. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Vice President Mike Pence offered his full-throated support of President Trump’s most recent crusade — demands for a Justice Department inspector general probe of the FBI’s motivations for hiring an informant to speak to members of his campaign.

During an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum, Pence said Trump was “grateful” that the Justice Department had asked the inspector general to investigate whether the informant was dispatched for political reasons and claimed “millions of Americans” would be distraught if that were the case.

“The President is, I think, grateful, that the Department of Justice is going to have the inspector general look into it and determine, and ensure, that there was no surveillance done for political purposes against our campaign,” he said. “I think it would be very troubling to millions of Americans if that took place.”

Over the weekend, Trump seized on reports that a government informant spoke with two Trump campaign officials as a way of probing Russian interference in the election without compromising the vote. He tweeted Sunday a “demand” for the DOJ probe, and the department asked the inspector general to look into it.

Latest Livewire
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: