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Gohmert Claims DOJ Is Spying on Him

Without citing evidence, Texas Republican says he is ‘being watched’ by Justice Department

Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, says he did not believe the Justice Department was “spying” on him at first, but he has since changed his mind. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, says he did not believe the Justice Department was “spying” on him at first, but he has since changed his mind. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Rep. Louie Gohmert believes the Justice Department is spying on him, he said Monday on Fox News, without offering any evidence to support his claim.

The DOJ declined to comment when asked about the veracity of Gohmert’s assertion.

The Texas Republican said his friends in the intelligence community in Washington have told him that he is “being watched” by department officials while the House Judiciary Committee, of which he is a member, investigates potential Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses during the FBI’s 2016 investigation into possible ties between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Gohmert said he did not believe that he was being watched by the agency when someone first told him about it. But after working on a 48-page “exposé” on special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, he said he realized, “My gosh, this is their mode of operation.”

Four different federal judges found cause to approve a FISA application from the FBI in 2016 to monitor the international communications of Trump campaign aide Carter Page. The bureau said it had reason to believe Page was a Russian intelligence asset.

Gohmert and other House conservatives have called into question the basis of those FISA applications, saying they were politically motivated.

Last week, House Judiciary Republicans grilled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein — who did not serve in that role when the applications in question were initiated — over why it has taken his department months to hand over internal documents related to FISA applications and the Russia investigation.

The FBI and DOJ have produced more than 880,000 pages of documents to Congress so far and have tasked more than 100 employees with unearthing and redacting them, FBI Director Christopher Wray testified last week.

The two entities are working with members of the House Intelligence Committee to complete the request.

Watch: Jim Jordan and Rod Rosenstein’s Fiery Exchange

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