House intel Republican slams Trump's conspiracy theory about FBI 'spy'

Rep. Tom Rooney, one of the top Republicans on the House intelligence committee, slammed Trump on Wednesday for blatantly lying about the FBI planting a “spy” in his campaign, joining a growing number of Republicans publicly rebutting Trump’s claims.

“What is the point of saying that there was a spy in the campaign when there was none?” Rooney said in an interview with Politico.

“It’s like, ‘Lets create this thing to tweet about knowing that it’s not true,'” he said. “Maybe it’s just to create more chaos but it doesn’t really help the case.”

Rooney also hit back at other Republicans who have propped up Trump’s lies, saying they were all briefed on the same material — and none of it supports the conspiracy theory about a “spy” being sent to infiltrate Trump’s campaign.

Rooney is at least the fourth top Republican to refute Trump’s latest conspiracy theory.

Last week, Rep. Trey Gowdy smacked down Trump’s lies during an appearance on Fox News, saying he is confident that the FBI acted appropriately when it used an informant to make contact with several members of Trump’s presidential campaign shortly after it began its counterintelligence investigation in 2016.

Furthermore, after attending a classified briefing at the Department of Justice — a briefing that Trump ordered in an effort to bolster his lies — Gowdy said he was “even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got.”

Gowdy’s decision to tell the truth earned him the ire of Trump’s sycophants in right-wing media circles, who were enraged that he wasn’t willing to lie and go along with the sideshow.

On Wednesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan echoed Gowdy’s remarks, saying that he had seen “no evidence” to support Trump’s conspiracy theory.

The head of the Senate intelligence committee, Richard Burr, also backed up Gowdy on Wednesday, saying that his “description of the process was correct.”

Even as top Republicans call out Trump for lying, others — like Trump stooge Devin Nunes, as well as Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani — continue their attempts to bolster the conspiracy theory, in the hopes of convincing people that the entire Russia investigation is illegitimate.

Unfortunately for Trump, Nunes, Giuliani, and the traveling circus they’ve become, most Americans see right through them — and don’t take very kindly to being lied to on a daily basis.

According to one recent poll, just 13 percent of Americans think Trump is “honest and trustworthy.” Meanwhile, after just a month back in the public eye, Giuliani has managed to become one of the most unpopular figures in all of American politics.

As for Nunes, a glance at the letters to the editor in his hometown newspaper paints a pretty clear picture of how he is viewed by the public, and it’s not a pretty sight.

Most Americans want to see the Russia investigation carried out fully and properly — and the more Trump tries to obstruct it and deflect from the truth with conspiracy theories, the more he looks like he has something to hide.