More and more Republicans in Congress are joining the chorus that's debunking Trump's ridiculous conspiracy theory.
With each passing day Trump, loses more Republican members of Congress who are going public with their conclusion that his lie about the FBI trying in infiltrate and take down his 2016 campaign is just nonsense.
Trump's Deep State conspiracy represents his latest, and possibly most desperate, attempt to blame federal investigators for his mounting Russia woes.
Being abandoned by Republicans marks a new chapter for Trump and makes it harder for the White House to keep pushing its hollow claims.
Democratic leaders have dismissed the harebrained "spy" story out of hand as being completely unsupported by the facts. Now, more Republicans are joining the chorus that's debunking the lie.
"I have seen no indication that a confidential informant was placed inside the Trump campaign that acted as a spy," said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Thursday.
On Wednesday, Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who sits the House Intelligence Committee, told BuzzFeed she's not buying Trump's claim. "I don’t agree with his characterization," she said.
Richard Burr (R-NC), the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also told CNN on Wednesday that the FBI has acted properly.
This comes one day after Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) publicly sided with "spy" doubters.
So too, did Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL), who leveled a blistering critique of Trump's spy fantasy.
“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. “You know what I’m saying? It’s like, 'Let’s 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."
The dam began to break last week when Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) shot down the spy lie during an appearance on Fox News of all places, insisting the FBI acted appropriately when it used an informant to make contact with several members of Trump’s presidential campaign shortly.
Looking back, the spy lie actually began to crumble almost immediately after his Republican loyalists in the House demanded that FBI officials brief lawmakers on the allegations with a closed-door session back on May.
During the run-up to the briefing, Trump and Fox News wildly hyped the event, hinting that all sorts of stunning revelations about the FBI would be exposed. (Bigger than Watergate!)
Instead, when the doors opened after the briefing concluded, Republican FBI critics went silent, which was a clear indication that the Deep State conspiracy had collapsed under the weight of facts.
Trump has been lashing out ever since, while Republicans now openly push back.
It's possible that in a challenging election year for the GOP, Republicans fear the political implications of waging all-out war with law enforcement, as Trump's hit man Rudy Giuliani denounces the Department of Justice "lynching mob" that's supposedly trying to "frame" Trump.
That's never a good look on the campaign trail.
