On Fox News Sunday, former conservative Fox News host Brit Hume admitted that the FISA warrant to spy on Carter Page was "not illegal."
In an unprecedented move, the Trump administration released over 400 pages of documents (with many redactions) from the FISA warrant against Carter Page.
Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to smear the Mueller investigation into Russian cyber-warfare and Trump's campaign, including demeaning Republican appointees in the FBI, in the Justice Department, and on the courts.
Even though the documents show Page was not part of the Trump organization at the time of their warrant and they had good reason to suspect him, that has not stopped conservative sycophants to make specious claims to convince hard-core Trumpers he's being set up.
Guest host Bret Baier asked his all-star panel about Trump's ridiculous Sunday tweet declaring he was spied on.
BAIER: The president again tweeting: "Looking more and more like the Trump campaign for president was illegally spied upon. Surveillance for political gain of crooked Hillary Clinton and the DNC. Ask her how that worked out. She did better with crazy Bernie. Republicans must get tough now. An illegal scam."
HUME: Not illegal as far as I can tell. It was approved by the judge, which is the process it has to go through. I mean, I think it may well have been improper. And I think that, as Guy suggests, and as the document reveals, there is stuff in that FISA warrant application that has no business being there. That does not make it illegal, it may make it improper.
HARF: And it was removed three times, which means you had to get independent evidence that it was producing usable intelligence. And I will say, this is not a witch hunt. This is not the only thing that is part of the Russia investigation. And the FISA application wasn't put in for Carter Page until he left the Trump campaign.
So the idea that this is part of "spying on the Trump campaign" just isn't backed up by the timeline.
Careful Marie, you're almost too good to remain on that network.
Her points are spot on, but that won't stop Tom Fitton of Judicial Watch or any other unscrupulous right wing character trying to destroy the Mueller investigation.
As much as Hume weaseled around with words like "improper" vs. "illegal", he still had to justify the FISA warrant on its face.
The only witch hunt is being conducted by conservative advocates defending Trump. And this particular "hunt" for a reason to dismiss the FISA warrant backfired, big time.
