Donald Trump started off his Mother’s Day with some heartfelt tweets about an espionage conspiracy and Fox Business Network’s Lou Dobbs.

“Think of it. I became President of the United States in one of the most hard fought and consequential elections in the history of our great nation,” the President began this morning. "From long before I ever took office, I was under a sick & unlawful investigation concerning what has become known as the Russian Hoax.”

"My campaign was being seriously spied upon by intel agencies and the Democrats," he continued. "This never happened before in American history, and it all turned out to be a total scam, a Witch Hunt, that yielded No Collusion, No Obstruction. This must never be allowed to happen again!”

Trump was referring to the Spygate conspiracy theory alleging that a Democrat-backed FBI plot installed a mole in his campaign. The alleged mole was Stefan Halper, who was likely a legitimate part of the FBI’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Halper, an intelligence expert and former Republican White House aide under Nixon and Ford, met with Trump advisors Carter Page and George Papadopoulous in 2016 and asked them about links between their campaign and Russia. As Vox put it last year , "There is no evidence so far that Halper attempted to join the Trump campaign and act as a double agent; nor is there evidence that he conducted any kind of illegal snooping on Page or Papadopoulos."

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SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 23, 2018

Trump consciously crafted the controversy, and allegedly once said he chose to "brand" Halper a spy to maximize public outrage, rather than using a perhaps more accurate term like "informant." And yet Spygate has crept into the Republican mainstream, and has been backed recently by Attorney General William Barr, who said he will be looking into the FBI’s 2016 investigation. "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal," Barr said during his congressional hearings last month.

Earlier in the morning the president also tweeted quotes from Fox Business Network's latest episode of Lou Dobbs Tonight. During the episode, Dobbs and Great America PAC Chair Ed Rollins mined the Spygate and “collusion delusion” talking points to Trump’s clear pleasure.

Trump didn’t publish a Mother’s Day message until Sunday afternoon, when he tweeted this specific and heartfelt post:

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He followed it with another tender Tweet on this special day.



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Big attacks on Republicans and Conservatives by Social Media. Not good! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 12, 2019

Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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