After weeks of mounting pressure from Republican lawmakers, on Thursday the Justice Department delivered what at first glance appears to be a major victory for Donald Trump and his fellow “Spygate” truthers. In an extraordinary midnight statement, a D.O.J. official announced that, as soon as next week, the so-called Gang of Eight would be given access to additional documents and details about the F.B.I. informant who contacted three members of the Trump campaign during the early stages of the Russia investigation, and that the department is “prepared to brief members on certain questions specifically raised by the Speaker and other members.” But while the decision seems to mark a change in strategy, it appears to be less of a concession by the Justice Department than an attempt to undercut Trump’s latest conspiracy theory: that Obama administration officials embedded a “spy” in his presidential campaign.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, in fact, has been quietly de-fanging the president’s most feverish claims for much of the past month, using the partisan battle over the D.O.J.’s transparency to put hard evidence on the table. When Trump and his allies originally demanded that the department turn over documents related to the origins of the Russia probe, Rosenstein, F.B.I. Director Christopher Wray, and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats refused, arguing that doing so would jeopardize a critical intelligence source. Republicans seized on that hesitance as further proof that the special counsel’s investigation is a “witch hunt.” But when the D.O.J. relented, providing two briefings to lawmakers in late May, the conspiracy theory quickly fell apart. Democrats emerged from the briefings more assured than ever that the president’s claims were groundless: “Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the F.B.I. or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols,” ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff told reporters. Republicans who had attended the briefing, meanwhile, were noticeably quiet—even Devin Nunes, one of the president’s most vociferous defenders, declined to comment.

The fallout from that briefing continues: last week, Congressman Trey Gowdy, who is retiring at the end of his term, conceded that the briefing had convinced him the F.B.I. had actually acted completely appropriately in its use of a confidential informant. On Wednesday, he got additional backing from House Speaker Paul Ryan, who said he agreed with Gowdy’s “initial assessment” and that he had not yet seen any evidence that the F.B.I. had done anything untoward. In the wake of Ryan’s defection, Republican Congressman Tom Rooney—who also sits on the House Intelligence panel—offered the bluntest critique yet of Trump’s Spygate theory. “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 on Wednesday. “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 timing of the Justice Department’s latest decision to cooperate with Republican lawmakers, then, does not appear to be a coincidence. With the narrative shifting in his favor, Rosenstein can be conciliatory toward Trump while simultaneously delivering a death blow to his favorite conspiracy theory by arming the Gang of Eight with the facts. As the Justice Department official said, “The department and F.B.I. believes it can provide information that is directly responsive to congressional inquiries in a manner that is consistent with its national security and law-enforcement responsibilities, and is pleased to do so.”