'SPYGATE,' 'WITCH HUNT!' Trump fumes over FBI's handling of Russia investigation

Gregory Korte | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Trump wants 'total transparency' on Russia probe President Donald Trump says he wants transparency from everyone involved in the investigation of Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. Trump insisted Wednesday, "what I want is total transparency." (May 23)

WASHINGTON – President Trump escalated his rhetorical war against the agencies investigating suspected Russian interference in the 2016 election, referring to them as the "criminal deep state" in a series of tweets Wednesday morning.

"SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!" Trump said.

Hours later, Trump said he wasn't trying to undermine the special counsel's investigation into whether there was collusion between his campaign and Russians during the 2016 election campaign.

“No, no. We’re not undercutting. We’re cleaning everything up. This was a terrible situation," he said. "What I’m doing is a service to this country. I did a great service to this country by firing James Comey."

Comey was the FBI director Trump fired last year, leading to the Justice Department's appointment of former FBI director Robert Mueller to take over the Russia investigation.

Trump denied his campaign colluded with Russian agents seeking to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and described the inquiry as a "WITCH HUNT" again Wednesday.

More: House conservatives offer resolution for second special counsel to investigate FBI, DOJ

Then he coined a term to try to discredit the Mueller investigation: "SPYGATE."

Monday, the president summoned law enforcement and intelligence officials to the White House to pressure them to turn over to Congress documents about the origins of the FBI investigation into his campaign. "I want total transparency," he said.

More: Trump gets involved in congressional oversight of Russia inquiry

Trump went after former director of national intelligence James Clapper Wednesday after his appearance on ABC's The View. Clapper said U.S. agents weren't spying on Trump — they were spying on Russia. He said Trump should be happy that those agents tried to protect his campaign from foreign interference.

"No, James Clapper, I am not happy. Spying on a campaign would be illegal, and a scandal to boot!" Trump tweeted.

He later said, "If you look at Clapper, he sort of admitted that they had spies in the campaign inadvertently. I hope it’s not true, but it looks like it is.”