President Donald Trump over the past week has hammered officials in the DOJ over the revelation an informant was used to make contact with his campaign team as part of the FBI's investigation into Russian election meddling. | Win McNamee/Getty Images Trump again pushes claim FBI informant planted for political purposes

President Donald Trump suggested Friday that an FBI informant who made contact with his campaign during the 2016 election was "paid a fortune," boosting the unsubstantiated allegation a "spy" was implanted in his campaign for political purposes.

"The Democrats are now alluding to the the [sic] concept that having an Informant placed in an opposing party’s campaign is different than having a Spy, as illegal as that may be," the president wrote in a series of tweets. "But what about an 'Informant' who is paid a fortune and who 'sets up' way earlier than the Russian Hoax?"


He added: "Can anyone even imagine having Spies placed in a competing campaign, by the people and party in absolute power, for the sole purpose of political advantage and gain? And to think that the party in question, even with the expenditure of far more money, LOST!"

Trump over the past week has hammered officials in the Department of Justice over the revelation an informant was used to make contact with his campaign team as part of the FBI's investigation into Russian election meddling in 2016.

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Trump tweeted Wednesday that "SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!"

Democratic officials have pushed back on allegations that the FBI's use of an informant constitutes spying on the Trump campaign, as the president and his allies have alleged.

White House chief of staff John Kelly and Emmet Flood, a White House attorney, appeared at the start of two briefings on Thursday at the Justice Department regarding the FBI informant. The presence of White House officials at the meetings, scheduled to allow lawmakers to review classified materials about the federal investigations into Russian meddling, drew sharp rebukes from Democratic officials.

On Friday night, the director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, who attended the briefings, issued a statement describing the two White House officials’ presence the day before.

“While I cannot discuss the substance of Thursday’s classified briefings,” Coats said, “I was pleased that both meetings were bipartisan and that we were able to clearly and directly address the members’ questions and concerns while also protecting sensitive sources and methods. As the White House has stated, chief of staff John Kelly and White House lawyer Emmet Flood were there to relay the president’s desire for as much openness as possible under the law; and both left — as planned — before the substantive portion of the meeting began.”