Trump repeats claim FBI spied on his campaign in seething Twitter rant about “criminal deep state”

President Donald Trump is doubling down on his baseless claim that Barack Obama’s FBI spied on his campaign for political reasons, saying in a series of scathing tweets Wednesday that “SPYGATE could be one of the biggest political scandals in history!”

“Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State,” Trump tweeted early Wednesday. “They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before!”

“What goes around, comes around,” he added.

Trump’s Twitter rant Wednesday came a few days after he announced he would order the Department of Justice to “look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!”

But the FBI was not spying on his campaign for political reasons, as the president characterized it — according to reports, the bureau sent an informant to gather information from a pair of Trump campaign aides after evidence suggested they had shady dealings related to Russia.

Still, Trump used the claim as his newest weapon in his battle with federal law enforcement officials investigating his campaign’s ties to Russia, along with possible obstruction of justice on his part.

The president has repeatedly bashed the probe, calling it “the greatest Witch Hunt in American History” and claiming special counsel Robert Mueller and his team are politically biased against him. He seemed especially incensed by the investigation in recent days after the New York Times reported last week that members of his campaign — including his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. — met with an emissary representing Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates who offered to help the campaign in 2016.

“Things are really getting ridiculous,” Trump tweeted Sunday. “The Failing and Crooked (but not as Crooked as Hillary Clinton) [New York Times] has done a long & boring story indicating that the World’s most expensive Witch Hunt has found nothing on Russia & me so now they are looking at the rest of the World!”

His tweetstorm Wednesday appeared to be in response to programming on Fox & Friends, which devoted several segments over the course of the morning that supported Trump’s anti-FBI talking points. At one point, he directly tweeted at the show, praising commentator Tomi Lahren, who appeared on the program.

He also bashed former national intelligence director James Clapper, who said on the View Tuesday that Trump should be glad the FBI tried to uncover Russia’s attempts to infiltrate his campaign.

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