House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., on Tuesday praised Attorney General William Barr's announcement a special prosecutor has been appointed to investigate the origins behind the Russian investigation, saying government officials who abuse power for political purposes should be held accountable.
"He is serious about cleaning house within the FBI and dealing with the bad actors," Rep. Scalise, told Fox News' "America's Newsroom," adding there is "no place" in the FBI for people who wish to pursue their own political agendas.
It was "very disturbing" to see the FISA court had been abused when reading about how the "nefarious nature" of how the investigation into President Donald Trump's campaign began, Scalise said.
"It was clear there were people at the FBI that didn't want Donald Trump to be elected president and were using their position to try to stop him," Scalise said. "That cannot be tolerated in America. This is not how we run our country."
There is now a handful of investigations into the campaign surveillance activities, and Scalise said he thinks that is good because people expect accountability in their government.
"They don't want to see witch hunts and see the federal government using its power in a way to go after and target American citizens, especially a candidate for president of the United States," Scalise said. "That goes against everything our country was founded on."
The lawmaker also commented on the trade arguments with China, saying "we've always been in a trade war with China."
"I think President Trump is really the first one to finally acknowledge and confront it," Scalise said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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