The claim that Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia dominated American politics for years, but this interview argues the real story ran in the opposite direction. Former intelligence officer Tony Shaffer, a veteran of military intelligence, contends that the Trump campaign was the target of surveillance, not the partner of a foreign conspiracy. He describes how intelligence tools and sources were used against a presidential campaign, and why he believes senior officials, including President Barack Obama, must have known what was happening.
Shaffer walks through the origins of the Russia investigation, the Steele dossier, the use of informants and wiretaps, and the role of the FBI and other agencies in pursuing the collusion theory. He argues that the evidence for collusion was thin from the start, while the evidence of spying on the campaign was substantial, and that the media and political establishment were slow to examine the other side of the story. His account draws on his own experience inside the intelligence world and on the documents and disclosures that followed the Mueller investigation.
This conversation matters because the Russia question shaped American trust in elections, the press and the intelligence agencies themselves. Whether viewers agree with Shaffer or not, the interview offers a clear and forceful version of the case that the collusion narrative was itself a political operation, with lasting consequences for American politics.