Journalist and author Lee Smith called the report surrounding Hillary Clinton’s campaign spying on former President Donald Trump “an enormous national security scandal” on a Monday episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Special Counsel John Durham released the report Friday which found that the Clinton campaign infiltrated servers in Trump Tower and the White House to link the former president to Russia. Smith told Fox News host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson that the report is “shocking” since it revealed that “the most secure communications” offices in the country were under surveillance by political operatives.
“It’s an enormous national security scandal. I hear people comparing it to Watergate, and it does not compare to Watergate at all,” Smith said. “When we talk about the executive office of the president, this is some of the most secure communications that we have in the United States. And the fact that these were being tapped … the idea that the Oval Office and other important offices in the White House were under surveillance by political operatives is extraordinary. It’s shocking. And I’m talking to people who were investigating this on the Hill for several years, and they’re shocked.”
Carlson said it is ironic that Clinton has complained about servers being hacked while her campaign spied on the White House. Smith raised the possibility that foreign actors had access to the servers and data retrieved under the campaign’s investigation.
“If she can do it, why can’t everyone do it?” Carlson asked. (RELATED: Sen. Rubio: Durham Report May Be ‘One Of The Greatest Political Scandals In American History)
“This is an enormous issue, actually, because again, all we know so far is that they had access to this data,” Smith replied. “Did bad foreign actors have access to this data as well? Did they know what was going on? Because again, this is a target of every intelligence service around the world and has been since there’s been a White House. So again, it’s extraordinary…. And now we see, we understand even more the scope and depravity of this operation. It’s terrible for the country.”
Carlson added that if this did not revolve around Trump, people would freely admit the gravity of the situation. If this had happened to President Joe Biden, he said he would still strongly oppose spying on the White House.
During a Monday press briefing, White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged questions about the Durham report saying, “I can’t speak to that report.”