A Spy by Any Name
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A few questions about the F.B.I.’s don’t-call-it-spying on the Trump campaign.
Back in the golden age of presidential conduct, before Donald Trump wrecked every norm and smashed every guardrail, someone — either in Lyndon Johnson’s White House or in Langley, accounts differ — decided to have the C.I.A. spy on Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign.
The agent assigned to lead that illegal operation, in one of history’s winks, was E. Howard Hunt, who would later conduct campaign spying in a private capacity for Richard Nixon’s re-election. Hunt had subordinates volunteer for the Goldwater campaign and obtain advance copies of speeches and position papers, which were dutifully passed to the Johnson White House, which relied on them to pre-empt and befuddle Goldwater.
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