Newt Gingrich: Surveillance Under Obama 'Most Egregious Abuse' of Criminal Justice

The revelation that former Donald Trump Campaign Chairman Paul Manafort was the target of government surveillance efforts before and after the 2016 presidential election may be the clearest indicator of "the most egregious abuse of the criminal justice process in American history," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Sean Hannity on Fox News.

Gingrich insisted that "This is a radically bigger scandal than anything about Russia," explaining that "Here you have an administration which deliberately was going after political figures, which on the other hand was deliberately defending its own political figures."

The former House speaker said that this revelation, along with what else is known about the Obama administration's other surveillance of political opponents, raises alarm bells, although nobody yet has put all the facts together.

Gingrich emphasized to Hannity that "the country that you and I know is under siege by a deep state which really wants to create a very different America and is willing to break the law and abuse the law in order to achieve that."

• CNN: Manafort Was Wiretapped by US Govt Before, After Election
• Napolitano: Manafort Warrant 'Perfectly Legitimate' for Foreign Contacts