Tag: FBI

Secret FBI source for Russia investigation met with three Trump advisers during campaign

The following article by Robert Costa, Carol D. Leonnig, Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett was posted on the Washington Post website May 18, 2018:

Carter Page, a former foreign-policy adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, had numerous encounters with an FBI informant in 2016. Credit: Pavel Golovkin, AP

In mid-July 2016, a retired American professor approached an adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign at a symposium about the White House race held at a British university.

The professor took the opportunity to strike up a conversation with Carter Page, whom Trump had named a few months earlier as a foreign policy adviser.

But the professor was more than an academic interested in American politics — he was a longtime U.S. intelligence source. And, at some point in 2016, he began working as a secret informant for the FBI as it investigated Russia’s interference in the campaign, according to people familiar with his activities. Continue reading “Secret FBI source for Russia investigation met with three Trump advisers during campaign”

‘Bigger than Watergate’: Trump joins push by allies to expose role of an FBI source

The following article by Philip Rucker, Robert Costa, Carol D. Leonnig and Josh Dawsey was posted on the Washington Post website May 17, 2018:

It’s been a year since special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to investigate the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia – and since Trump’s barbs started. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

President Trump’s allies are waging an increasingly aggressive campaign to undercut the Russia investigation by exposing the role of a top-secret FBI source. The effort reached new heights Thursday as Trump alleged that an informant had improperly spied on his 2016 campaign and predicted that the ensuing scandal would be “bigger than Watergate!”

The extraordinary push begun by a cadre of Trump boosters on Capitol Hill now has champions across the GOP and throughout conservative media — and, as of Thursday, the first anniversary of Robert S. Mueller III’s appointment as special counsel, bears the imprimatur of the president. Continue reading “‘Bigger than Watergate’: Trump joins push by allies to expose role of an FBI source”

Code Name Crossfire Hurricane: The Secret Origins of the Trump Investigation

The following article by Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman and Nicholas Fandos was posted on the New York Times website May 16, 2018:

F.B.I Building Credit: Al Drago for The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Within hours of opening an investigation into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia in the summer of 2016, the F.B.I. dispatched a pair of agents to London on a mission so secretive that all but a handful of officials were kept in the dark.

Their assignment, which has not been previously reported, was to meet the Australian ambassador, who had evidence that one of Donald J. Trump’s advisers knew in advance about Russian election meddling. After tense deliberations between Washington and Canberra, top Australian officials broke with diplomatic protocol and allowed the ambassador, Alexander Downer, to sit for an F.B.I. interview to describe his meeting with the campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos. Continue reading “Code Name Crossfire Hurricane: The Secret Origins of the Trump Investigation”

Comey, in Interview, Calls Trump ‘Morally Unfit’ and ‘Stain’ on All Around Him

The following article by Michael D. Shear and Peter Baker was posted on the New York Times website April 15, 2018:

James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, used his interview on the ABC News program “20/20” to amplify many of the disclosures in his tell-all memoir.Credit: Ralph Alswang/ABC News

WASHINGTON — If there was any chance that President Trump and James B. Comey could have avoided all-out war, it ended Sunday night.

That was when ABC News aired an interview with Mr. Comey, the president’s fired F.B.I. director, as he uses a publicity blitz for his searing tell-all memoir, “A Higher Loyalty,” to raise the alarm about the dangers he says Mr. Trump poses to the country.

While ABC aired one hour of its conversation with Mr. Comey, it had conducted a five-hour interview with him, a transcript of which was obtained by The New York Times. In it, Mr. Comey called Mr. Trump a serial liar who treated women like “meat,” and described him as a “stain” on everyone who worked for him. Continue reading “Comey, in Interview, Calls Trump ‘Morally Unfit’ and ‘Stain’ on All Around Him”

Trump’s flimsy case for firing Rod Rosenstein

The following article by Amber Phillips was posted on the Washington Post website April 11, 2018:

In the short time since President Trump found out the FBI raided his private lawyer’s home and office, he sure seems to have been seriously considering firing someone involved.

One person directly in Trump’s line of fire is Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general at the Justice Department. Rosenstein is arguably more endangered than special counsel Robert S. Mueller III or Attorney General Jeff Sessions, for a few reasons: Continue reading “Trump’s flimsy case for firing Rod Rosenstein”

Dana Boente, former top Justice Department official now at FBI, has been interviewed by Mueller and turned over notes

The following article by Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website April 10, 2018:

Dana Boente is now general counsel at the FBI. Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

Dana Boente, the former acting attorney general who now serves as general counsel at the FBI, has been interviewed by the special counsel’s office and turned over handwritten notes that could be evidence in the ongoing investigation into whether President Trump obstructed justice, according to people familiar with the matter.

Boente was interviewed months ago by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s team on a wide range of topics, including his recollections of what former FBI director James B. Comey told him about troubling interactions with Trump, one of the people said. Continue reading “Dana Boente, former top Justice Department official now at FBI, has been interviewed by Mueller and turned over notes”

‘A bomb on Trump’s front porch’: FBI’s Cohen raids hit home for the president

The following article by Philip Rucker, Josh Dawsey and Robert Costa was posted on the Washington Post website April 9, 2018:

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, is under federal investigation. The Washington Post’s Tom Hamburger explains what you need to know. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

President Trump has howled in all caps for nearly a year as the Justice Department has delved deeper and deeper into his orbit. Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III indicted his former campaign chairman. Then he secured a guilty plea from his former national security adviser. All the while, Mueller and his investigators have spent hours questioning White House officials about whether the president had sought to obstruct justice.

But the FBI’s seizure on Monday of privileged communications between Trump and his private lawyer, Michael D. Cohen — as well as documents related to a $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, the adult-film actress who has alleged a sexual affair with Trump — was a particularly extraordinary move that opens a whole new front in the converging legal battles ensnaring the administration. Continue reading “‘A bomb on Trump’s front porch’: FBI’s Cohen raids hit home for the president”

Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations

The following article by Carol D. Leonnig, Tom Hamburger and Devlin Barrett was posted on the Washington Post website April 9, 2018:

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal attorney, is under federal investigation. The Washington Post’s Tom Hamburger explains what you need to know. (Video: Bastien Inzaurralde/Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Michael Cohen, the longtime attorney of President Trump, is under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, according to three people with knowledge of the case.

FBI agents on Monday raided Cohen’s Manhattan office, home and hotel room as part of the investigation, seizing records about Cohen’s clients and personal finances. Among the records taken were those related to a 2016 payment Cohen made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual encounter with Trump, according to a fourth person familiar with the investigation. Continue reading “Trump attorney Cohen is being investigated for possible bank fraud, campaign finance violations”

New poll shows Trump should think twice about his fight with the FBI

The following article by Matthew Chapman was posted on the Shareblue website February 9, 2018:

By a margin of 66 to 24, Americans side with the FBI over Trump.

In the midst of the ongoing Russia investigation, Trump has tried to shield himself in the public eye by attacking law enforcement officials at the FBI and DOJ, insinuating they are part of a “Deep State” plot of Obama loyalists to destroy him.

But a new poll from Marist suggests that is not a fight Trump can win.

According to the poll, if a national conflict pitted Trump against the FBI, Americans would back the FBI by a whopping margin of 66 to 24. For good measure, the poll also finds that, by an 11 point margin, voters want to strip Trump of his GOP House majority. Continue reading “New poll shows Trump should think twice about his fight with the FBI”

Did Hillary Clinton collude with the Russians to get ‘dirt’ on Trump to feed it to the FBI?

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website February 9, 2018:

Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) makes a startling claim about the Russian investigation. But there’s no evidence to back it up. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“The truth is that they [Democrats] are covering up that Hillary Clinton colluded with the Russians to get dirt on Trump to feed it to the FBI to open up an investigation into the other campaign.”
—Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, in an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show, Feb. 7, 2018

During the probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — and possible collusion by members of the Trump campaign — defenders of the president have often sought to turn the tables on Democrats. A perfect summing-up of this approach can be found in the statement above by Nunes, who described it as “a massive coverup of a major scandal that reached the highest levels of our government.” Continue reading “Did Hillary Clinton collude with the Russians to get ‘dirt’ on Trump to feed it to the FBI?”