FBI boss could undermine Trump
UNITED STATES: Four months after Democrats accused him of tilting the US election in Donald Trump’s favour the director of the FBI could inflict lasting damage on the president today in public testimony to Congress.
James Comey is expected to be interrogated on two explosive intelligence questions that have overshadowed the White House agenda for weeks: the nature of Trump’s campaign ties to Russia and his extraordinary, unproven accusation that he was wiretapped by his predecessor.
Comey will give evidence before the House intelligence committee, one of several panels looking into Moscow’s alleged interference in the poll. The bureau is running its own inquiry.
A declassified report representing the combined findings of 17 US intelligence agencies asserted in January that the Kremlin had spread disinformation about the election on social media. It had also hacked the security of the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic congressional campaign committee, Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and state election board websites in order to ‘‘undermine public faith in the US democratic process’’ and to help Trump defeat Clinton, they said.
Roger Stone, an informal adviser to Trump, confirmed last week that he had been asked by the Senate intelligence committee to preserve any records that may be of interest to the ‘‘investigation into Russian actions targeting the 2016 US elections and democratic process globally’’.
Stone has been accused by Democrats of having prior knowledge of an email hack allegedly organised by Russia against Clinton’s campaign chairman, last year. In August he wrote that John Podesta would soon face his ‘‘time in the barrel’’. Two months later Podesta’s hacked emails began to be made public on Wikileaks.
Stone said neither he nor Trump ‘‘have anything to fear in a fair, balanced inquiry’’.
Clinton loyalists argue that the regular trickle of damaging news from the Wikileaks disclosures in the final month of the presidential race contributed to her defeat, along with Comey’s letter to Congress 11 days before the election in which he announced that the bureau was reopening its investigation into her use of a private email server when she was secretary of state.
Podesta merged the two, accusing the ‘‘deeply broken’’ FBI of a ‘‘shocking’’ failure to counter the threat of Russian sabotage, while prioritising the ‘‘overblown’’ email scandal instead.
The intrigue over Trump campaign links to Moscow deepened last month when the president’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned for misleading senior officials, including the vicepresident, over his contacts with Russia. Jeff Sessions, the attorneygeneral, then recused himself from any Russia-related inquiries after it emerged he had twice met the Russian ambassador in the months before
Trump took office despite telling his confirmation hearing that he had not met any Russian officials. Two weeks ago Trump ignited a second scandal when he accused President Barack Obama of bugging Trump Tower, his Manhattan home and workplace, during the 2016 election. Obama has strongly rejected the allegation through a spokesman, and politicians on both sides in Congress, with access to classified information, have rejected the president’s claims.
Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House of Representatives, said last week ‘‘we’ve seen no evidence’’ for the accusations. Devin Nunes, Republican chairman of the committee that will hear Comey’s evidence, also said there was ‘‘no evidence’’ to support the claim.
The senior Republican and Democrat on the equivalent Senate committee also said there were ‘‘no indications’’ Trump Tower was under government surveillance in any form.
Comey reportedly asked the Justice Department to deny the president’s assertion and will have the opportunity to condemn the president’s claim in public. The White House has refused to back down.
Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary, escalated the furore and drew a swift and rare rebuke from the British government when he accused GCHQ of spying on Trump at the request of Obama. A GCHQ spokesman called the accusations, which were originally made by a judge speaking on Fox News, ‘‘nonsense’’ that ‘‘should be ignored’’.
The UK foreign secretary will attempt to mend relations with Britain’s most important ally during a visit to Washington this week. Boris Johnson will meet some of Trump’s closest aides at the White House. – The Times