FBI admits inquiry into Trump team over Russia
James Comey dismisses President’s claims and reveals agency is probing any collusion with Russia
THE head of the FBI took the extraordinary step yesterday of revealing that his agents are investigating whether there was collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia during last year’s US presidential election.
James Comey’s disclosure, giving evidence to a congressional committee, was the first public confirmation that associates of Mr Trump are being investigated over allegations of co-operation with Moscow.
Mr Trump responded by accusing Democrats of “making up and pushing” stories about Russian links, saying: “This story is fake news and everyone knows it.”
The FBI director also rejected allegations, made by Mr Trump in a series of tweets on March 4, that his predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped Trump Tower during the campaign.
Mr Comey said both his agency and the Department of Justice had “no information” to support the wiretap claims, and they had “looked carefully”.
The criminal investigation into links with Russia was part of a wider FBI counter-intelligence inquiry, begun last July, into whether the Kremlin was interfering with the election.
Mr Comey told the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating possible Russian influence on the election, he made no judgment if hacking of the Democratic National Committee had affected vote tallies in key states.
He also gave no details of individuals being investigated over possible links to Russia, and said the fact inquiries were being made did not mean criminal charges would ultimately follow.
Sean Spicer, Mr Trump’s press secretary, said: “You can continue to look for something, but continuing to look for something that doesn’t exist doesn’t matter. Nothing has changed.”
Last week Mr Spicer repeated a media report that GCHQ was behind surveillance of Trump Tower.
Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the US National Security Agency, told the committee the “utterly ridiculous” allegation had “clearly frustrated a key ally”.
THE director of the FBI has dismissed claims by Donald Trump that his predecessor Barack Obama had him wiretapped, saying the FBI had “no information” to support the allegations.
In an extraordinary hearing yesterday, James Comey publicly confirmed that the bureau has launched an investigation into suggestions of collusion between Russia and Mr Trump’s campaign during last year’s presidential election.
It came as Admiral Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, declared it was “nonsense and ridiculous” for the Trump administration to have suggested that GCHQ was used by Mr Obama to spy on Trump Tower in New York.
The heads of the FBI and NSA were called to give evidence to the House Intelligence Committee, which is investigating accusations that Russia tried to influence the election by hacking the Democratic National Committee and releasing information embarrassing to Hillary Clinton.
Mr Comey said it was FBI practice not to confirm the existence of an investigation, especially one involving classified material, but in this case it was in the public interest to do so.
He said the probe, which began last summer, included whether there was any co-ordination between “individuals associated with the Trump campaign” and the Russian government.
Mr Comey added: “As with any counter-intelligence investigation this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed.”
The FBI director could not say “more about what we are doing and whose conduct we are examining” but had taken the “extraordinary step” of briefing senior politicians in Congress in a classified setting.
On March 4, Mr Trump accused Mr Obama of wiretapping him in a series of tweets but offered no evidence.
Mr Comey said: “With respect to the President’s tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, I have no information that supports those tweets. And we have looked carefully inside the FBI.
“The Department of Justice has asked me to share with you that the answer is the same for the Department of Justice and all its components.” He added: “No individual in the United States can direct surveillance of anyone. It has to go through a process and be ordered by a court. No president could.”
Admiral Rogers, the NSA chief, was asked about the suggestion that British spies were involved in wiretapping Trump Tower and whether he agreed it was “nonsense and utterly ridiculous”. He replied: “Yes, sir”.
Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, repeated unsubstantiated allegations by a Fox News analyst last week that GCHQ helped Mr Obama to wiretap Trump Tower.
The claims were robustly denied by British intelligence. Admiral Rogers said it would have been a violation of the law to ask the British to do so. He added: “I’ve seen nothing on the NSA side that we’ve been engaged in that or that anyone asked us to do so.”
Mr Spicer appeared to call into question Britain’s insistence that he had reassured officials that he would not repeat the allegations about GCHQ.
Asked if he told UK officials the White House would not repeat the claims, Mr Spicer replied: “There was merely an explanation of what we did and why we did it... and that was it.” Asked if the assertion had done damage to US-UK relations, he said: “I think it clearly frustrates a key ally of ours. I be- lieve the relationship is strong enough and this is something we’ll be able to deal with.”
During the hearing Mr Comey and Admiral Rogers said they had no evidence or intelligence that Russian hacking changed vote tallies in key states during the election. Mr Trump then tweeted: “The NSA and FBI tell Congress that Russia did not influence electoral process.”
But in a bizarre moment Jim Himes, a Democratic congressman, then read out the tweet at the hearing and asked if it was accurate. Mr Comey clarified:
“It certainly wasn’t our intention to say that today because we don’t have any information on that subject.”
Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, suggested one of the reasons Vladimir Putin’s Russia had wanted to encourage Mr Trump’s candidacy was because the billionaire was in favour of Brexit.
Mr Schiff said: “Would they like to encourage candidates in favour of Brexit? Would they like to see more Brexits?” Mr Comey replied: “Yes.”
Mr Trump accused Democrats of fabricating links between his campaign and Russia, and called on Congress and the FBI to focus instead on finding out who was behind leaks of classified information that have dogged the early weeks of his administration.
Devin Nunes, the Republican chairman of the committee, said if anyone in the Trump campaign was found to have aided or abetted the Russians it would “not only be a serious crime, it would also represent one of the most shocking betrayals of our democracy in history”. He added: “We know there was not a wiretap on Trump Tower. However, it’s still possible that other surveillance ac- tivities were used against President Trump and his associates.”
Democrats pressured Mr Trump to withdraw his wiretapping allegation against Mr Obama. But his spokesman Mr Spicer said: “No.”
US authorities plan to ban passengers on certain US-bound foreign airline flights from carrying laptops, iPads, cameras and some other electronics into the cabin in response to an unspecified terrorism threat, US officials reportedly said. The rule would cover a dozen foreign airlines, including airlines in Jordan and Saudi Arabia.