President demands probe of claims FBI spied on campaign

WASHINGTON— U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday demanded that the Justice Department open an investigation into whether the FBI infiltrated or surveilled his presidential campaign for political purposes and whether any demands or requests for such action originated with the Obama administration.

Trump’s pressure on the Justice Department — its watchdog later Sunday agreed to expand its existing probe of FBI actions — reached a new intensity with the demand, which is part of the White House’s aggressive new strategy to combat the threat posed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into the Russia probe. And Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani said that Mueller recently shared a timetable that suggested that its probe could end by Sept. 1 if Trump were to sit for an interview in July, which is the legal team’s new working plan.

Giuliani said he did not want a repeat of what happened in 2016, when FBI director James Comey announced in the campaign’s final days that he was reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, a decision Democrats believe cost her the race. Giuliani also said Mueller’s team indicated that the entire probe could end by September, not just its investigation into potential obstruction of justice. “This would be the culmination of the investigation into the president.”

Legal experts said such a presidential intervention had little precedent, and could force a clash between the sitting president and his Justice Department.

In response to Trump’s post, the Justice Department asked its internal watchdog, the office of the inspector general, to expand its current inquiry into the surveillance of a former Trump campaign official to include the questions raised by the president.