Key Republican to ask FBI about report of Trump counterintelligence probe

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) - The Republican head of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee said yesterday he plans to ask the FBI about a report it launched a probe into whether President Donald Trump had been working on Russia’s behalf, suggesting the agency may have gone too far. “I am going to ask the FBI director - was there a counterintelligence investigation opened up regarding the president as being a potential agent of the Russians? I find it astonishing,” Senator Lindsey Graham said on the “Fox News Sunday” program.

“If this really did happen, Congress needs to know about it,” he added. “How could the FBI do that? What kinds of checks and balances are there?”

The New York Times reported on Friday that the FBI opened the counterintelligence investigation in 2017 after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey, out of concern the president’s actions may have presented a threat to national security.

Comey at the time was leading an investigation into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. U.S. intelligence agencies have said Moscow tried to tip the election to Trump. Russia has denied interfering, and Trump has said repeatedly there was no collusion between his campaign and Moscow.

The Times reported the counterintelligence probe was sparked in part by growing alarm about Trump’s behavior, including comments he made suggesting he fired Comey over the Russia investigation, which is now being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.