Business World

Key Republican to ask FBI about Trump probe report

-

WASHINGTON — The Republican head of the US Senate Judiciary Committee said on Sunday that 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 Federal Bureau of Investigat­ion (FBI) opened the counterint­elligence investigat­ion in 2017 after Mr. Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey, out of concern the president’s actions may have presented a threat to national security.

Mr. Comey at the time was leading an investigat­ion into Russia’s alleged interferen­ce in the 2016 US presidenti­al election.

US intelligen­ce agencies have said Moscow tried to tip the election to Mr. Trump. Russia has denied interferin­g, and Mr. 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 Mr. Trump’s behavior, including comments he made suggesting he fired Mr. Comey over the Russia investigat­ion, which is now being led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Mr. Trump rejected the Times story on Saturday, telling Fox News it was “the most insulting article I’ve ever had written.”

The FBI declined a request for comment.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who previously served as Mr. Trump’s CIA director, blasted the Times story, when asked about it on the CBS Face the Nation show.

“The notion that President Trump is a threat to American national security is absolutely ludicrous.”

Democratic lawmakers said on Sunday the report underscore­d the need for legislatio­n to protect the Mueller probe.

“I do think it’s curious that throughout that whole summer when these investigat­ions started, you had (Russian President) Vladimir Putin’s policies almost being parroted by Donald Trump,” Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligen­ce Committee, said on CNN’s State of the Union program.

‘SERIOUS QUESTIONS’ Democrats also expressed concern about a report in the Washington Post on Saturday on alleged efforts by Mr. Trump to conceal details about his conversati­ons with Mr. Putin.

The paper reported that Mr. Trump took notes from his interprete­r and instructed the person not to discuss the details of his conversati­ons with others. Reuters could not independen­tly verify details of the Post report.

“When he takes the interprete­r’s notes and wants to destroy them so no one can see what was said… it raises serious questions about the relationsh­ip between this president and Mr. Putin,” the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, said on ABC’s This Week.

In his appearance on Fox News on Saturday, Mr. Trump denied that he was keeping anything under wraps on his meetings with Mr. Putin.

Senator Chris Coons, a Democratic member of the Judiciary Committee, said he planned to press Mr. Trump’s nominee for attorney general, William Barr, for a pledge to let Mr. Mueller complete his work.

Mr. Barr is scheduled to testify before the committee on Tuesday and Wednesday. If he is confirmed as attorney general, he would oversee the Russia probe.

“I would need a firm commitment that he will not allow any interferen­ce in the Mr. Mueller investigat­ion,” Mr. Coons said on Fox News Sunday.

He also said Mr. Barr must allow Mr. Mueller to release a copy of his final report to the public.

Mr. Barr, who served as attorney general under former President George H.W. Bush, sent an unsolicite­d memo to the Justice department in June last year raising concerns about Mr. Mueller’s investigat­ion, and arguing that it was inappropri­ate for Mr. Mueller to look into whether Mr. Trump may have sought to undermine the probe. —

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Philippines