Rosenstein agrees to prez’s demand to expand probe
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has agreed to look into tactics used to investigate the Trump campaign, including the use of an intelligence informant, after President Trump summoned top Justice and intelligence officials to the White House yesterday.
The move came after Trump took to Twitter over the weekend to demand that the Justice Department “look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump campaign for political purposes” — a demand that came after reports that an FBI informant talked with several members of the campaign team.
The demand spurred speculation in Washington that Trump would request a full federal criminal investigation into the matter — a move that could have led to a showdown with Justice officials and even the potential resignation of Justice officials if they refused to comply.
Instead, after meeting with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, the White House announced that an existing inspector general probe into potential FISA abuses connected with surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page would be expanded to look into claims of “deep state” infiltration lodged by the president.
“Based on the meeting with the President, the Department of Justice has asked the Inspector General to expand its current investigation to include any irregularities with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s or the Department of Justice’s concerning the Trump campaign,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
“It was also agreed that White House Chief of Staff (John) Kelly will immediately set up a meeting with the FBI, DOJ and DNI together with Congressional leaders to review highly classified and other information they have requested,” Sanders said.
Rosenstein released a statement Sunday saying he was willing to expand the internal inspector general probe, saying: “If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action.”
Yesterday’s meeting had been scheduled before Trump’s demands. The leaders were scheduled to discuss “response to congressional requests,” Sanders said.
Congressional Republicans and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), have demanded that the Justice Department release information about a confidential informant used to help investigate potential ties between the Trump campaign and Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election. The Justice Department had refused those requests, citing the sensitivity of the information.