Trump claims FBI ‘spied’ on his campaign

President alleges ‘witch hunt’ on probe anniversary

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump marked the first anniversary of the special counsel’s Russia investigation Thursday by repeating accusations that the FBI had a confidential informant inside his 2016 campaign.

Trump tweeted: “Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI ‘SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.’ Andrew McCarthy says, ‘There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.’ If so, this is bigger than Watergate!”

Trump appeared to be reacting to recent news reports that there may have been a top-secret source inside the Trump campaign providing intelligence to the FBI as it began its investigation into Russia’s interference in the election process.

But claims by Trump allies that there was an informant embedded inside the campaign have not been substantiated.

Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, appeared on “Fox & Friends,” the Fox News Channel morning show that Trump regularly watches, shortly before the president’s tweet speculating about FBI informants inside Trump’s campaign.

Trump — as well as his attorney, Rudy Guiliani, and White House officials — have seized on the matter to undermine the probe of special counsel Robert Mueller.

In a second Thursday morning tweet, Trump said: “Congratulations America, we are now into the second year of the greatest Witch Hunt in American History … and there is still No Collusion and No Obstruction.”

Trump’s lawyers have been in negotiations with Mueller’s team for months about whether the president would sit for an interview.

Giuliani told the Washington Post and other news organizations Wednesday that the special counsel’s team had informed the president’s attorneys recently that prosecutors do not believe they can charge a sitting president with a crime under Justice Department guidelines, signaling they would leave it to Congress to address any possible findings of wrongdoing by Trump.

The top-secret intelligence source has been the subject of a showdown between key Trump allies in Congress and the Justice Department.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has sought classified documents from the Justice Department for review.

But, as the Post reported earlier this month, senior FBI and national intelligence officials notified Nunes that doing so could endanger a top-secret intelligence source and risk lives.