Trump slams report that FBI probed if he worked for Russia

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Saturday angrily rejected a New York Times report that said the FBI opened an investigation in 2017 to determine whether he worked, knowingly or unknowingly, on behalf of Russia.

The report said that in the days after Trump fired Comey as FBI director in May 2017, the agency began investigating whether the president had been working on behalf of Russia against American interests.

The newspaper cited unidentified law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.

U.S. counterintelligence investigators attempted to assess whether Trump’s actions constituted a possible threat to national security, and agents also tried to determine whether Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unknowingly come under Moscow’s influence, the Times reported.

Trump has repeatedly denounced the FBI and Justice Department.

“The corrupt former leaders of the FBI, almost all fired or forced to leave the agency for some very bad reasons, opened up an investigation on me, for no reason & with no proof, after I fired Lyin’ James Comey, a total sleaze!” the president tweeted. “My firing of James B. Comey was a great day for America. He was a Crooked Cop.”

The president also criticized familiar targets including special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating possible ties between the Trump campaign and Russia, and Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump concluded Saturday by asserting that he’d been tougher on Russia than former U.S. presidents. Still missing: Police arrested 12 people alleged to have been involved in the kidnapping of an American in Costa Rica. Police say a joint operation caught nine Costa Rican suspects Friday; three others were arrested in Spain. William Sean Creighton Kopko was abducted Sept. 24, 2018, in Costa Rica. He is still missing.