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US-POLITICS-TRUMP-INVESTIGATION-FBI
FBI opened probe into whether Trump working for Russians
WASHINGTON, Jan 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation
opened an inquiry in 2017 into whether US President Donald Trump was working
on behalf of Russia, The New York Times reported on Friday.
The investigation — a dual counterintelligence and criminal probe — was
launched after the president fired FBI director James Comey in May 2017, the
Times said, citing anonymous sources.
The counterintelligence aspect consisted of determining whether Trump was
knowingly or unknowingly working for Moscow and whether he was a threat to
national security, the newspaper reported.
It added the criminal portion related to Trump’s firing of Comey.
The FBI investigation was soon folded into Robert Mueller’s inquiry into
Russian interference in the 2016 vote and possible collusion between his
campaign and Moscow, it said, adding that it was unclear if the
counterintelligence aspect was still being pursued.
The Times said that the FBI had been suspicious of Trump’s ties to Russia
during the 2016 campaign.
But it held off on opening an investigation until the president sacked
Comey, who refused to swear his allegiance and roll back the nascent Russia
investigation, which is now being spearheaded by Mueller.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the Mueller investigation as a “witch hunt”
and views it as a stain on the legitimacy of his presidency.
But while Trump has slammed the probe as baseless, it has issued dozens of
indictments and steadily chalked up convictions of some of the president’s
close associates — including his former personal lawyer, his ex-campaign
chief and his former national security advisor.
The lawyer, Michael Cohen, has been sentenced to three years in prison for
multiple crimes, including felony violations of campaign finance laws he
undertook, prosecutors alleged, under Trump’s direction.
The former campaign chair, Paul Manafort, has been convicted in one case
brought by Mueller and pleaded guilty in another, over financial crimes
related to his work in Ukraine before the 2016 campaign, and for witness
tampering.
And the ex-national security advisor, Michael Flynn, pleaded guilty to
lying to investigators about his Moscow ties.
The investigation is set to continue to cast a cloud over the White House:
a judge has given an extension to the secret grand jury empanelled in the
probe, extending its original 18-month mandate.
BSSS/AFP/GMR/0937 hrs