USA TODAY International Edition
Trump to demand probe into FBI’s use of informant
Democratic senator says protecting source is key
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Sunday said he would “demand” a Justice Department investigation into whether the FBI “infiltrated” his 2016 presidential campaign.
“I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes — and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!” Trump said in a tweet Sunday.
The president’s tweet — one of about a half-dozen angry social media posts he wrote on Sunday — was an apparent reference to reports in The
New York Times and Washington Post that a secret FBI source met with Trump campaign officials several times during the 2016 campaign. The informant reportedly was working for FBI as part of its investigation into Russian interference with the American election.
Both the Times and the Post reported last week the unnamed informant met with Carter Page, then a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign, and George Papadopoulos, an unpaid campaign adviser, to gather intelligence on possible contacts between the Trump operation and Russian officials.
The stories have infuriated Trump and his allies, who allege the informant was planted inside Trump’s campaign by the FBI to spy “for political purposes.”
“Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president,” Trump tweeted on Friday. “… If true - all time biggest political scandal!”
But the informant was not “implanted” in the campaign, according to the media reports.
Here’s what the Times reported last week:
“F.B.I. agents sent an informant to talk to two campaign advisers only after they received evidence that the pair had suspicious contacts linked to Russia during the campaign. The informant, an American academic who teaches in Britain, made contact late that summer with one campaign adviser, George Papadopoulos, according to people familiar with the matter. He also met repeatedly in the ensuing months with the other aide, Carter Page, who was also under F.B.I. scrutiny for his ties to Russia,” the story says.
Some of Trump’s supporters in Congress have demanded information from the Justice Department about the informant. Justice Department officials have said revealing that information would endanger the agency’s sources and methods — potentially risking lives.
On Sunday, Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he had not seen any evidence to suggest an informant was placed inside the Trump campaign. And he said any move to reveal the identity of a secret FBI source would be illegal and should be prosecuted.
“The first thing you learn when you get involved with the intelligence community is that you need to protect sources and methods and that if you were to out or to burn such an agent, that person’s life could be in jeopardy,” Warner said on CBS’ Face the Nation.
“And I find it outrageous that the president’s allies are in effect playing fast and loose with confidential information.”