F.B.I. Opened Inquiry Into Whether Trump Was Secretly Working on Behalf of Russia
Following
President Trump’s firing of James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, the
bureau grew increasingly concerned about whether the president’s actions
constituted anti-American activity.
WASHINGTON — In the days after President Trump fired James B. Comey
as F.B.I. director, law enforcement officials became so concerned by
the president’s behavior that they began investigating whether he had
been working on behalf of Russia against American interests, according
to former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the
investigation.http://goforworldbd.blogspot.com/
The inquiry carried
explosive implications. Counterintelligence investigators had to
consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible
threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr.
Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under
Moscow’s influence.
The investigation the F.B.I. opened into Mr. Trump also had a criminal aspect, which has long been publicly known: whether his firing of Mr. Comey constituted obstruction of justice.
Agents
and senior F.B.I. officials had grown suspicious of Mr. Trump’s ties to
Russia during the 2016 campaign but held off on opening an
investigation into him, the people said, in part because they were
uncertain how to proceed with an inquiry of such sensitivity and
magnitude. But the president’s activities before and after Mr. Comey’s
firing in May 2017, particularly two instances
in which Mr. Trump tied the Comey dismissal to the Russia
investigation, helped prompt the counterintelligence aspect of the
inquiry, the people said.
