However, Trump continued to reiterate his claims on Wednesday evening, writing in two separate posts on Twitter: President Donald Trump has repeatedly alleged that the FBI planted a spy inside his presidential campaign, and has ordered the Justice Department to look at whether the FBI was politically motivated.ĬNN previously reported that according to US officials, a confidential source was not placed inside the Trump campaign to provide information to investigators. So typically around the convention time and halfway through a presidential year you keep bringing on more people in terms of potential supporters from the party, etc., and it just seemed like something like that,” he said. And, you know, he’s someone who is, you know, long term, someone who had been in, part of the establishment in Republican politics.
“We would talk about various things that are happening. Page said he and the source stayed in contact for more than a year, including meeting up back in the United States. “I never found anything unusual, whatsoever,” Page told Cooper about their conversations. Page said on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that he first met the individual while attending an academic conference at Cambridge University in July 2016, a week after his visit to Russia. “It’s one that promises a specific action on a specific date (tomorrow) with respect to a specific agency that will, if it takes place, precipitate a showdown.Former Trump campaign aide Carter Page on Tuesday discussed his encounters with an FBI confidential source during the 2016 campaign, saying he “never found anything unusual.” “In other words, this tweet is different from other Trump craziness tweets,” he wrote. He argued that neither of the three “can in good conscience comply with such an order.” Wittes called the president’s demand a “nakedly corrupt attempt” to derail a probe of himself at the expense of the source, and he suggested that both Rosenstein and Wray will resign rather than follow the order. Wittes said the president has the constitutional authority to make this demands, but it would still be too much for Attorney General Jeff Sessions (who recused himself from the Russia probe), Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and FBI Director Christopher Wray. “This one requires attention, because it could genuinely produce a crisis with the Justice Department and the FBI.” “I normally ignore presidential tweets,” he wrote in a thread Sunday afternoon. It’s old news to say he dislikes the president.
Then there’s Lawfare‘s Benjamin Wittes, a friend of fired FBI Director James Comey. Maybe _now_ is a good time for Congress to pass legislation that would prevent #Mueller from being fired without good cause?: If follows through on this ridiculousness, then we’re likely days away from another Saturday Night Massacre… Vladeck, who teaches constitutional law over at the University of Texas School of Law: Some on Twitter said this new Trump tweet fails bodes badly for high-ranking federal law enforcement. According to sources, an American academic did work as an FBI informant to speak to two campaign advisers, George Papadopoulos and Carter Page, after the FBI received evidence those two had suspicious communications with Russians.ĭOJ Director of Public Affairs Sarah Isgur Flores declined to comment when Law&Crime reached out for a statement. This is a follow up on this tweet on Friday: ” Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president.” A New York Times report followed up. 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! Some legal and political analysts suggest agency honchos might lose their jobs before this order is carried out. On Sunday, President Donald Trump said he’s going to formally tell the Department of Justice to probe itself and the Federal Bureau of Investigation over an FBI informant sent to speak to his campaign advisers.