[ad_1]
WASHINGTON – A few days after the sacking of James B. Comey by President Trump, under the name F.B.I. Director, law enforcement officials became so worried by the president's behavior that they began investigating to find out if he was working on behalf of Russia against US interests, according to former law enforcement officials and other people familiar with the investigation.
The investigation had explosive consequences. . Counterintelligence investigators had to determine whether the actions of the president posed a possible threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr. Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unknowingly fallen under the influence of Moscow.
The survey was conducted by F.B.I. Mr. Trump also had a long-standing criminal aspect: Was his dismissal of Mr. Comey a hindrance to justice?
Officers and Senior Officers F.B.I. Officials were suspicious of Trump's ties with Russia during the 2016 campaign, but were slow to open an investigation into him, residents said, partly because they did not know how to proceed with a campaign. investigation of such sensitivity and magnitude. But the president's activities before and after Mr Comey's dismissal in May 2017, especially two cases in which Mr Trump linked the return of Comey to the investigation conducted in Russia, helped boost the pace of the fight. counter-intelligence aspect of the survey, said the interviewees.
The lawyer, Robert S. Mueller III, resumed the investigation on Mr. Trump during his appointment, a few days after the FBI officials opened it. This investigation is part of Mr. Mueller's in-depth examination of how Russian agents interfered in the 2016 election and whether Trump's associates conspired with them. It is unclear whether Mr. Mueller is still pursuing the counterintelligence file and some former law enforcement officials outside the investigation questioned whether any officers had exceeded the law. opening of the investigation.
Criminal and counter-intelligence elements were combined in a survey, the old law enforcement. officials have said in interviews in recent weeks, because if Mr. Trump had ousted the FBI's head prevent or even put an end to the investigation conducted by Russia was both a possible crime and a national security problem. The FBI's Counterintelligence Division deals with national security issues.
If the President had sacked Mr. Comey to end the investigation of Russia, the action would have been a matter of national security as it would have naturally harmed the efforts of the office to find out how Moscow interfered in the 2016 election and whether Americans were involved, according to James A. Baker, who served as FBI General Counsel until the end of 2017. He testified privately in October before the investigators of the Chamber that were reviewing the FBI's treatment of the in-depth investigation of Russia.
"Not only would it be a question of obstructing an investigation, but it would hurt our ability to understand what the Russians did, and that would be a threat to national security" , said Mr. Baker in his testimony, parts of which were read in The New York Times. Mr. Baker did not explicitly acknowledge the existence of Mr. Trump's investigation to Congressional investigators.
No evidence that Mr. Trump had secretly made contact with Russian government officials or issued instructions to them was publicly disclosed. A F.B.I. The spokesperson and a spokesperson for the special council office both declined to comment.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, counsel for the president, sought to downplay the importance of the investigation. "The fact that it was a year and a half ago and that there is nothing that reveals an attack on national security means that nothing has been found," Giuliani said Friday, while acknowledging that he had no idea of the investigation. 19659002] The cloud of the investigation over Russia hovers over Mr Trump even before he took office, although he has long denied with force any illicit connection with Moscow. The investigation into the obstruction disclosed by the Washington Post a few weeks after the appointment of Mr. Mueller represented a direct threat that he was unable to pass for an overzealous review of the situation. a handful of advisors. But few details have been made public about the counterintelligence aspect of the investigation.
The decision to investigate Mr. Trump himself was an aggressive decision of F.B.I. officials who were confronted with the chaos that followed the dismissal of Mr. Comey and suffered verbal assaults of the president against the investigation of Russia, termed "witch hunt".
A lively debate has opened between former law enforcement officials outside the file. if the FBI investigators reacted excessively by opening the counterintelligence investigation during a tumultuous time at the Department of Justice. Other former officials noted that these critics were not aware of all the evidence and argued that sitting on it would have been an abdication of duty.
The F.B.I. conducts two types of investigations, criminal investigations and counter-intelligence investigations. Unlike criminal investigations, which generally aim to solve a crime and may result in arrests and convictions, counter-intelligence investigations are usually fact-finding missions aimed at understanding what a foreign power does. and put an end to all anti-American activity, such as theft in the United States. secrets of the government or secret efforts to influence politics. In most cases, investigations are conducted discreetly, sometimes for years. Often, they do not give rise to any arrest.
Trump had attracted the attention of F.B.I. Counter-intelligence agents when he called Russia at a campaign press conference in July 2016 to hack emails from his opponent, Hillary Clinton. Trump refused to criticize Russia during the election campaign, praising President Vladimir V. Putin. Investigators watched with concern that the Republican party was relaxing its convention on the Ukrainian crisis in a way that seemed to benefit Russia.
According to those familiar with the survey, other factors fueled F.B.I.'s concerns. Christopher Steele, a former British spy who worked as F.B.I. informant, had written memos in mid-2016 containing unsubstantiated claims that Russian officials had attempted to influence Trump by preparing to blackmail and bribe him.
In the months leading up to the 2016 elections, the F.B.I. was already investigating four of Trump's associates for their ties to Russia. The constellation of events that worries F.B.I. officials who simultaneously watched the unfolding of the Russian campaign to undermine the presidential election by exploiting existing divisions between Americans.
"In the Russian Federation and in President Putin, you have an individual whose aim is to disrupt the Western alliance and whose goal is to make Western democracy more fractional in order to weaken our America's and the West's ability to spread our democratic ideals, "Lisa Page, a former office lawyer, told House investigators in a private testimony examined. by the Times
"It is the goal, to reduce our moral authority to the dissemination of democratic values," she added. Parts of his testimony were first reported by The Epoch Times.
And when Mr. Trump, newly inaugurated, asked for a loyalty pledge to Mr. Comey and later asked him to end an investigation into the President's National Security Advisor, the applications then began. FBI Talks Officials have called for an investigation to determine whether Mr. Trump had attempted to obstruct this case.
But law enforcement officials postponed the decision to open the investigation until they had learned more about it, according to reports. people who knew their thoughts well. With respect to a counter-intelligence investigation, they concluded that they would need strong evidence to take the delicate step of investigating the president. They were also concerned that the investigation would be leaked to the media, which would jeopardize the whole investigation of Russia. interference in elections.
Following the dismissal of Mr. Comey on May 9, 2017, two other shares of Mr. Trump prompted them to promptly abandon these reserves.
The first was a letter that Mr. Trump wanted to send to Mr. Comey talked about his dismissal, but never did, in which he mentioned the investigation conducted in Russia. In the letter, Mr. Trump thanked Mr. Comey for telling him previously that he was not subject to the FBI's investigation into Russia.
Even after the Deputy Attorney General, Rod J. Rosenstein, wrote a narrower letter. draft letter and told Mr Trump that he did not have to mention the Russian investigation – the mismanagement of the Clinton email survey would be sufficient as an offense punishable by law, did it? he explained – Mr. Trump ordered Mr. Rosenstein to mention Anyway, investigation of Russia.
He flouted the President's order, irritating Mr. Trump. The President finally added a reference to the investigation of Russia in the note that he had delivered, thanking Mr. Comey for having repeated three times that he was not Was not under investigation.
The second event that troubled the investigators was an interview with NBC News. Two days after the dismissal of Mr Comey, Mr Trump apparently claimed to have dismissed Mr Comey because of the investigation into Russia.
"I was going to fire Comey, knowing that there was no time to do it," he said. . "And in fact, when I decided to do it, I told myself – I said, you know, this story of Russia with Trump and Russia is an invented story. It's an excuse for the Democrats to have lost an election: they should win.
Trump's staff said that a closer look at his comments showed that he had not fired Mr Comey to stop the investigation of Russia. "I could even extend the investigation, but I must do what is right for the American people," Trump said. "He is the wrong man for this position."
As F.B.I. Officials debated the opportunity to open the investigation. Some of them were prompted to act quickly before Mr Trump appointed a director who could slow down or even end the investigation into Russia's interference. Many involved in the case saw Russia as the main threat to American democratic values.
"As for Western ideals, its identity and ambition as Americans, Russia represents the most dangerous threat to this way of life. "Ms. Page told investigators during a joint investigation by the judiciary and the monitoring committee on Moscow's election interference.
FBI The officials considered that their decision to act quickly had been validated by a comment that the president had made to the Russian representatives visiting the oval office shortly after the dismissal of Mr. Comey revealed a few days later.
He was crazy, a real job, "said Trump, according to a document summarizing the meeting. "I have been under great pressure because of Russia. This is removed. "
Source link
