Tipsheet

Confirmed: FBI Was Spying on the Trump Campaign

Katie Pavlich
Katie Pavlich  |  May 18, 2018 10:30 AM

When President Trump tweeted in March 2017 that the Obama administration "had his wires tapped" during the 2016 presidential campaign, he wasn't entirely wrong. 

Earlier this week the New York Times published a story revealing the FBI was not only spying on the Trump campaign, but had at least one FBI informant embedded within it. Further, the piece reveals the FBI didn't have enough evidence to open a criminal investigation into members of the Trump campaign, so a counterintelligence investigation was launched instead.

Counterintelligence investigations can take years, but if the Russian government had influence over the Trump campaign, the F.B.I. wanted to know quickly. One option was the most direct: interview the campaign officials about their Russian contacts.

That was discussed but not acted on, two former officials said, because interviewing witnesses or subpoenaing documents might thrust the investigation into public view, exactly what F.B.I. officials were trying to avoid during the heat of the presidential race.

They said that anything the F.B.I. did publicly would only give fodder to Mr. Trump’s claims on the campaign trail that the election was rigged.

The F.B.I. obtained phone records and other documents using national security letters — a secret type of subpoena — officials said. And at least one government informant met several times with Mr. Page and Mr. Papadopoulos, current and former officials said. That has become a politically contentious point, with Mr. Trump’s allies questioning whether the F.B.I. was spying on the Trump campaign or trying to entrap campaign officials.

The Washington Post has published a similar story:

The story came just days ahead of the expected release of a Department of Justice Inspector General report about how the FBI handled the criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton's mishandling of classified information on her personal email server. Those who have followed the FBI saga closely have a theory about the timing and a new narrative: