scorecard
  1. Home
  2. Politics
  3. Trump demands the Justice Department look into whether the FBI had an informant 'infiltrate' his presidential campaign

Trump demands the Justice Department look into whether the FBI had an informant 'infiltrate' his presidential campaign

Pat Ralph   

Trump demands the Justice Department look into whether the FBI had an informant 'infiltrate' his presidential campaign
Politics2 min read

Donald Trump

Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images

President Donald Trump sent several outraged tweets on Sunday.

  • President Donald Trump said on Twitter Sunday afternoon that he will instruct the Justice Department to look into whether the FBI planted an informant in his presidential campaign for political purposes.
  • Trump floated the possibility of the FBI embedding an informant into his campaign on Friday, but the FBI reportedly used the informant to investigative Russian ties to the campaign.
  • It's not the first time he's accused the FBI of misconduct without providing evidence.

President Donald Trump said on Twitter Sunday afternoon that he will instruct the Justice Department to look into whether the FBI planted an informant in his 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 wrote.

The tweet follows a barrage of similar tweets earlier Sunday in which he attacked special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation, Hillary Clinton, and The New York Times.

In the last few days, Trump's anger with the special counsel's Russia investigation has been fueled by his claim on Friday that the FBI planted or recruited an informant in his campaign.

After the president tweeted that accusation without evidence, his new attorney Rudy Giuliani told CNN: "I don't know for sure, nor does the president, if there really was one."

Neither Trump nor Giuliani provided any evidence of government infiltration into Trump's presidential campaign.

The New York Times reported on Friday that the FBI used the informant to investigate Russian ties to the campaign.

The bureau reportedly sent an informant to speak with Trump campaign aides George Papadopoulos and Carter Page because of their suspicious connections to Russia.

This is not the first time that Trump has accused the Department of Justice and FBI of seeking to undermine his campaign for political purposes. In March 2017, Trump tweeted that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his phones the month before the election.

Trump did not offer any evidence to back up his claim, and was widely derided for making the baseless accusation. The Justice Department said it had "no records related to wiretaps as described by the March 4, 2017 tweets."

READ MORE ARTICLES ON


Advertisement

Advertisement