FBI director confirms Trump team under investigation for Russian Federation ties

The typically-combative Trump did not mention Russian Federation or Comey, who directly refuted the president’s allegation that he was “wiretapped” by former President Barack Obama during last year’s campaign, as a part of his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee earlier in the day.

Ranking member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said that if evidence shows the Trump campaign aided or abetted the Russians it would be “one of the most shocking betrayals of democracy in history”.

Grassley’s a Republican, of course, so he’s probably hinting here that Comey told him they’re not investigating Trump.

Tight-lipped for the most part, Comey refused to offer details on the scope, targets or timeline for the FBI investigation, which could shadow the White House for months, if not years. Comey said intense public interest in the case warranted the rare candor.

The kindest interpretation anyone could put to his testimony Monday to the House Intelligence Committee, which ran nearly six hours, is that the man has trouble with his mouth.

Is the FBI investigating the intelligence sources who committed felonies by illegally disclosing information about the Trump campaign?

Responding to the director’s announcement, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said the FBI investigation would “vindicate” the president, who maintains he is being falsely accused of colluding with a foreign power to undermine American democracy. “I know that is extremely frustrating to some folks”. Asked about the flap, Trump said: “That was a statement made by a very talented lawyer on Fox, and so you shouldn’t be talking to me, you should be talking to Fox. OK?”

The panel chairman, Rep. “But if you’re not going to take the tweets literally and there is a concern that the president has about other people, other surveillance activities looking at him and his associates – either appropriately or inappropriately – we want to find that out”.

Very little of the five-plus-hour hearing was spent on questions about Russia’s cyber and information operations during the USA election.

What we don’t know is whether there’s a connection between those two things – that is, whether the Trump camp knew about the Russian hack while it was ongoing or worked with the Kremlin to weaponize it.

Monday’s hearing also touched on President Trump’s claim that his Trump Tower phone lines had been tapped by former President Barack Obama, which Comey said didn’t happen.

“There’s still a lot of information that needs to be discussed”, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said about Trump’s wiretapping accusation at his daily press briefing, soon after Federal Bureau of Investigation chief James Comey told a congressional hearing Monday that he had no information supporting the president’s wiretapping claim.

“We have no information to support them [the tweets]”.

Most cable news channels carried Comey’ and Rogers’ five hours of testimony live instead of the first congressional hearing for Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s widely praised nominee for the Supreme Court.

“President Obama wouldn’t physically go over and wiretap Trump Tower”.

Rep. Mike Turner of OH is a Republican member of the Intelligence Committee, and cautioned anyone from forming opinions based exclusively on what Comey shared Monday morning.

That leak ended Flynn’s career as national security adviser. Trump rallied supporters in Louisville, Kentucky, alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after meetings and phone calls in Washington aimed at steadying the troubled legislation created to erase Obama’s signature health care law.

“My view is the same as Director Comey“.

‘It never hurts to say you’re sorry, ‘ Hurd, a former undercover Central Intelligence Agency operative, told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.