President Trump used the one-year anniversary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s appointment to slam the Russia investigation and the Obama FBI Thursday.
Trump later referenced a National Review story by Andrew McCarthy that mentioned the existence of a CIA and FBI informant investigating the Trump campaign. Trump added that if the reports of an embedded FBI agent are correct, “this is bigger than Watergate!”
Other outlets have also suggested the existence of an FBI spy who met with George Papadopoulos, the low-level campaign adviser who spoke to an Australian diplomat about Russia’s having damaging information on Hillary Clinton.
“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 New York Times reported Wednesday.
Trump’s legal team last year encouraged him to cooperate with the investigation, assuring him that it would be finished by the end of 2017, but the president has increasingly vented his frustration as the probe has dragged on longer.
White House officials and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani were outraged at the reports, saying they could delegitimize the entire investigation if true.
“We're going to have to look into whether we can challenge the legitimacy of the entire investigation,” the former New York mayor said, adding that if the reports of a spy are true, it “would be the biggest scandal in the history of this town.”
The Justice Department and FBI have been reluctant to turn over top-secret documents to Congress that may relate to the informant, frustrating some Republican congressmen.
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