Politics
Associated Press/Evan Vucci
President Donald Trump listens during a roundtable on immigration policy in California, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Wednesday, May 16, 2018, in Washington.
- President Donald Trump spent a significant part of the weekend tweeting about an FBI informant he believes may have been planted within his presidential campaign.
- Last week, The Washington Post and The New York Times both reported that an American professor who teaches in Britain was tapped by the FBI to speak with Trump campaign officials during the 2016 election.
- Contrary to claims from Trump and his allies, there's no substantial evidence the informant infiltrated Trump's campaign and was a spy.
President Donald Trump spent a significant part of the weekend tweeting about an FBI informant he believes may have been planted within his presidential campaign.
Trump was apparently inspired to do so by recent reports detailing contacts this informant supposedly had with Trump campaign officials during the election.
This is all linked to the ongoing investigation into Russian election meddling, and it further complicates the already convoluted array of narratives surrounding this issue.
Here's a quick breakdown of what we know about this FBI informant at the moment.
The identity of the informant
Last week, The Washington Post and The New York Times both reported an American professor who teaches in Britain was tapped by the FBI to speak with Trump campaign officials during the 2016 election. The informant, who is reportedly male, has not been identified by either publication for his personal safety and to protect his contacts.
This individual reportedly worked in previous Republican administrations and served as an intelligence source for both the FBI and CIA at various times.
Some reports suggest the informant is Stefan Halper, a foreign policy scholar who worked in the Nixon, Carter, and Reagan administrations.
Contrary to claims from Trump and his allies, there's no substantial evidence the informant infiltrated Trump's campaign and was a spy. Instead, it seems the FBI simply wanted this individual to do his best to gauge the level of contact between Trump's people and Russia.
Who the informant talked to
The informant reportedly contacted George Papadopoulos, Carter Page, and Sam Clovis - who all worked for the Trump campaign - several times in 2016.
In May 2016, Papadopoulos boasted to an Australian diplomat that a Russian professor had contacted him and said the Kremlin had compromising information on former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. The Australian diplomat eventually told US officials what Papadopoulos claimed. Since that time, Papadopoulos has pleaded guilty to making false statements to the FBI in relation to the Russia investigation.
Page's links to the FBI led it to legally surveil him from October 2016 into the early months of 2017.
Can Trump order the Department of Justice to investigate this?
On Sunday, in response to the recent reports on the informant, Trump tweeted, "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!"
Technically, Trump has the authority to call on the Department of Justice to do this, but it's complicated due to the political implications.
After the president's tweet, Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said in an email that the solicitor general was expanding an inquiry into the investigation regarding Page to "include whether there was any impropriety or political motivation in how the FBI conducted its counterintelligence investigation of persons suspected of involvement with the Russian agents who interfered in the 2016 presidential election."
The Justice Department in March launched an investigation into how the FBI gained a warrant for surveillance of Page.
Separately, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein released a statement in which he said, "If anyone did infiltrate or surveil participants in a presidential campaign for inappropriate purposes, we need to know about it and take appropriate action."
Trump's critics think he has gone too far this time and is essentially doing all he can to derail the Russia investigation.
In response to Trump's tweet on Sunday, Matthew Miller, a Department of Justice spokesman under Obama, tweeted, "[Trump] has finally crossed the red line and ordered up a DOJ investigation of his political opponents, as well as career law enforcement agents."