Secret FBI Informant Reportedly Met with 3 Trump Campaign Advisers
New reports claim that a professor who is also an FBI informant met with three advisers to President Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign, prompting an angry response from Trump that the FBI was acting “for political purposes.”
George Papadopolous, Carter Page and Sam Clovis — all of whom were part of the campaign — were all contacted by the informant, according to The Washington Post.
The New York Times reported that during the summer of 2016, while he was in London to write a research paper about a Mediterranean gas field, the informant asked Papadopolous about any contact between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The reports in The Times and The Post were both based on unnamed sources.
The informant reportedly met Clovis in the summer of 2016 and offered to provide foreign policy advice.
Page said that he recalled a conversation with the informant, who was described as a retired American professor, but not its contents.
“You are asking me about conversations I had almost two years ago,” he told The Post. “We had extensive discussions. We talked about a bunch of different foreign-policy-related topics. For me to try and remember every nuance of every conversation is impossible.”
Trump lashed out at the reports on Twitter.
Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a “hot” Fake News story. If true – all time biggest political scandal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2018
“Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a ‘hot’ Fake News story. If true – all time biggest political scandal!” Trump tweeted Friday.
“Apparently the DOJ put a Spy in the Trump Campaign. This has never been done before and by any means necessary, they are out to frame Donald Trump for crimes he didn’t commit.” David Asman @LouDobbs @GreggJarrett Really bad stuff!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2018
Trump had earlier tweeted his reaction to the first reports of the informant, which surfaced Wednesday.
Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI “SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.” Andrew McCarthy says, “There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.” If so, this is bigger than Watergate!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 17, 2018
“Wow, word seems to be coming out that the Obama FBI ‘SPIED ON THE TRUMP CAMPAIGN WITH AN EMBEDDED INFORMANT.’ Andrew McCarthy says, ‘There’s probably no doubt that they had at least one confidential informant in the campaign.’ If so, this is bigger than Watergate!” he tweeted.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devon Nunes said a full investigation is needed into the FBI’s tactics.
“What we’re trying to figure out are what methods the FBI and DOJ used to investigate and open a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign,” said the California Republican, according to The Washington Post.
Nunes said that if the FBI was trying to tap Trump’s campaign staff for information, Trump has a right to be angry.
“If you are paying somebody to come talk to my campaign or brush up against my campaign, whatever you call it, I’d be furious,” Nunes said.
According to the Washington Examiner, The Post and The New York Times have been given the identity of the informant, but have not published it, citing concerns for the safety of the source. The Post wrote that he was a retired American professor. The Times said he was an academic who worked in Britain and had long been an informant for the CIA.
Democrats are fighting to keep the source’s identity a secret.
“It would be at best irresponsible, and at worst potentially illegal, for members of Congress to use their positions to learn the identity of an FBI source for the purpose of undermining the ongoing investigation into Russian interference in our election,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said in a statement on Friday. Warner is a ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “Anyone who is entrusted with our nation’s highest secrets should act with the gravity and seriousness of purpose that knowledge deserves.”
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