FBI launched investigations on possible Russian interference in July 2016 – Fired FBI director says

The FBI launched investigations of four Americans in July 2016 into whether they helped Russia’s alleged efforts to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election, former FBI director James Comey said in remarks released on Saturday.

Mr Comey also appeared to suggest the investigations were looking into ties between Russia and US president Donald Trump’s election campaign.

Mr Trump fired Mr Comey in May 2017 after taking office in January of that year. Shortly after Mr Comey’s dismissal, the Department of Justice named a special counsel to investigate alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether Mr Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow.

The Independent reports that he did not identify the people being investigated but said Mr Trump was not among them.

“We opened investigations on four Americans to see if there was any connection between those four Americans and the Russian interference effort,” Mr Comey said, according to a transcript of the closed-door hearing held on Friday by the US House Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee.

image

Discover more from The Dispatch

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading

Verified by MonsterInsights