May 20 (UPI) — President Donald Trump demanded Sunday that the Department of Justice investigate whether the FBI spied on his 2016 presidential campaign for political purposes.
Trump said on Twitter Sunday afternoon that an official demand will come on Monday, following reports the FBI dispatched a confidential source to speak with Trump campaign aides regarding potential ties to Russia.
“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!” Trump wrote.
On Friday, the New York Times reported the FBI sent an informant to talk to Trump campaign advisers George Papadopoulos and Carter Page after learning they had suspicious contacts linked to Russia during the campaign.
The informant, whose identity is known to the New York Times, was described as “an American academic who teaches in Britain.”
In summer 2016, the informant offered to provide foreign-policy expertise to the Trump campaign and met with campaign co-chairman Sam Clovis at a Virginia coffee shop, the Washington Post reported.
The informant made contact with Papadopoulos and questioned him about his knowledge of Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election after asking him to work on a research paper about a disputed gas field in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Papadopoulos, who pleaded guiltylast year to lying to the FBI, denied any knowledge of Russian meddling and returned to write the research paper, for which he was compensated.
In the following months, the informant also met with Page on multiple occasions.
There was no evidence someone was planted into the Trump campaign or that the informant acted improperly, according to the reports.
On Saturday, Trump called for the Justice Department to permit Congress to review documents related to the informant.
“If the FBI or DOJ was infiltrating a campaign for the benefit of another campaign, that is a really big deal. Only the release or review of documents that the House Intelligence Committee (also, Senate Judiciary) is asking for can give the conclusive answers. Drain the Swamp!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
