FBI head confirms Russia election probe,
says Moscow backed Trump
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[March 21, 2017]
By Patricia Zengerle and Warren Strobel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - FBI Director James
Comey on Monday confirmed for the first time that the bureau is
investigating possible ties between Republican Donald Trump's
presidential campaign and Russia as Moscow sought to influence the 2016
U.S. election.
Comey and Admiral Mike Rogers, the director of the National Security
Agency, made clear that their investigation of Moscow and November's
U.S. elections could last for months.
Appearing before a congressional panel, Comey also publicly challenged
Trump's claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped his 2016
campaign headquarters in Manhattan's Trump Tower.
The two officials spent 5-1/2 hours before the House of Representatives
Intelligence Committee in testimony marked by starkly partisan divides
between the panel's majority Republicans and Democrats.
Comey refused to back away from his claim that Russian President
Vladimir Putin did not simply want Democratic presidential candidate
Hillary Clinton to lose the election; he wanted Donald Trump to win.
Trump created a controversy in early March when he tweeted without
giving evidence that Obama had wiretapped his campaign while the
businessman competed against Clinton.
"With respect to the president's tweets about alleged wiretapping
directed at him by the prior administration, I have no information that
supports those tweets," Comey said.
Leon Panetta, a former U.S. defense secretary and CIA director during
the Obama administration, said in an interview that Trump should
"acknowledge that he made a mistake, apologize to President Obama."
The committee is one of several in the U.S. Congress investigating
whether Russia tried to influence the election, mostly by hacking
Democratic operatives' emails and releasing embarrassing information.
Russia denies the allegations.
Comey confirmed the FBI has been investigating since July possible
Russian efforts to interfere in the election, including any cooperation
between Trump's campaign and Moscow. He said that while the Russian
government wanted to hurt Clinton's campaign and help Trump's,
intelligence agencies made no judgment on whether the efforts influenced
the outcome.
Comey gave no details of the classified investigation and said the fact
that it exists does not mean charges would be filed.
U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia tried to help
Trump by hacking leading Democrats.
PUTIN'S PREFERENCE
"I think that was a fairly easy judgment for the (intelligence)
community," he said. "Putin hated Secretary Clinton so much that the
flip side of that coin was he had a clear preference for the person
running against the person he hated so much."
Asked about Comey, White House spokesman Sean Spicer read a series of
quotes from officials - some from the Obama administration - who have
said they have seen no signs of collusion between Trump's campaign and
Russia.
In a tweet before the hearing, Trump wrote: "The Democrats made up and
pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a
terrible campaign."
Spicer said he was unaware of any White House official being under
investigation by the FBI.
Trump has frequently urged better relations with Russia, which has been
at odds with the United States over Ukraine and the Syrian civil war.
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FBI Director James Comey testifies before the House Intelligence
Committee hearing into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S.
election, on Capitol Hill. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
Representative Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the intelligence
committee, detailed activities by Trump associates with ties to
Russia, including former campaign manager Paul Manafort and Michael
Flynn, who was forced out as Trump's national security adviser after
talking to the Russian ambassador and then misrepresenting the
conversation to Vice President Mike Pence.
"Is it possible that all of these events and reports are completely
unrelated and nothing more than an entirely unhappy coincidence?
Yes, it is possible," Schiff said. "But it is also possible, maybe
more than possible, that they are not coincidental, not disconnected
and not unrelated."
NO 'PHYSICAL' WIRETAP
Trump's March 4 tweet about wiretapping pulled attention away from
the claims of Russian election interference. He issued his tweet two
days after Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who met with Russia's
U.S. ambassador at least twice last year, said he would recuse
himself from any investigation of the matter.
The White House has contended in recent days that Trump's claim of
wiretapping referred to general surveillance of the campaign. The
White House has not provided evidence of surveillance of any kind.
"Let me be clear: We know there was not a physical wiretap on Trump
Tower. However, it's still possible that other surveillance
activities were used against President Trump and his associates,"
said Representative Devin Nunes, the committee's Republican
chairman.
Last week, Trump's spokesman cited a media report that British
intelligence was behind the surveillance, prompting ridicule in
London.
Rogers said the allegation had strained relations with London. "I
think it clearly frustrates a key ally of ours," Rogers said.
Comey warned that Russia would attempt to influence the next U.S.
presidential election in 2020 and perhaps congressional elections
next year.
"They'll be back in 2020. They may be back in 2018. And one of the
lessons they may draw from this is that they were successful because
they introduced chaos and division and discord and sowed doubt about
the nature of this amazing country of ours and our democratic
process," he said.
Clinton's fellow Democrats feel Comey played an inappropriate role
in the 2016 presidential contest by issuing a statement shortly
before Election Day reviving an investigation of Clinton's use of a
private email server. Then, just two days before the election, Comey
announced the FBI was sticking by a decision made months earlier
that no criminal charges were warranted.
(Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Phil Stewart; Writing by
Alistair Bell, Patricia Zengerle and Richard Cowan; Editing by Bill
Trott and Cynthia Osterman)
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