Comey: FBI Probe Initially Focused On Four Americans
12:26 PM 12/09/2018 | US
Chuck Ross | Reporter
James Comey made the surprise revelation in his congressional testimony on Friday that the FBI opened investigations into four Trump associates in late July 2016.
It was previously known that four Trump advisers were the focus of the FBI probe, but it was not known that they were targeted at the outset of the investigation.
It was previously believed that former Trump aide George Papadopoulos was the catalyst for the investigation, which was dubbed Crossfire Hurricane.
The FBI opened counterintelligence investigations into four Trump campaign associates in late July 2016, earlier than previously known, former FBI Director James Comey told Congress Friday.
“I was briefed sometime at the end of July that the FBI had opened counterintelligence investigations of four individuals to see if there was a connection between those — any of those four and the Russian effort,†Comey said during a seven hour interview with the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committees.
The revelation comes as something of a surprise because Democrats and many in the media have insisted that the probe, dubbed Crossfire Hurricane, was launched solely based on information that the Australian government provided the FBI on Trump aide George Papadopoulos.
It is not clear why the FBI added three other Trump associates to its investigation. Comey declined to name the four Americans, though The New York Times has previously reported that the initial focus of the investigation was Papadopoulos, Carter Page, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort.
more
https://dailycaller.com/2018/12/09/comey-russia-four-americans/
