Bloomberg: Comey Confirms Russia Inquiry, Rejects Trump Wiretap Claims
* He says FBI probing any links between Trump campaign, Russia
* ‘Putin hated Secretary Clinton so much’ he tried to help Trump
FBI Director James Comey confirmed the bureau is probing potential ties between President Donald Trump’s associates and Russia during the 2016 campaign and said there’s no evidence to support the president’s allegation that his predecessor “wiretapped” Trump Tower last year.
“I have no information that supports those tweets and we have looked carefully inside the FBI," Comey told the House Intelligence Committee on Monday.
Comey said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a broad inquiry into Moscow’s efforts to “interfere” in the presidential election, an effort he said began in late July of last year.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The anti-Trumpers are having a field day with today's FBI Director's official announcement that (1) no wire-tap of Trump Tower, and (2) there is (since July) an investigation on the relationship between the Trump team and the Russian government. Other notable remarks from the FBI Director is his comment today that the Russian government wanted to hurt the Clinton campaign .... that Putin personally hated Clinton (something that I have more than once pointed out in this blog) even though the the FBI Director admits that there is no evidence that the Russians influenced the outcome of the election in anyway. But what also caught my attention was the FBI Director's statement that Russia did not provide the email leaks to Wikileaks .... a bombshell that (so far) has not been reported by the main stream media. No evidence of collusion. No Russia - Wikileaks ties over leaked emails. These admissions alone would be more than enough to have put an end to these hearings today. But .... this is Washington .... this story has been ongoing since the fall of last year and I expect this circus to continue and the need for the Democrats to feed their base that this story/conspiracy theory .... call it what you want .... is true .... that the election was stolen from Hillary Clinton. But as I have mentioned more than once in the past .... there is one problem with this narrative ..... no evidence has been provided. I repeat .... no evidence has been provided .... even today.
On a personal note .... after listening to the hearings this morning .... there are some questions that I do like the answers to. One .... who in the Justice Department ordered the FBI to do this investigation in July .... an investigation that started even before Trump had won the Republican nomination. And two .... is there (or was there) any investigations on the Clinton campaign's contacts with officials from the Russian government (that we know also happened last summer). Will these questions be answered later today .... I do not know .... but what kills me about today's hearing is that it was Trump's tax return that was illegally leaked. That it was also his phone conversations that were illegally leaked. But it is Trump who is the focus of the FBI investigation? This is why I am now wondering if these hearings are being used by the Washington "establishment" to send a message to President Trump. In the past I scoffed at the many reports and commentaries ... primarily from the extreme right (and left) that the Washington establishment .... both Republican and Democrat .... would stop at nothing to make sure that President Trump would not push for the reforms and changes in policy that he won his mandate on. Now .... I am not sure. And after listening to the FBI Director's remarks today with no evidence to back-up any of these claims/charges .... and the lack of follow-up questions from the Republicans .... is a message being sent to president Trump to stop Obamacare/trade/immigration/drain the swamp/etc. .... "or else". I let you guys and gals who read this blog to be the judge of that.
Update: Yup .... I have been saying the same thing for the past two months .... Key Democratic Officials Now Warning Base Not to Expect Evidence of Trump/Russia Collusion (Glen Greenwald, The Intercept).
Update #2: Someone just made a good point. If Hillary Clinton had won the election .... would the Republicans be doing the same thing today?
More News On FBI Director Comey And NSA Director Rogers' Testimony At The U.S. House Intelligence Committee
Full transcript: FBI Director James Comey testifies on Russian interference in 2016 election -- Washington Post
FBI probing possible links between Russia, Trump associates -- AP
FBI's Comey says no evidence of Trump wiretap claim, confirms probe -- Reuters
Comey Confirms F.B.I. Probe into Trump Campaign Links to Russian Hackers, Says He Has ‘No Information’ on Trump’s Wiretapping Charge -- NYT
FBI confirms Trump-Russia inquiry, finds no evidence of Trump wiretap claims -- CNN
FBI confirms it's investigating links between Russia, Trump campaign -- DW
James Comey confirms FBI is investigating possible links, coordination between Donald Trump associates and Russia -- ABC News
No Information Russia Affected Vote Tally in US States - NSA -- Sputnik
FBI confirms probe into Trump’s alleged ties with Moscow during 2016 election campaign -- RT
