2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/FBI/OBAMA/RUSSIA: “Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey said publicly for the first time Monday [3-20-17] that the agency is investigating whether members of Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign collaborated with the Russian government to influence the presidential election.
The Capitol Hill announcement by Mr. Comey divulged an active FBI investigation, a rare step by the head of the nation’s largest law-enforcement agency, and all the more extraordinary given that it directly affects the current president.
Mr. Comey also used his appearance before the House Intelligence Committee to debunk an allegation contained in Twitter messages by Mr. Trump, saying he has ‘no information’ that supports the GOP president’s claims that his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama, wiretapped him during the campaign.
Both Mr. Trump and his staff dismissed the Russian collusion allegations, with the president tweeting early Monday that the ‘Democrats made up and pushed the Russian story as an excuse for running a terrible campaign.’
The disclosures, though, marked a clear setback for Mr. Trump, and Republicans complained that Mr. Comey’s confirmation of an investigation left a cloud of suspicion over the White House.”
-Shane Harris and Aruna Viswanatha, “Comey Confirms FBI Probe of Trump-Russia Links,” The Wall Street Journal online, March 20, 2017