FBI/JUSTICE DEPARTMENT/RUSSIA INVESTIGATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “President Trump claimed without evidence on Sunday [7-22-18] that his administration’s release of top-secret documents related to the surveillance of a former campaign aide had confirmed that the Justice Department and the F.B.I. ‘misled the courts’ in the early stages of the Russia investigation…In a series of early-morning tweets, Mr. Trump left unmentioned how the documents laid out in stark detail why the F.B.I. was interested in the former campaign adviser, Carter Page: ‘The F.B.I. believes Page has been the subject of targeted recruitment by the Russian government.’ The documents also said Mr. Page had ‘established relationships with Russian government officials, including Russian intelligence officers,’ and had been ‘collaborating and conspiring with the Russian government.’ Those assessments were included in an October 2016 application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to wiretap Mr. Page. The New York Times and other news outlets obtained the application and several renewals through Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. The president had declassified their existence last year.”
–Katie Rogers and Emily Cochrane, “Without Evidence, Trump Claims Vindication From Release of Carter Page Documents,” The New York Times online, July 22, 2018