FBI investigating possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russian government during US election
Agency chief James Comey also punctures baseless claims Obama ordered wiretap on Trump Tower
THE FBI is actively probing possible links between Donald Trump's campaign and the Russian government during the US Presidential election, it has been revealed.
FBI chief James Comey confirmed in an extraordinary revelation that the agency is investigating potential Russian collusion with the Republican's run for office.
He told a congressional hearing on Russian activities that the probe "includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump campaign and the Russian government.
Comey said agents were working to find out if there was "any coordination between the campaign and Russia's efforts".
And he also punctured President Trump's fact-free claims that President Obama ordered a wiretap on his glitzy Trump Tower office.
In a scathing rebuke, he said that neither the FBI nor the US Department of Justice has any evidence to support the allegations dished out in a Trump Twitter rant earlier this month.
"I have no information that supports those tweets, and we have looked carefully inside the FBI", he said.
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And National Security Agency Director Michael Rogers directly addressed claims spread by the Trump administration alleging that British spooks helped keep tabs on the President before he was elected.
He told the hearing there is no evidence UK intelligence was involved in any wiretap, calling the claims "nonsense".
Other congressional committees also are investigating the possible Russian connection, mostly behind closed doors.
"Because it is an open, ongoing investigation and is classified, I cannot say more about what we are doing and whose conduct we are examining," Comey added on the Russian investigation.
Earlier, the chairman of the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, Republican Representative Devin Nunes, told the same hearing that the panel had seen no evidence of collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 campaign.
Comey's intervention comes amid controversy over whether Moscow tried to influence the presidential race on Trump's behalf by hacking and leaking damaging info on Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Both he and Rogers stood by their assessment's that Russian meddling in the election was in order to aid Trump and damage Clinton, with Comey saying it was a "fairly easy judgement".
Lawmakers said they would make public as much of their investigations as possible.
Russia denies it attempted to influence the Nov. 8 Presidential election.
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