The latest reports about the FBI claim that there is a FISA warrant that was issued for the purposes of investigating the private email servers of Donald Trump in Russia. This will be done for national security. Heat Street’s Louise Mensch confirmed that these reports had been confirmed by two different sources that had trusted counter-intelligence links. The sources confirmed that the FBI had gone ahead to seek and was granted the FISA court warrant back in October. The warrant gave the counter-intelligence body permission to look into the activities of some ‘U.S. persons’ present in the campaign of Donald Trump believed to have ties with Russia.
The reason behind the account’s investigation is to check for probable banking offenses as well as ties with the Russian government. The FBI has on its part rejected the investigation claims, probably as a way of protecting the President-elect especially during the campaign process. James Comey, the director of FBI, released a memo that could only be described as vague on their investigation on the Clinton Foundation. This made a lot of people to come out and claim that by doing so, Comey broke the Hatch Law. This law prohibits any government official from getting in the way of the democratic process.
A number of FBI agents who spoke to the NY Times stated that they did not have knowledge of any pending investigation. They further added that the counter-intelligence and criminal factions of the FBI work independently from each other. This makes it highly possible for an agent from a different department to have limited or no information at all on what another department is currently working on. The report further states that the warrant extends to any US person connected to the investigation, thereby covering Donald Trump and another three men who were his media surrogates or in his campaign team.
The warrant had to be sought due to the actionable intelligence regarding the matter. It was offered by foreign agencies that are friendly. It could not be examined properly by the US intelligence, since it involves persons in the US who are under the FBI and not CIA. There are sources claiming that if the counter-intelligence investigations lead to prosecutions, the Justice Department will ensure that the evidence chain had a clear written warrant.
It is reported that the FBI got “alarmed” after Carter Page embarked on a trip to Moscow, just a week before the DNC got hacked. It was later determined that the hack originated from Russia, and then Donald Trump alleged that there was no definite answer on the person responsible for hacking the DNC during the third presidential debate.
Bradley P. Moss, the National security lawyer, told Heat Street that even though a FISA warrant was given, it did not mean that the issuing court had any reason to believe that a U.S. persons was literally a spy. It could be there was probable cause that made the court believe in the existence of “agents of influence” that were influenced unwittingly from foreign power. The FISA warrant in connection to suspected cases of money laundering involves a foreign government encompassing U.S. persons in a limited concept. The FISA warrant authorizes the collection of evidence but no power to arrest.
As the investigation was being carried out, it was clear that the private Russian server of Donald Trump communicated with the Alpha Bank. This seemed highly coincidental and very fishy. The FISA warrant was allowed due to Vladimir Putin’s daughter’s involvement.