President Donald H. Trump has stepped up his attacks on the Justice Department and has hinted that the FBI may be planting or recruiting an informant in his 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump has not reached the point of accusing the FBI of spying on his campaign, but he said, citing reports whose source did not mention at least one representative of the office "planted" for political purposes in his campaign.
"If it's true, it will be the biggest political scandal ever," Trump wrote in a tweet on Twitter.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president. It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a "hot" Fake News story. If true - all time largest political scandal!
3:50 PM - May 18, 2018
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Rudolf Giuliani, a former New York mayor and one of Trump's current lawyers, immediately tempered speculation about the existence of a detective. He told CNN: "I do not know for sure and the president does not know if there is indeed a bribe" .
"For a long time, we were told there was some sort of penetration," he said. "At one point, the president thought it was through wiretapping."
Neither Trump nor Giuliani provided any evidence of government interference in the presidential campaign.
Trump and some of his allies confirm that elements within the Justice Department are seeking to undermine his administration, while Robert Mueller is investigating possible collusion between Trump's campaign team and Russia.
Trump denied any complicity with Russia and repeatedly described Muller's investigation as "witch hunt". In turn, Russia denies interfering in the US presidential election.
CNN quoted US officials as saying: "The secret intelligence source was not planted in the campaign to provide investigators with information."
The New York Times quoted informed sources that the FBI had sent an informant to speak to two Trump campaign advisers after the office received evidence that they had made suspicious contact with Russia during the campaign.
The newspaper said that the detective is an American academic lecturing in Britain