A whistleblower report claims former FBI Director James Comey directed an off-the-books investigation into Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The House Judiciary Committee is reviewing these allegations, which suggest the operation was concealed from standard FBI oversight protocols.
The whistleblower alleges that Comey authorized the probe shortly after Trump launched his campaign in 2015. The whistleblower claimed to be an FBI agent involved in the operation.
Two female undercover agents embedded into Trump’s team to gather information, according to the whistleblower. They were described as “honeypots” instructed to form connections with campaign staff to uncover potentially incriminating material.
According to the report, the FBI didn’t officially document the operation. The report also claimed the operation lacked a specific criminal predicate. This prompted accusations of a “fishing expedition” for derogatory information.
The whistleblower claims that Comey directed the operation without creating a formal case file. That made the operation inaccessible to Justice Department oversight. They also claimed senior FBI officials supported the operation.
The whistleblower claims a focus of the operation was Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos. Papadopoulos later pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts but denied any Trump campaign collusion with Russia.
These denials, according to the report, were withheld from Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court applications used to justify surveillance on other Trump campaign members.
The whistleblower further alleges that when media outlets obtained a photograph of one of the undercover agents, the FBI misled a newspaper. The FBI allegedly claimed the agent was merely an informant to protect her identity.
The FBI reportedly shut down the operation after this incident and instructed personnel involved not to discuss the case, even among themselves.
