Trump’s FBI Reportedly Launches Investigation Into James Comey
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
FBI Director Kash Patel has ordered an investigation into James Comey over the bureau’s alleged surveillance of the 2016 Trump campaign, according to a Tuesday report.
The Washington Times reported that Comey, who President Donald Trump fired as the head of the FBI in 2017, was alleged by a whistleblower last year to have ordered an “off-the-books” probe into Trump.
The whistleblower claimed Comey enlisted two female undercover agents to get close to the then-candidate in 2015.
That alleged probe was said to have been separate from the Trump-Russia collusion investigation Crossfire Hurricane. According to the Times, Patel and newly-appointed Deputy Director of the FBI Dan Bongino are targeting Comey and citing the whistleblower’s allegations:
New leadership at the FBI is starting an investigation into the origins of the agency’s plan a decade ago to infiltrate the campaign of then-candidate Donald Trump using two female undercover “honeypot” agents.
The off-the-books investigation, launched in 2015 by former FBI Director James Comey, was revealed by an agency whistleblower in a protected disclosure to the House Judiciary Committee last year and first reported exclusively by The Washington Times in October.
In the intelligence community, a honeypot commonly refers to an undercover operative, usually a woman, who feigns sexual or romantic interest to obtain information from a target.
Trump and his allies have claimed for years that Comey – acting on behalf of former President Barack Obama – plotted to spy on his first campaign. Comey has denied those claims.
According to the Times, Patel and Bongino have kicked off their probe by seeking to find Comey’s two alleged “honeypots.”
The Times’ Kerry Picket, who broke the news, wrote, “The Times has learned that the bureau, now led by Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, is looking for those once-undercover employees who were previously under Mr. Comey’s direction. Picket continued:
New leadership at the FBI is starting an investigation into the origins of the agency’s plan a decade ago to infiltrate the campaign of then-candidate Donald Trump using two female undercover “honeypot” agents.
The off-the-books investigation, launched in 2015 by former FBI Director James Comey, was revealed by an agency whistleblower in a protected disclosure to the House Judiciary Committee last year and first reported exclusively by The Washington Times in October.
Patel said before he was confirmed to lead the FBI that he would not weaponize the bureau against Trump’s political enemies and denied the existence of a list of enemies he planned to target.
“I have no interest, no desire and will not, if confirmed, go backwards,” Patel said during his confirmation hearing, the Associated Press noted. “There will be no politicization at the FBI. There will be no retributive actions taken.”
