CIA and foreign intelligence agencies illegally targeted 26 Trump associates before 2016 Russia collusion claims: report
The US Intelligence Community asked foreign spy agencies to
surveil 26 associates of Donald Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election, which triggered the allegations that the former president’s campaign had been colluding with Russia, according to a report.
Warrantless surveillance of US persons is specifically prohibited by US law.
Former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith was
sentenced to probation in 2021 after admitting that he falsified an e-mail to renew a wiretap against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
Page had been wiretapped after intelligence sources suspected he might have been targeted by Russian spies. The wiretap, which was approved by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, was renewed several times after it was first granted.
Last March, Special Counsel John Durham concluded that the FBI investigation of Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia was
“seriously flawed” and had no basis in evidence, after a four-year review of the probe.
Former CIA Director John Brennan identified and presented the targets to the US’s intelligence-sharing partners in the so-called “Five Eyes” agencies – the intelligence-gathering organizations in the US, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – according to a report published Monday on Michael Shellenberger’s
Public Substack.
The report by independent journalists Shellenberger, Matt Taibbi and Alex Gutentag has not been confirmed by The Post.
They cite multiple unnamed sources, including ones close to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, led by Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio).