FBI investigated Trump over possible Russia collusion

The FBI had opened an inquiry in May 2017 into whether Donald Trump was working on behalf of Russia, according to the the New York Times .

In a report published Friday, the paper cited unnamed former law enforcement officials as saying that in the days after the president dismissed the former FBI director James Comey, law enforcement officials became so worried about Trump’s behaviour that they had launched an investigation into whether the president could be working against American interests and on behalf of Russia.

Counterintelligence investigators were reportedly considering whether Trump’s actions constituted a national security threat, an extraordinary line of inquiry against a sitting US president. They also sought to determine whether the president was, in fact, knowingly working for Russia.

The White House dismissed the New York Times report as “absurd”.

“James Comey was fired because he’s a disgraced partisan hack, and his Deputy Andrew McCabe, who was in charge at the time, is a known liar fired by the FBI,” said the White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, in a statement.

“Unlike President Obama, who let Russia and other foreign adversaries push America around, President Trump has actually been tough on Russia,” she added.

Rudolph Giuliani, one of Trump’s attorneys, also sought to downplay the significance of the investigation. “The fact that it goes back a year and a half and nothing came of it that showed a breach of national security means they found nothing,” Giuliani told the NYT.