The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on-going inquiry of allegations regarding Donald Trumps’ connection with the Russians hit a dead end. The agency also launched multiple investigations involving Trump’s supporters to establish if there is any connection. However, the FBI found no criminal connection between the two parties.
Law enforcement agencies involved in the Democratic organization hacking incident speculate that Russian spies were involved in creating turmoil in the 2016 election. However, according to the intelligence officials, the Russian spies are not helping a specific candidate.
Furthermore, the US government blames top-level Russian officials in organizing intricate hacking incidents on the Democratic groups. Subsequently, the group released the confidential information online.
In spite of the allegations, the US government did not formally charge the Russian government of rigging the election. The US also turned silent on the issue of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta’s hacked emails. Likewise, the US kept quiet on the detected voter’s registration hacked databases.
Democrats Protest
The FBI did not disclose any information on its investigation regarding Trump’s Russian tie connection in his campaign.
Sure enough, Democrats protested, citing unfair treatment. The FBI recently released information about their separate email probe about Clinton’s use of private email when she was still the Secretary of State. The agency announced the details of their investigation within the final days of the election campaign.
The newly discovered email surfaced when authorities were doing another investigation. Law enforcement seized a laptop for their investigation of Anthony Weiner, the former New York Representative and the dishonored husband of Huma Abedin. Abedin serves as Clinton’s longtime aide.
Weiner was accused of a sexual misconduct involving a 15-year-old teenager and the laptop may serve as evidence in the case. It, coincidentally contains emails from Clinton.
Intricate web of controversies
According to a CNN report, Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, was accused of having connections with pro-Putin personalities in Ukraine. A year into the investigation, the FBI stopped short when the case implicated other lobbying firms in Washington.
The investigation covered the Podesta Group owned by Tony Podesta, brother of John Podesta for having political ties with Ukraine.
Moreover, FBI scrutinized appointments of Trump’s former adviser, Carter page in individuals in Russia who are under US sanctions. The source of the information came from the Democratic leader, Sen. Harry Reid who made a public letter sent to the FBI. Democrats convinced of the notion that Russia is trying to rig the election challenged the idea of the conspiracy.
Page, on the other hand, denied all allegations and blamed democrats in mentioning the concern. In a CNN interview, Page said, “most of the accusations that have come have been sort of a downward circle … bouncing back and forth between media accounts and stories that are planted … by the Clinton campaign against me.”
A longer FBI investigation of six years, implicated a Trump supporter, Roger Stone in partaking email hacks relating to WikiLeaks. According to democrats, Stone conspired with Julian Assange of WikiLeaks to hacked emails from their party officials.
Stone denied accusations of conspiring with WikiLeaks, but said he has “back-channel communications with WikiLeaks”. In his defense, he added, “They certainly don’t clear or tell me in advance what they’re going to do”.
Leaked emails
Thanks to WikiLeaks, Podesta’s private email leaked for more than three weeks. Russia and WikiLeaks denied any corroboration with the Podesta’s leaked email. But a security firm discovered a link to the same Russian hackers who cracked into DNC using a phishing email.
The First Amendment protections hinder the FBI and Justice Department investigation. Because the newly formed organization obtains and distributes information, just like WikiLeaks only they handle hacked information. Also, WikiLeaks declines to say their sources, making it even harder for the FBI to discern their connection with the Russians.
The Senior Democrat Adam Schiff said that one would have turned a blind eye as not to notice Russia’s action. The California representative added to the House Intelligence Committee that the Russians are “trying to help one side over the other”.
Shiff pointed out that “The leaks speak for themselves. They are uniformly damaging Clinton, not Trump. And it’s an effort to damage one candidate’s campaign and American democracy.”
Democrats suspect FBI Director, James Comey for political motivation against them since he released new details regarding Clinton’s email server probe. Contrary to some media reports, Comey did not mention Russia assisting email hacks for the election.
The FBI cautiously handles the probe with diligence as not to compromise any cases leading to other investigations. When the details about Russia was made public, Comey and other top FBI cyber officials opposed the move.
The White House also reserved its silence on the issue because of the election and to show equality for both parties. The testimonies against Russia originated from Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The post FBI Hits Dead End in Trump-Russia Link Investigation appeared first on Newsline.
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