Top FBI official refuses to deny that Donald Trump is a Russian agent
In any investigation, it’s proper to define what the investigation is not about. What’s not being investigated? What prior suspicions have since been disproven? What potential crimes have been ruled out? It tends to be easy enough to confirm these kinds of things, even while an investigation is still ongoing. So what to make of it, then, when a top FBI official was directly asked a question about Donald Trump that could have easily been answered with a “no” if the answer were indeed no?
That was the case when FBI assistant director Bill Priestap testified publicly before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday. Some of the questions tend to be partisan posturing aimed at driving a particular premise. But when it came to Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, his question was an easy one, or at least it should have been: “Did Donald Trump become an unwitting agent of the Russians?”
After a long pause that was obvious in nature, the FBI official looked befuddled and threw up his hands and simply said “I can’t really comment on that.” Heinrich replied with “I don’t blame you for not answering the question,” which evoked laughter in the room. But when you think it through, it’s not a laughing matter.
The upshot is that Donald Trump’s involvement with the Russian government during the election ran so deep that the FBI isn’t even willing to definitively state for the record that Trump isn’t an agent of the Russian government. This doesn’t mean that the FBI believes Donald Trump is a Russian agent. But it suggests the evidence says he might be a Russian agent. And the person we’re talking about currently occupies the office of President of the United States. If you’re a regular reader, feel free to support Palmer Report
