(UnitedVoice.com) – For years, former President Donald Trump has been accusing federal agencies of spying on people associated with him. The scandal over the Steele Dossier and surveillance on officials within his 2016 campaign have led to discussions about changes to the federal FISA program. An investigation into the FBI found it had violated its procedures when it went after the 45th president’s allies.
The intelligence community is now being accused of spying on associates of the former president before the 2016 election.
New Allegations
On February 13, journalists Matt Taibbi, Alex Gutentag, and Michael Shellenberger published a bombshell article alleging the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and US Intelligence Community (IC) targeted 26 of Trump’s allies before the summer of 2016. That is when the Russia probe allegedly began.
According to the article, the official story has always been that the FBI started looking into the matter after Australian intelligence officials alleged an associate of Trump’s bragged to an Australian diplomat that Russia had evidence against Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. The journalists allege that’s not what happened. Instead, they claim the IC asked the intelligence communities in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand to share any information they dug up about the billionaire.
Former President Barack Obama’s CIA director, John Brennan, is accused of identifying 26 individuals that the foreign intel officials should target. The spies were told to make contact with or manipulate the Trump associates.
A source reportedly told the conservative journalists that the intelligence agents were trying to make contact with the 26 people as early as March 2016. Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) allegedly sent spies to the United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, and elsewhere.
The article also claims that Trump wanted to declassify the information about the investigation at the end of his term. The documents were reportedly inside a 10-inch binder that had gone missing. The former president thought the information in the alleged folder would prove the intelligence agencies broke the law.
Election Interference
If true, the spying operations were far more detailed than previously known. Former Special Counsel John Durham, who investigated the origin of the Russia probe, has already stated the FBI shouldn’t have ever opened the probe to begin with but he didn’t find any criminal wrongdoing on the part of the Obama administration.
The latest report indicates the administration might have been interfering in the 2016 election. With another election right around the corner and Obama’s vice president turned 46th POTUS, Joe Biden, at the top of the ticket, it raises concerns about what might happen in November.
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