President Trump said Tuesday morning it “would be a disgrace” if allegations that the FBI had embedded a spy in his 2016 campaign turned out to be true.
Asked about reports of FBI surveillance of his campaign, Mr. Trump told reporters at the White House, “If they had spies in my campaign, that would be a disgrace.” He said it would also be illegal and unprecedented.
“I hope they weren’t,” Mr. Trump said of possible FBI spying.
The president also dodged questions about Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who is overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation in Russian collusion in the 2016 election.
Mr. Rosenstein has been a frequent target of the president. Rumors have persisted for months that Mr. Trump will fire Mr. Rosenstein for what the president perceives allowing Mr. Mueller to widen his Russia investigation and his approval of a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant of Trump campaign aide Carter Page.
When asked if he had confidence in Mr. Rosenstein, Mr. Trump declined to answer.
“What’s your next question, please? Excuse me, I have the president of South Korea here. He doesn’t want to hear these questions, if you don’t mind,” the president said.
Mr. Trump has railed against the FBI and Department of Justice since reports surfaced that Cambridge professor Stefan Halper, 73, acted as an FBI informant. Mr. Halper met with Trump campaign officials, questioning them about the Russian hacking into the Democratic National Committee’s email.
On Monday, the president tapped Chief of Staff John F. Kelly to ensure Congress gets Justice Department documents related to its investigation of the Trump campaign. The documents could include details of the FBI informant’s role in the probe.
One former Trump campaign adviser, Michael Caputo, told Fox News he believes at least two informants targeted the campaign. Mr. Caputo said he was also approached by an informant.
“Let me tell you something that I know for a fact,” Mr. Caputo said in an interview. “This informant, this person that they tried to plant into the campaign … he’s not the only person who came to the campaign. And the FBI is not the only Obama agency who came at the campaign.”
“I know because they came at me,” Mr. Caputo added.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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