DOJ confirms foreign outreach in probe of 2016 election

The Justice Division confirmed on Monday that Lawyer Basic William Barr had requested President Donald Trump for introductions to overseas officials as part of a probe into intelligence gathering surrounding the 2016 presidential election that ultimately led to the Russia investigation.

The department assertion adopted a report from The Washington Publish hours earlier that Barr had contacted British and Italian officers and that the Trump administration reached out to their Australian counterparts as half of an investigation into U.S. intelligence activities round Trump’s election. The New York Occasions additionally reported Monday that Trump referred to as Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia to urge him to assist Barr in the Justice Department investigation. Each publications cited unidentified U.S. officers and other people conversant in the matter for his or her stories.

Trump sees the investigation, which is headed by U.S. Lawyer John Durham of Connecticut, as a method to counter the scrutiny and allegations of overseas interference he has faced surrounding the 2016 election.

“As the Division of Justice has previously introduced, a workforce led by U.S. Lawyer John Durham is investigating the origins of the U.S. counterintelligence probe of the Trump 2016 presidential campaign,” a department spokeswoman, Kerri Kupec, stated in a assertion. “Mr. Durham is gathering info from quite a few sources, including a variety of overseas nations. At Lawyer Basic Barr’s request, the President has contacted different nations to ask them to introduce the Lawyer Common and Mr. Durham to applicable officers.”

The stories come as Trump faces an impeachment inquiry from Home Democrats following accounts by a whistleblower within the intelligence group and numerous news publications that Trump pushed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to research his Democratic rival Joe Biden for filth that might assist Trump within the 2020 election. A readout of a July telephone name between the 2 presidents revealed that Trump requested Zelensky to “do us a favor” and get in touch with Barr and look into Biden’s actions within the nation.

Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani have repeatedly denied wrongdoing, both characterizing the impeachment inquiry as another “witch hunt,” after particular counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the 2016 election.

Darren Samuelsohn contributed reporting.

Article originally revealed on POLITICO Magazine

Src: DOJ confirms foreign outreach in probe of 2016 election
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