President Donald Trump says that he will "demand" that the Justice Department open an investigation into whether the FBI infiltrated his presidential campaign.
The extraordinary order on Sunday came hours before his legal team said that the special counsel indicated its investigation into the president could be concluded by September.
I hereby demand, and will do so officially tomorrow, that the Department of Justice look into whether or not the FBI/DOJ infiltrated or surveilled the Trump Campaign for Political Purposes – and if any such demands or requests were made by people within the Obama Administration!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2018
The Justice Department’s watchdog said later that it had agreed to expand its existing probe of FBI actions.
Trump’s demand is part of the White House’s aggressive new strategy to combat the threat posed by special counsel Robert Mueller’s ongoing investigation into the Russia probe.
The president’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, tells The Associated Press that Mueller recently shared a timetable that suggested that its probe could end by Sept. 1 if Trump were to sit for an interview in July.
(Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
