The investigation into Donald Trump's connection to Russian officials has taken several surprising turns over the months since he's been in office. But unlike most investigations conducted by federal officials, it isn't very straightforward and has been subjected to partisanship and sabotage by officials who are loyal to Trump, such as Rep. Devin Nunes who sits on the chair of the House Intelligence Committee which is one of the three bodies conducting an investigation.
Devin Nunes' involvement was a thorough enough of a distraction that showed the administration's attempt to redirect focus elsewhere and validate their own accusations against those investigating them.
Such as with the idea that "the law was broken" by the previous administration which would do anything to defeat Trump's presidential bid.
This continues to be the case with recent reports about the FBI using a partially discredited dossier of allegations against the Trump team in order to launch their investigation and use all resources to go after the campaign's aides.
The approval the FBI sought is being questioned as the Trump White House already believe all allegations including those on the dossier are frivolous and therefore enough for them to discredit the motive behind the investigation and the organization conducting it. FBI director James Comey has reportedly cited the dossier during a recent public briefing before the House Intelligence Committee which Blasting News reported on.
Carter Page targeted in investigation
One report by CNN titled: "FBI used dossier allegations to bolster Trump-Russia investigation" said that U.S. officials who were briefed on the investigation had confirmed that it had been used for approval. The article referred to Trump's former aide Carter Page who was first brought up last year by former Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.
Page has since been targeted by the media over his discussions with Russian officials, more recently denying on the PBS Newshour that he ever met with any. In another interview following that was with Anderson Cooper where Page changed his statement saying that he did actually meet with Russian diplomat Sergey Kislyak but argued over the semantics of meeting him versus holding a meeting with him.
Carter Page also disputed his actual involvement with the Trump campaign which initially referred to him as a campaign advisor for national security, which was later changed. Page denies that he ever played such a role and ranked lower than many believe.
The article also brings up these facts and said that the dossier refers to Page representing the Trump campaign speaking to Kislyak about them lifting sanctions on Russia after he would become president. Former national security advisor Michael Flynn was forced out of the Trump administration in mid-February months after it had been discovered that he had similar discussions with the same official and others over similar sanctions.
Credibility of the dossier
The dossier itself has already been discredited by Trump and many media outlets when it was republished by Buzzfeed. The Trump administration for the fact that it goes with their stream of denial that they had or have any connections with Russian officials and by media outlets because of quality issues.
The dossier is a collection of memos by a former British intelligence operative who was conducting an independent investigation last year for Trump's opposition. It was reported that after completing the investigation, the memos were turned over and that the FBI wanted them.
President Trump accused former President Obama of wiretapping his phones at Trump Tower which Nunes tried to validate with intelligence documents he received at the White House.
The report's use in approving surveillance will no doubt provide more ammunition to the Trump administration.
The FBI briefed both President Obama and then President-elect Trump on the details of the dossier in order to not only let them know that it was circulating but also that Russian officials were collecting or had collected information to blackmail Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
It is this information that the FBI used to seek approval under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) in order for them to conduct surveillance on Carter Page.
The CNN article also notes the differences between how the FBI took the collected memos more seriously last year and now apparently, distancing themselves from them over the past several months. It's been reported that another hearing with James Comey will take place in the coming months in their investigation and will be a closed hearing.