The plot thickens further in the Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections as more people are included in the Congressional investigation. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage is considered “a person of interest” in the probe, while Congress also checks reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions allegedly had a private meeting with the Russian ambassador during the campaign period.
Farage links with Trump and Assange
According to British newspaper The Telegraph, the FBI included Farage in its investigation because of his alleged links to Trump and Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. As a “person of interest,” Farage is not accused of wrongdoing and is not a suspect in the probe, but he may have information which could help the investigation. One of the FBI’s intelligence investigators said that Farage is in the middle of the relationships between Trump and Assange. His name keeps on cropping up, so a lot of attention is being paid to the UKIP leader.
Farage had admitted meeting Assange at the embassy of Ecuador in London, where the founder of WikiLeaks lives, but he explained the meeting was brokered by LBC and was for journalistic reasons only.
While the British politician had placed the blame for the war in eastern Ukraine on the European Union, he had praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for the former KGB spy’s shrewd and ruthless approach to politics.
The UKIP leader said he has never been to Russia or had any business deals in Russia even when he was a commodities trader. Farage believes The Guardian run the story on his alleged Russian links because the British daily cannot accept Brexit and Trump.
Meeting with Russian ambassador
New York Daily News reported that Congress is also checking if Attorney General Jeff Sessions met Russian Ambassador to Washington Russian Ambassador to Washington Sergey Kislyak on April 27, 2016. The two allegedly met at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington where Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, delivered a speech.
Sessions, who was a senator at that time, had no private or side conversations with any Russian officials at Mayflower Hotel, a Department of Justice spokeswoman said. But at a Senate hearing on his confirmation, the AG admitted that he met the ambassador in July at the Republican National Convention and in September at his Senate office. He explained the meetings were part of his duties as a senator, but Sessions had to recuse himself in March on the Russian investigation because he did not disclose the previous meetings with Russian officials.