British-based academic and FBI informant 'approached Trump campaign advisers about Russia ties before election'
A British-based US academic approached Donald Trump campaign figures before the 2016 election to investigate suspected Russia links for the FBI, according to American newspapers.
The New York Times and The Washington Post have both reported that the US informant made the approaches as suspicions rose in American intelligence community.
Carter Page and George Papadopoulos, two Trump campaign foreign policy advisers, were both reportedly approached by the professor.
Sam Clovis, the Trump campaign co-chairman, also met the academic for coffee in the summer of 2016, according to The Washington Post.
Both papers said they had identified the academic but chose not to name them in public. It is unclear with which UK academic institution the person is linked.
The approaches have fallen under fierce scrutiny from Republicans in Congress as they question the origins of the Russian election meddling investigation., which has hung over Mr Trump's presidency.
Mr Trump tweeted on Friday: “Reports are there was indeed at least one FBI representative implanted, for political purposes, into my campaign for president.
“It took place very early on, and long before the phony Russia Hoax became a 'hot' Fake News story. If true - all time biggest political scandal!”
However no evidence was provided for claim a FBI official was “implanted” in the campaign. Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr Trump’s lawyer, admitted on CNN: “I don’t know for sure, nor does the president, if there really was one. For a long time, we’ve been told there was some kind of infiltration.”
The US informant reportedly made the approaches after the FBI begun an investigation into the Trump campaign’s links to Russia before the 2016 presidential vote.
The FBI’s investigation begun after hearing Mr Papadopoulos was told that Moscow had compromising information on Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, in the form of “thousands of emails”. The comment was made before it was made public that Democratic Party emails had been hacked.
The informant reportedly contacted Mr Papadopoulos in September 2016 - two months before the election - offering $3,000 for an academic paper and a trip to London.
Mr Papadopoulos accepted. The academic asked about Russian attempts to influence the election over drinks but Mr Papadopoulos said he had no insight, according to The New York Times.
The academic reportedly met Mr Page in July 2016 and the pair stayed in touch.
The unnamed US informant was said to have served in previous Republican administrations and been a source of information for the CIA for years.
Republicans have questioned whether the FBI overstepped the mark as they looked into the Trump campaign’s Russia links before the vote.
The investigation was later handed to Robert Mueller, who was appointed special counsel after the sacking of James Comey as FBI director in May 2017.
