U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday called “most insulting” a published report that federal law enforcement officials were so concerned about his behavior in the days after he fired James Comey from the FBI that they opened an investigation into whether he had been working for Russia against U.S. interests.

The New York Times report Friday cited unnamed former law enforcement officials and others familiar with the investigation.

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Trump for some reason refuses to give a direct answer to question whether he is a Russian asset or works for the government of Russia. pic.twitter.com/GyjGvVEWXo — Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 13, 2019

Update: White House Aides Regret Trump Did Not Clearly Deny Being a Russian Agent on Fox News

Trump reacted Saturday during a telephone interview broadcast on Fox News Channel after host Jeanine Pirro asked whether he is currently or has ever worked for Russia.

“I think it’s the most insulting thing I’ve ever been asked,” he said. “I think it’s the most insulting article I’ve ever had written, and if you read the article you’ll see that they found absolutely nothing.” Trump, however never directly denied the claim, a fact which quickly became a Twitter meme.

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JEANINE PIRRO: "Are you now or have you ever worked for Russia?"

TRUMP: [spends two minutes tossing an alphabet salad that doesn't include the word "no"] pic.twitter.com/KJGVLgYgYk — shauna (@goldengateblond) January 13, 2019 Trump was asked tonight if he is or ever was a Russian agent.



For the record, he didn't say no. Smh. https://t.co/yVAiEVPNw7 — Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) January 13, 2019 jeanine pirro asking Trump "Are you a Russian agent" and he doesn't say no?!?!?!!?

I thought he was a better liar than this. pic.twitter.com/5jQCFHanhp — Pochassic (@Pochassic) January 13, 2019

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Trump went on to say that no president has taken a harder stance against Russia than he has.

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Jeanine Pirro with Donald Trump - דלג Jeanine Pirro with Donald Trump

“If you ask the folks in Russia, I’ve been tougher on Russia than anybody else, any other ... probably any other president, period, but certainly the last three or four presidents.”

The inquiry forced counterintelligence investigators to evaluate whether Trump was a potential threat to national security. They also sought to determine whether Trump was deliberately working for Russia or had unintentionally been influenced by Moscow.

The Times reported that FBI agents and some top officials became suspicious of Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign but didn’t launch an investigation at that time because they weren’t sure how to approach such a sensitive and important probe, according to the unnamed officials. But Trump’s behavior in the days around Comey’s May 2017 firing as FBI director, specifically two instances in which he seemed to tie Comey’s ousting to the Russia investigation, helped trigger the counterintelligence part of the investigation, according to the newspaper.

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Trump tweeted early Saturday that the report showed that the FBI leadership “opened up an investigation on me, for no reason & with no proof” after he had fired Comey.

Robert Mueller took over the investigation when he was appointed special counsel soon after Comey’s firing. The overall investigation is looking into Russian election interference and whether Trump’s campaign coordinated with the Russians, as well as possible obstruction of justice by Trump. The Times says it’s unclear whether Mueller is still pursuing the counterintelligence angle.

Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the Times he had no knowledge of the inquiry but said that since it was opened a year and a half ago and they hadn’t heard anything, apparently “they found nothing.”

Trump has also repeatedly and vociferously denied collusion with the Russians.

The Associated Press contributed to this report