Donald Trump said on Sunday he will ask the justice department to look into whether his 2016 presidential campaign was infiltrated or surveilled.



Trump tweeted: “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!”

Trump has been promoting a theory circulating in conservative circles about a possible FBI spy on the campaign.

His attorney Rudy Giuliani cast doubt on that this week, saying neither he nor the president knew for certain if there was a spy. Giuliani said they had been told about possible “infiltration” of the campaign.

“For a long time we’ve been told that there was some kind of infiltration,” he told CNN. “I don’t know for sure, nor does the president, if there really was one.”

The justice department declined to comment on Sunday. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The justice department’s internal watchdog is in fact already examining Republican complaints of FBI misconduct in the early stages of the investigation into Russian election interference and possible links between Trump aides and Moscow. The inspector general, Michael E Horowitz, announced an investigation in March, at the request of attorney general Jeff Sessions and congressional Republicans.



Sessions and the lawmakers urged Horowitz to review whether FBI and justice department officials abused surveillance powers by using information compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British spy, and paid for by Democrats as part of the basis to justify monitoring Carter Page, a former campaign adviser to Trump.

Horowitz said his office would look at those claims as well as communications between Steele and DoJ and FBI officials.

Trump’s “demand” was one of a series of tweets on Sunday. The president earlier posted seven tweets denouncing as a “witch hunt” the federal investigation of whether his campaign worked with Russia to sway the election.

On Saturday, he tweeted: “If the FBI or DOJ was infiltrating a campaign for the benefit of another campaign, that is a really big deal.” Only the release or review of documents the House intelligence committee is seeking from the justice department “can give conclusive answers”, he added.

On Friday, Trump quoted Fox Business anchor David Asman: “Apparently the DOJ put a Spy in the Trump Campaign. This has never been done before and by any means necessary, they are out to frame Donald Trump for crimes he didn’t commit.”

Earlier this month, the National Review raised the question of whether there was an FBI spy in Trump’s campaign. The article cited work by Devin Nunes of California, an ardent Trump supporter and chairman of the House intelligence committee, who has demanded information on an FBI source in the Russia investigation.

Opponents of Nunes’s request have stressed the need to protect sources and methods.

The New York Times reported separately last week that at least one government informant met several times with Page and George Papadopoulos, another former foreign policy adviser on Trump’s campaign. The Times reported, citing current and former FBI officials, that the informant talked to Page and Papadopoulos because they had suspicious contacts linked to Russia.

Papadopoulos was charged last year by special counsel Robert Mueller and pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. He has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.