Farage ally Ted Malloch to testify in Trump-Russia probe

London-based US academic detained and questioned by FBI in Boston.

Ted Malloch was detained by the FBI upon arrival in the United States | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The FBI detained Ted Malloch upon arrival in the United States and issued a subpoena to testify on potential collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and the Russian government, the Guardian reported Friday.

Malloch, an American academic and outspoken Trump supporter based in London, said in an emailed statement that he was stopped by the FBI at Boston’s Logan Airport on Wednesday and interrogated about his involvement in Trump’s presidential campaign. He said he was also asked about his ties to Roger Stone, the Republican strategist who is believed to have known ahead of time that Wikileaks planned to publish emails stolen — allegedly by Russian hackers — from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016.

The FBI agents “seemed to know everything about me,” he said in his statement about the experience.

Malloch is known as an ally to UKIP leader Nigel Farage and was briefly touted as the U.S. president’s pick for EU ambassador last year, before reports that he made misleading claims in an autobiography — including that Margaret Thatcher had called him a “genius” — and strong criticism from European officials thwarted the appointment.

He has been asked to testify before Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading a U.S. Department of Justice probe into potential links between Russia and Trump’s 2016 election campaign. Trump has denounced the investigation as a “witch hunt.”

Malloch said in the statement that he assisted in the Trump campaign in an informal and unpaid capacity, and that he never met with Stone alone. He said he found his treatment by the FBI “objectionable.”

“They did not need to use such tactics or intimidation,” he said. “I was a U.S. patriot and would do anything and everything to assist the government and I had no information that I believed was relevant.”

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