https://www.thedailybeast.com/mueller-i ... ref=scrollThe FBI's scrutiny of Donald Trump's wider presidential campaign team over fears of collusion with Kremlin election-meddling began as far back as the summer of 2016, according to the former FBI Director James Comey.
Comey revealed in testimony to congressional investigators that four Americans somehow connected to the campaign, but not Trump himself, had come into the FBI's sights in late July, well before polling day.
Comey did not name the four Americans. But he mentioned them again later in the interview when Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat, pressed him further.
“Those individuals were affiliated with the campaign?” she said. “I believe they were in some form.”
Comey also came to the defense of Peter Strzok, a former FBI agent who headed the counterintelligence operation into Hillary Clinton’s use of her personal email server. Strzok also worked on Mueller’s investigation but was fired in summer of 2017 when text messages were released that showed he had spoken unfavorably about Trump.
After questioning about the former agent from Democratic Rep. Steven Cohen, Comey said he never saw any bias from Strzok.
“It's hard for me to see how he was on Team Clinton secretly at that point in time,” Comey said. “He also was one of the handful of people in the entire world who knew we were investigating four Americans who had some connection to Mr. Trump during the summer of 2016, and he didn't tell a soul.”
“Which investigation is he a witness in?” Gowdy asked.
“To the special counsel,” Bessee said, switching her phrasing on Comey’s witness status. “He said he is a potential witness.”
“Well, you just said witness,” Gowdy said. “Is there an obstruction of justice investigation?”
“I believe there is an investigation that the special counsel is looking into,” Bessee said.
“The term ‘Russia investigation’ often refers to two different things: first, the investigation to understand what are the Russians doing to interfere in our election during the 2015-16 period; and then, second, it's often used to refer to the counterintelligence investigations that the FBI opened in late July,” Comey said, adding that he did not understand what the word “collusion” meant.
“I've never heard the term ‘collusion’ used in the way it's been used in our world over the last couple years before that,” Comey said. “I don't know of a crime that involves collusion.”
The legal term is conspiracy, not collusion
col·lu·sion
/kəˈlo͞oZHən/Submit
noun
secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.
"the armed forces were working in collusion with drug traffickers"
synonyms: conspiracy, connivance, complicity, intrigue, plotting, secret understanding, collaboration, scheming
"there had been collusion between the security forces and paramilitary groups"
LAW
illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially between ostensible opponents in a lawsuit.
