WASHINGTON — House Oversight Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy said Tuesday he is now “more convinced” that the FBI acted appropriately in its handling of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible connections to Donald Trump’s campaign.
Gowdy’s comments come as President Trump continues to attack the department and the bureau over the handling of the Russia investigation.
“I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got, and that it has nothing to do with Donald Trump,” the South Carolina Republican said in an interview on Fox News.
As the President continues his attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, Trump has started to suggest without offering evidence that the FBI under former President Barack Obama’s administration embedded an informant in his campaign to act as a spy.
At a rally Tuesday night, Trump said, “”So how do you like the fact the fact they had people infiltrating our campaign? Can you imagine?”
US officials have disputed this characterization to CNN, saying a confidential intelligence source was not planted inside the campaign.
The Justice Department convened briefings on the confidential source last week, including one for Gowdy and House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes.
Gowdy said in the interview that Trump is not a target of the ongoing Russia probe and told Fox, “President Trump himself in the Comey memos said if anyone connected with my campaign was working with Russia, I want you to investigate it, and it sounds to me like that is exactly what the FBI did. I think when the President finds out what happened, he is going to be not just fine, he is going to be glad that we have an FBI that took seriously what they heard.”
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