By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
The FBI gained approval to secretly monitor a Donald Trump associate after using a dossier of allegations that Russians were conspiring with Trump to help him win the presidential election, U.S. officials told CNN.
The dossier, which alleges quid-pro-quo deals with Russia, helped the FBI gain approval from the secret court that oversees the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to track the communications of Carter Page, who served as an advisor to Trump on national security.
U.S. officials said they conducted their own investigation apart from the dossier to conclude that Russia tried to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
CNN wrote:
The dossier alleges that Page met senior Russian officials as an emissary of the Trump campaign, and discussed quid-pro-quo deals relating to sanctions, business opportunities and Russia’s interference in the election. Page has denied meeting the officials named in the dossier and says he never cut any political deals with the Kremlin.
During the campaign, he traveled to Russia in July, where he gave a lecture critical of US policy toward Russia. That trip drew the attention of the FBI and raised concerns about Page’s contacts with suspected Russian operatives, according to US officials briefed on the matter. Page has said he made the trip independent of the Trump campaign and his speech reflected his own views.
