Attorney General Bill Barr has bear-hugged President Trump’s “investigate the investigators” response to special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe by opening an investigation into the origins of the probe.
But Secretary of State Mike Pompeo already cleared at least part of the intelligence community when he was head of the CIA, Politico reported Friday.
According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Politico, Pompeo conducted rigorous, often aggressive interviews with CIA analysts about their Russia findings. The then-CIA director reportedly found no evidence that malpractice had occurred as President Trump has alleged.
“This wasn’t just a briefing,” a person familiar with the interviews told Politico. “This was a challenging back and forth, in which Pompeo asked the officers tough questions about their work and how they determined Putin’s specific objectives.”
