Following President Trump’s firing of James B. Comey as F.B.I. director, the bureau grew increasingly concerned about whether the president’s actions constituted anti-American activity.CreditCreditSarah Silbiger/The New York Times

Published January 12, 2019

WASHINGTON — The New York Times on Friday night published a story that reveals the FBI opened an inquiry into whether President Donald Trump was secretly working on behalf of Russia. This investigation is the first time the FBI has ever investigated a U.S. president’s behavior working on behalf of a foreign power.

This investigation began shortly after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey in May 2017, four months after Trump assumed the presidency.

The New York Times article states:

“The inquiry carried explosive implications. Counterintelligence investigators had to consider whether the president’s own actions constituted a possible threat to national security. Agents also sought to determine whether Mr. Trump was knowingly working for Russia or had unwittingly fallen under Moscow’s influence.”

“This is absurd,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement provided to POLITICO. “James Comey was fired because he’s a disgraced partisan hack, and his Deputy Andrew McCabe, who was in charge at the time, is a known liar fired by the FBI.”