director, Christopher A. Wray , who was appointed in 2017, has said he would not use the term spying to describe F.B.I. But agents had to investigate the four advisers’ ties with Russia, and the people they did scrutinize all played roles in the Trump campaign. Mr. Trump and his allies have pointed to some of the investigative steps the F.B.I. did have an undercover agent who posed as Mr. Halper’s assistant during a London meeting with Mr. Papadopoulos in August 2016. And indeed, another Trump adviser, Peter Navarro , reportedly pushed Mr. Halper for an ambassadorship in the Trump administration.

Source: New York Times November 27, 2019 19:34 UTC