FBI Probe Into Russian Interference Has Expanded To Include Brexit Leader, Nigel Farage

This is interesting.

The Russia probe is widening to include an even more international flavor.

A report from The Guardian suggests that Brexit leader, Nigel Farage, is being named by the FBI as a “person of interest” in the ongoing investigation into collusion between the Kremlin and members of Trump’s campaign team.

Sources with knowledge of the investigation said the former Ukip leader had raised the interest of FBI investigators because of his relationships with individuals connected to both the Trump campaign and Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder whom Farage visited in March.

That would be the Julian Assange that Sean Hannity would like to give a widescale platform to, in order to spew more Russian propaganda to Americans.

To be clear, Farage is not suspected of wrong doing, nor do U.S. authorities intend to charge him with anything, as it pertains to this investigation.

The belief is, that because of his connections, Farage may have information that could prove useful to the ongoing probe.

“One of the things the intelligence investigators have been looking at is points of contact and persons involved,” one source said. “If you triangulate Russia, WikiLeaks, Assange and Trump associates the person who comes up with the most hits is Nigel Farage.

“He’s right in the middle of these relationships. He turns up over and over again. There’s a lot of attention being paid to him.”

The source mentioned Farage’s links with Roger Stone, Trump’s long-time political adviser who has admitted being in contact with Guccifer 2.0, a hacker whom US intelligence agencies believe to be a Kremlin agent.

As with nearly everyone else involved in the investigation, Farage denies working with Russia, in any capacity.

A spokesman for Farage described the questions about his involvement as “hysterics.”

“Nigel has never been to Russia, let alone worked with their authorities,” the spokesman said. But he did not respond to questions about whether Farage was aware of the FBI inquiry; had hired a lawyer in connection to the matter; or when Farage first met Trump.

The spokesman also declined to comment on whether Farage had received compensation from the Russian state-backed media group RT for his media appearances. RT, which has featured Farage about three times over the last 18 months, also declined to comment, citing confidentiality.

Like Trump, Farage is a Putin fanboy. He called him the leader he most admired, back in 2014.

That’s sweet.

Besides his relationship with Trump, which began last year, Farage has had contact with and built relationships with other Trump associates.

 But Farage’s relationships with people close to the US president began years earlier. Farage first met Steve Bannon, Trump’s strategist and former campaign chief executive, in the summer of 2012, when Bannon, who was interested in rightwing movements in Europe, invited the then Ukip leader to spend a few days in New York and Washington, according to an account in the New Yorker magazine.

There Farage was introduced to, among others, the staff of the then senator Jeff Sessions, who is now the US attorney general. Speaking of his longtime admiration for Bannon, Farage told the New Yorker last year: “I have got a very, very high regard for that man’s brain.”

An editor for Breitbart’s London office, Raheem Kassam, went on to work for Farage as his chief of staff.

Then, of course, is the worrisome relationship between Farage and Roger Stone.

Stone publicly predicted the 2016 release of hacked emails from the Clinton campaign that now lie at the heart of the federal inquiry. Democrats on the House intelligence committee have named Stone in their hearings and, according to the New York Times, he is now under investigation.

Last summer, just a few weeks before Farage met Trump in Mississippi, Stone bragged about having a “mutual friend” who served as an intermediary between himself and Assange. He also mentioned in a separate tweet that he had dinner with Farage, though the date of the encounter is unclear.

Farage has since made several visits with Trump, as well as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.

Today, Nigel Farage is denying the report that he is now part of the FBI’s investigation, even as a “person of interest,” but we’re still a long way away from concluding, and I can only imagine we will hear more names before this is done.

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