WASHINGTON -- The FBI sent a government investigator to London in 2016 as part of the counterintelligence inquiry opened that summer to better understand links between Russia and Donald Trump's campaign.
A woman, who said she was a research assistant, had set up a meeting with Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos to discuss foreign-policy issues. But she was actually a government investigator, according to people familiar with the operation.
The U.S. government's affiliation with the woman, who said her name was Azra Turk, is one previously unreported detail of an operation that has become a political flash point in the face of accusations by President Donald Trump and his allies that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials spied on his campaign to undermine his electoral chances. Last year, he called it "Spygate."
The decision to use Turk in the operation aimed at a presidential campaign official shows the level of alarm inside the FBI during a period when the bureau was trying to determine the scope of Russia's attempts to disrupt the 2016 election but could also give ammunition to Trump and his allies for their spying claims.
Turk went to London to help oversee the politically sensitive operation, working alongside a longtime informant, Cambridge professor Stefan Halper. The move was a sign that the bureau wanted in place a trained investigator for a layer of oversight, as well as someone who could gather information for or serve as a credible witness in any potential prosecution that emerged from the case.
A spokesman for the FBI declined to comment, as did a lawyer for Halper, Robert Luskin. Last year, Bill Priestap, then the bureau's top counterintelligence agent who was involved in the Russia inquiry, told Congress during a closed hearing that there was no FBI conspiracy against Trump or his campaign.
The London operation yielded no fruitful information, but FBI officials have called the bureau's activities in the months before the election both legal and carefully considered under extraordinary circumstances. They are now under scrutiny as part of an investigation by Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general. He could make the results public in May or June, Attorney General William Barr has said. Some of the findings are likely to be classified.
It is unclear whether Horowitz will find fault with the FBI's decision to have Turk, whose real name is not publicly known, meet with Papadopoulos. Horowitz has focused among other things on the activities of Halper, who accompanied Turk in one of her meetings with Papadopoulos and also met with him and other campaign aides separately. The bureau might also have seen Turk's role as essential for protecting Halper's identity as an informant if prosecutors ever needed court testimony about their activities.
Barr reignited the controversy last month when he told Congress, "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal."
Later, in the same hearing, he said: "I think spying did occur. The question is whether it was adequately predicated. And I'm not suggesting that it wasn't adequately predicated. But I need to explore that."
Barr again defended his use of the term "spying" at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, saying he wanted to know more about the FBI's investigative efforts during 2016 and explained that the early inquiry likely went beyond the use of an informant and a court-authorized wiretap of a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, who had interacted with a Russian intelligence officer.
This account was described in interviews with people familiar with the FBI activities of Halper, Turk and the inspector general's investigation. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the subjects of a continuing inquiry.
While in London in 2016, Turk exchanged emails with Papadopoulos, saying meeting him had been the "highlight of my trip," according to messages provided by Papadopoulos.
"I am excited about what the future holds for us :)," she wrote.
Weeks before Papadopoulos met with Turk and Halper, the FBI had opened its investigation into the Russia effort -- based largely on information that Papadopoulos had relayed to an Australian diplomat about a Russian offer to help the Trump campaign by releasing thousands of hacked Democratic emails.
The FBI received the information from the Australian government on July 26, 2016, the special counsel's report said, and the bureau code-named its investigation Crossfire Hurricane.
Investigators scrambled to determine whether Papadopoulos had any Russian contacts while deciding to scrutinize three additional Trump campaign aides who had concerning ties to Russia: Paul Manafort, its chairman; Michael Flynn, who went on to be the president's first national security adviser; and Page.
The FBI instructed Halper to set up a meeting in London with Papadopoulos but gave him few details about the broader investigation, a person familiar with the episode said.
His job was to figure out the extent of any contacts between Trump campaign advisers and Russia. Halper used his position as a respected academic to introduce himself to both Papadopoulos and Page, whom he also met with several times. He arranged a meeting with Papadopoulos in London to discuss a Mediterranean natural gas project, offering $3,000 for his time and a policy paper.
The FBI also decided to send Turk to take part in the operation, people familiar with it said, and to pose as Halper's assistant.
British intelligence officials were also notified about the operation, the people familiar with the operation said, but it was unclear whether they provided assistance. A spokesman for the British government declined to comment.
When Papadopoulos arrived in London on Sept. 15, he received a text message from Turk. She invited him for drinks.
In his book, Deep State Target, Papadopoulos described her as attractive and said she almost immediately began questioning him about whether the Trump campaign was working with Russia, he wrote.
Papadopoulos was baffled. "There is no way this is a Cambridge professor's research assistant," he recalled thinking, according to his book. In recent weeks, he has said in tweets that he believes Turk may have been working for Turkish intelligence but provided no evidence.
The day after meeting Turk, Papadopoulos met briefly with Halper at a private London club, and Turk joined them. The two men agreed to meet again, arranging a drink at the Sofitel hotel in London's posh West End.
During that conversation, Halper immediately asked about hacked emails and whether Russia was helping the campaign, according to Papadopoulos's book. Angry over the accusatory questions, Papadopoulos ended the meeting.
The FBI failed to glean any information of value from the encounters, and Turk returned to the United States.
A Section on 05/03/2019