Secret FBI probe into Trump's Russia ties: Declassified files reveal the truth

The White House has released previously classified FBI documents related to a criminal investigation opened against Trump in May 2017.

At the time, investigators were examining whether the newly elected US president may have acted in Russia's interests. The probe was triggered by Trump's dismissal of then-FBI Director James Comey.

According to the newly declassified internal documents, the investigation, codenamed Oxferd Comma, was opened shortly after Comey's firing. The records also indicate that many FBI agents did not support the theory that served as the basis for launching the investigation.

A document dated May 16, 2017, states that the FBI opened a full-scale investigation based on reasonable suspicion that Trump may have knowingly or unknowingly acted on behalf of the Russian government. Investigators also believed such actions could have posed a threat to US national security or violated federal law.

The documents further show that the investigation was launched even though law enforcement officials had no evidence at the time of collusion between Russia and Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.g

Later, Special Counsel John Durham, in a report released by the US Department of Justice in 2023, concluded that the FBI lacked sufficient grounds even to open the preliminary Crossfire Hurricane investigation into alleged ties between Trump's campaign and Russia.

The Oxferd Comma investigation was closed on April 9, 2019, after investigators found no evidence linking Trump to Russia.

Separately, it recently emerged that tensions have surfaced between Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the US missile shortage.

RBC-Ukraine also previously reported that the FBI has shifted its approach and begun cooperating with Russia and China.