FBI Director Refuses to Confirm or Deny Investigations into 'Connections' Between Trump Campaign and Russia

James Comey, the Director of the FBI, on January 21, refrained from confirming or denying whether his agency is investigating potential connections between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia during a Senate Intelligence Committee meeting. Nearly a week earlier, senior U.S. intelligence officials had stated in a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting that Russian 'cyber attacks' pose a 'significant threat' to the United States. On Tuesday, James Clapper, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, also stated that the conclusion of intelligence agencies is that the Russian-led cyber attacks during the 2016 U.S. presidential election were based on a combination of human sources, technical data sets, and open information. Donald Trump, the President-elect, has repeatedly expressed doubt about Russia's role in the attacks on the U.S. election campaign. However, his chief of staff claims that the President-elect has come to believe that Russia is behind the cyber attacks against the Democratic Party's institutions. There was no mention of a direct connection or order from Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia. On the same day that the U.S. Director of National Intelligence spoke at the Senate meeting, James Comey emphasized, 'I would never comment on an ongoing investigation in a public setting like this [Senate meeting].' Several Democratic senators have insisted that this issue is of great importance. For instance, Senator Kamala Harris from California reminded that Mr. Comey had reported a few days before the November 8 voting about new investigations into Hillary Clinton's email case without providing details. This caused anger and criticism from several senior Democratic representatives and Hillary Clinton's campaign team. At the same time, it received support from Donald Trump's campaign, which had repeatedly criticized the use of a personal server by Ms. Clinton. Senator Harris stated in the Tuesday meeting that, in her view, there is currently 'no more serious issue' than presenting findings related to Russian cyber attacks on the U.S. election campaign to the public. On the other hand, Senator Marco Rubio, who was also a rival of Trump in the Republican primaries, stated that Russia's actions were not to support Trump but aimed at creating the perception among American citizens that 'there is chaos and division among politicians, and the legitimacy of the elections is in doubt.' The Associated Press also reported that a comprehensive investigation into the future President of the United States, who will soon take command of the armed forces and lead the country, could lead to distrust in the mechanisms and democratic processes of the U.S. At the same time, such a situation could also place the FBI in a difficult and complex position in the coming weeks. Donald Trump will take over the U.S. government in ten days.