FBI caught wire tapping Trump Tower.

President Trump and Trump campaign
member, Paul Manafort.

     The FBI is caught recording phone calls at the Trump Tower made by Trump Campaign member, Paul Manafort.

The recordings started around the beginning of the year, including times when Manafort was communicating with President Trump. Some information that was discovered through the secret recordings was communications with Russian officials before the election, encouraging them to help with the campaign. FBI investigators that are analyzing Russia’s involvement in the election are notified of the information learned from the phone call recordings.

Manafort had already been under investigation by the FBI under a FISA warrant in 2014 due to communication between Ukraine government officials. Investigation stopped however as there was lack of evidence to charge Manafort of any crimes.

The FBI was periodically seeking another FISA warrant to monitor Manafort. In August of 2016, FBI investigators obtained the FISA warrant to track Manafort because of the alleged ties Russians had on the presidential election. Along with the Trump Tower phone recordings, a search warrant was placed on one of Manafort’s storage facility early this year as well, information on what was found in the unit is not yet known. Manafort’s home in Virginia was raided as well, any information on that search is also not yet known.

James Comey, pictured above, was the director of the FBI
at the time the Trump investigation was happening.

Manafort has denied that he never communicated with Russian operatives during the election and also denies participating in any Russian efforts that would undermine the interests of the United States.  Before the election, In June of 2016 a meeting was led by Trump, including his son-in-law, Manafort, and a Russian lawyer. The lawyer was speculated to have negative information on Hillary Clinton. The FBI was not monitoring Manafort or Trump at this time and it’s unclear of the actual details discussed during the meeting. This prompted FBI officials to investigate Manafort more thoroughly.

Investigation still continues on Manafort and the FBI. If new information is gathered on the incident it could determine if Manafort or the FBI could be found partaking in illegal activities.