Feb 2 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump spoke to some FBI agents a day after they searched an election office in Georgia’s Fulton County last week, the New York Times reported on Monday, citing three people with knowledge of the discussion.
The FBI raided the facility outside Atlanta, pursuing Trump’s false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of widespread voting fraud. Claims of voting fraud in the 2020 presidential election have been rejected by courts, state governments and members of Trump’s own former administration.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard met some of the FBI agents of the bureau’s field office in Atlanta a day after the search. During the meeting, she used her cellphone to call Trump, the newspaper reported.
Trump addressed the agents on speakerphone, asked them questions, and praised and thanked them for their work on the inquiry, it added.
Critics have denounced the Georgia investigation as politically motivated. They say the Justice Department requires an unusual amount of independence because it is responsible for administering justice in a non-partisan fashion.
The raid was the latest in a string of actions by Trump’s administration to use the Justice Department against his perceived enemies or to intervene in cases where he believes he was treated unfairly.
“DNI Gabbard and FBI Director (Kash) Patel are working together to implement the president’s election integrity priorities, and their work continues to serve him and the entire country well,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement.
The FBI declined to comment. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Toronto, Andrew Goudsward and Susan Heavey in Washington; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Bill Berkrot)
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