Why has Attorney General Barr sought to enlist Italy and Australia to review the origins of the Russia probe? ABC News explains:
As President Donald Trump last week defended his prodding of Ukraine’s president to dig into still-unfounded allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General William Barr quietly flew to Italy to dig into another set of politically-charged allegations pushed by Trump: allegations that the FBI improperly targeted members of Trump’s presidential campaign during its probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
What do Italy and Australia have to do with Russian interference in the 2016 election and members of Trump’s presidential campaign? A lot, actually. Then, in late July 2016, the FBI received what FBI officials at the time described as a startling tip from the Australian government: The Russians had obtained"dirt" on Hillary Clinton and were willing to help the Trump campaign defeat Hillary Clinton.
Within a week, Papadopoulos relayed that big claim to another one of his contacts in London: Australia’s top diplomat, Alexander Downer. In fact, Papadopoulos even “suggested” to Downer “that the Trump Campaign had received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the Campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to candidate Clinton,” according to Mueller’s findings.
As the FBI saw it, Carter Page, who was previously targeted for recruitment by Russian spies, was a distinct possibility. And -- in addition to Mifsud’s meeting with Papadopoulos in Rome -- a subsequent allegation against Page relayed to the FBI in Rome is likely part of why Barr is now so interested in Italy.
The Rome-based agent then forwarded those reports to the FBI’s New York field office in early July 2016, but the reports didn’t make their way to the Washington-based FBI officials investigating Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 election until mid-September, according to congressional testimony from several former FBI officials.
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