FBI found no wrongdoing in Flynn’s calls with Russia: report

An FBI review of communications between Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. and President Trump’s national security adviser did not produce any incriminating evidence, The Washington Post reported Monday night.

The revelation comes one day after the The Wall Street Journal reported that Michael Flynn’s communications with Russian officials had been investigated by U.S. counterintelligence agents. The FBI review focused on calls Flynn made to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak on Dec. 29, the same day the Obama administration imposed fresh sanctions on Russia over what U.S. intelligence says was its hacking of Democratic organizations and individuals with the intention of helping Donald Trump win the presidential election.

According to the Post, the calls in question were obtained by the FBI as part of routine surveillance of Russian officials in the U.S., and the review was conducted in late December. Flynn is not the target of an investigation, the Post reported.

{mosads}Flynn is the first person inside the Trump administration whose communications with Russian officials are known to have been reviewed as part of an investigation into whether the Kremlin tried to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump.

A U.S. official told the Post that the FBI routinely monitors the phone calls of foreign officials, and that Kislyak and Flynn were likely aware of that, making it unlikely that the two would coordinate illegal activities over the phone.

Trump and some of his associates have questioned U.S. intelligence community reports that the Kremlin interfered in the election to help the real estate mogul.