Nigel Farage, one of the loudest proponents of the so-called “Brexit” (despite his professed intent to live abroad should it fail), is apparently a “person of interest” in the ongoing probe into whether or not the Donald Trump campaign-cum-administration colluded with Russian officials. At least that’s according to a new report by The Guardian, which indicates Farage’s direct and indirect connections to the Trump campaign and Julian Assange of WikiLeaks fame.
Sources with knowledge of the FBI’s investigation stressed Farage wasn’t being charged with anything, but claimed he had piqued their interest following an alleged visit with Assange at London’s Ecuadorian Embassy in March:
“One of the things the intelligence investigators have been looking at is points of contact and persons involved,” one source said. “If you triangulate Russia, WikiLeaks, Assange and Trump associates the person who comes up with the most hits is Nigel Farage.
“He’s right in the middle of these relationships. He turns up over and over again. There’s a lot of attention being paid to him.”
The report also mentions Roger Stone, the former Trump campaign advisor who, along with former campaign manager Paul Manafort, recently turned over documents to the Russia probe. Farage has had “links” with Stone, per The Guardian‘s sources, who once claimed he communicated with the Guccifer 2.0 hacker, an alleged Kremlin agent.
Unsurprisingly, the FBI offered no comment for The Guardian‘s story. A spokesperson for Farage, however, noted their coverage of the matter was “verging on the hysterical” in an official statement. “Nigel has never been to Russia, let alone worked with their authorities,” the spokesperson said. Farage, meanwhile, took to Twitter to comment on the story, which he dubbed “fake news”:
In response to the Guardian article, it has taken me a long time to finish reading because I am laughing so much at this fake news.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 1, 2017
I consider it extremely doubtful that I could be a person of interest to the FBI as I have no connections to Russia.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 1, 2017
His cozy relationship with Trump himself, however, is all too well known at this point. The then-presidential nominee invited Farage to attend a rally in August, and Fox News later hired “Mr. Brexit” as a political commentator the day of Trump’s inauguration.
(Via The Guardian)