According to US and Italian press, US Attorney General William Barr met senior Italian government officials in Italy last week, asking them to assist in investigations into the legality of the Mueller probe into Russian influence of the 2016 US election.
It was not Barr's first trip to Italy to meet such officials, wrote The New York Times, adding that the Trump administration has made similar requests of Australia and Great Britain.
Italian online international analysis publication Inside Over, owned by national newspaper Il Giornale, quoted George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign adviser and figure in Mueller's report, who stated in writing that William Barr was last week in Villa Margherita, the American Embassy in Rome.
The Washington Post confirmed that Barr made at least one trip to Italy to secure cooperation for the Justice Department review, according to a Justice Department official. The review led by prosecutor John H. Durham is examining American intelligence and law enforcement activity around the Trump campaign and whether it was lawfully predicated.
The Post confirmed that Mr. Barr met with Italian government officials on Friday in Italy, according to Kerri Kupec, a US Justice Department spokeswoman. She would not say whether he discussed the election inquiry during those meetings.
The US Justice Department inquiry led by Durham is seen by commentators as part of President Trump's attempt to discredit the probe into Russia's alleged meddling in the 2016 US Presidential Elections.
US Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on the links between the Trump campaign and Russia, cited a 2016 London meeting between George Papadopoulos and Alexander Downer, then the Australian High Commissioner to the UK, as prompting the FBI to open its Trump-Russia probe.
"We are witnessing a rare case in which the investigators are being investigated," says Gabriele Abbondanza, Italian political analyst and International Relations researcher at the University of Sydney. "In essence, there's legal and intelligence crossfire on multiple fronts, but we shouldn't be surprised that US allies such as Italy and Australia have been involved.
"Italy, in particular, has always maintained strong and constructive relations both inside and outside the Western world, and, although it might not be a common attitude in domestic politics, allied governments exchange favors on a daily basis, at the international level," says Abbondanza.
Earlier today, the Australian government confirmed that Donald Trump asked Scott Morrison to help with the investigation into the Russia probe.
Share
