Loretta Lynch unable to explain why Trump was not given 'defensive briefing' about Russian attempts to infiltrate his campaign

Elizabeth Vaughn:
Although the transcripts from former Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s Testimony last year have not been released yet, investigative reporter Sara Carter obtained a copy and said that lawmakers had one question on their minds. If the DOJ and the FBI were so worried that Trump’s campaign had been penetrated by Russians, why didn’t anyone give him a defensive briefing which is customary? Lynch’s inability to answer this question spoke volumes.

Defensive briefings are “often given to presidential candidates, elected officials and even U.S. businesses that have either been unwittingly approached by foreign actors attempting to gain trust and befriend those in position of influence.” A senior former intelligence official told Carter that, “if the FBI or intelligence agencies suspect foreign adversaries may be trying to penetrate a presidential campaign, as those FBI and DOJ sources suggested in testimony to lawmakers, it would then be required to warn those affected.” In 2008, for example, the FBI gave John McCain a defensive briefing due to their concern over the Russian connections of a member of his campaign. Why wasn’t Trump offered the same courtesy?

Carter’s source added:

It is an essential task of the FBI and the intelligence community to give a defensive briefing to a presidential candidate when a foreign adversary is attempting to penetrate or make contact with someone in the campaign. If the FBI and DOJ were so concerned about Carter Page and (George) Papadopoulos why didn’t they brief Trump when he became a candidate? The fact that they didn’t is very revealing. If they gave a defensive briefing to the Clinton campaign then I think we have the answer.

(It is unknown if the Clinton campaign received a briefing.)

Carter said that a comparison of the testimonies of DOJ official Bruce Ohr, former FBI top lawyer James Baker and Lynch show that all three spoke of their concern that Russians might be penetrating Trump’s campaign, yet no one offered a defensive briefing.
...
I suspect the reasons why they did not offer Trump that kind of briefing is because they were trying to entrap him as well as people in his campaign.

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