© EPA/Red JournalistsUS AG William Barr • US Attorney John Durham
The two meetings, in August and in September, related to a U.S. investigation into the origin of a probe into Russian election interference in the 2016 election won by President Trump. Italian media reports have accused Conte of violating protocols in permitting the meetings.
Conte said Barr's request arrived via normal diplomatic channels for 'a preliminary exchange of information with our intelligence aimed at verifying activities of American agents. This must be clear.'
© Angelo Carconi/ANSA/APItalian Premier Giuseppe Conte
Conte argued that Italian law gives the country's premier sole responsibility for responding to intelligence requests, and that he could not seek, for example, preliminary clearance from the parliamentary intelligence committee or legally discuss the request with any minister or political leader. Conte also emphasized that the Americans showed no interest in the activities of Italian intelligence, and that the Italian intelligence services were 'completely extraneous to these events.'
Conte said that Barr first held a 'preliminary technical' meeting with intelligence officials in offices at Rome's Piazza Dante on Aug. 15. That was followed up with another meeting in the same offices on Sept. 27. 'I hate to disappoint you but there were no meetings in bars or hotels,' Conte said, referring to media speculation. 'They were all held in institutional settings.'
Referring to domestic criticism that the meetings came at a moment when the previous Conte-led government was in crisis, Conte emphasized that the American request for the meetings was made in June - before Interior Minister Matteo Salvini sought to push Conte out of power - and that the request arrived by normal diplomatic channels.
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'The request dates from June, and came not from President Trump, but from (Attorney General) Barr,' Conte said. 'President Trump never spoke to me about this investigation.' Conte also said he never had direct contact with Barr, either by phone or writing.
The Associated Press and other media have reported that Barr met with Italian government officials as part of an investigation into the origin of a probe into Russian election interference.
The September meeting also included the U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is examining what led the U.S. to open a counterintelligence investigation on the Trump campaign and the roles that various countries played in the U.S. probe.
Conte said he wouldn't change a thing about the way he handled Barr's request. 'If we had refused to sit at a table, we would have created damage for our intelligence activity, besides creating a serious breach of loyalty with an historic ally,' he said.
The disclosure came after a report which claimed that Durham's probe is zeroing in on two former top national security officials based on new information he discovered in Rome.
Sources familiar with the investigation spearheaded by Durham told Fox News on Tuesday that the Connecticut U.S. attorney is 'very interested' in questioning former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump who recently called the probe 'bizarre.'
Durham and Barr have taken multiple covert trips overseas to collect evidence about the Russia investigation, including Italy, where they reportedly heard a recording from a taped deposition with Joseph Mifsud, the professor widely credited with sparking the counter-intelligence investigation into Trump campaign officials which eventually became wrapped up in Robert Mueller's investigation.
Mifsud allegedly offered to give ex-Trump aide George Papadopoulos Russian 'dirt' on Hillary Clinton in a move Papadopoulos has suggested was part of a set-up by intelligence agencies.
Durham has ramped up his review in the last week by increasing his staff and his time frame with approval from Barr, who launched the probe at the conclusion of the Russia investigation earlier this year. The expansion came amid concerns over whether the probe has legal or factual basis, multiple sources familiar with the proceedings told NBC News.
Brennan and Clapper, both Obama administration officials, were key players during the intelligence community's early assessment about potential Russian interference in the 2016 election.
They were both in office when the largely discredited Steele Dossier, which was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele and alleged that Russia had damning information against Trump, was used to justify a secret warrant to surveil ex-Trump adviser Carter Page, one of the main targets in the Russia investigation.
If it is true that Durham wants to interview Brennan and Clapper, it would conveniently please the president, who was reported this week by Politico to be 'obsessed' with vengeance on Clapper especially. Trump was reported to say 'he's an idiot, he's a crook, we ought to investigate him,' about Clapper.
However, Durham's probe appears to have challenges from elsewhere. Two insiders claimed that there is tension between the Justice Department and the CIA over what classified documents should be submitted to Durham.
Durham was initially appointed to review events leading up to the 2016 election and through Trump's inauguration in January 2017, but sources say his probe has been extended to include events through May 2017, when Special Counsel Robert Mueller took over the Russia investigation.
This week's developments came as Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is preparing to release the findings of his own investigation into the origins of the Russia probe.
Barr appointed Durham to conduct the separate investigation because he said he believed the IG inquiry would not be sufficient as Horowitz' efforts were limited to current officials in the Justice Department.
Republicans are reportedly hopeful that the findings of both investigations will bolster Trump's efforts against a House impeachment inquiry sparked by the president's dealings in the Ukraine.
On Tuesday a House GOP source told Fox:
'If the rumors are true that IG Horowitz's report and findings in Durham's review will blast the conduct of the FBI's Russia investigation, it will give Trump a lot of ammo to support his argument that he was unjustly targeted then and is being unjustly targeted now.
'It will justify Trump's warnings about the Deep State acting to hobble his presidency.'
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