Ronald Kessler, best-selling political author and FBI expert, told CNN Sunday that a recent Washington Post story claiming that the FBI has identified a "person of interest" in its collusion investigation between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russian officials is a hoax that has been ignored by the mainstream media.
The Post reported Friday that the FBI has "a significant person of interest" in the investigation, a senior White House adviser close to the president, according to law enforcement sources.
Kessler, who has written extensively on the agency, said on "Fareed Zakaria GPS" that the FBI does not even use the term "person of interest" in such investigations, a clear sign that the story is a hoax.
"And finally, this Washington Post story claiming that an aide close to Trump is a person of interest is a total hoax because the FBI doesn't use that terminology whatsoever in any investigation except for violent crime and kidnapping," Kessler said.
"In a counter intelligence investigation or any other — most of the other investigations, they never use that term. So, someone made up this story, gave it to a Post reporter. At the Post, they apparently don't know enough about the FBI to recognize that there's no such term in the FBI lexicon."
Kessler is a New York Times best-selling author whose titles include “The FBI: Inside the World’s Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency,” “The Secrets of the FBI,” and, most recently, “The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents.”
He reiterated the fact that FBI does not used the "person of interest" term in such an investigation on "CNN Newsroom" Sunday with host Fredricka Whitfield.
"And secondly, this recent Washington Post story claiming that an aide close to Trump is a target or is a person of interest is purely bogus," he said. "I think they were the victim of a hoax because the FBI does not use that terminology in any of its investigations except kidnapping and violent crimes. This is a counter intelligence investigation."
"So, you know, apparently nobody at the 'Post' knows enough about the FBI to realize that they don't use that term in the FBI lexicon. And as for the campaign, there's no law against collaborating with a foreign power, whatever that means. The only possible violation that I see is one or two individuals not registering as foreign agents, certainly Michael Flynn would be one of those," he continued.
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