In signing Mueller's mandate, a charge was made in the media based on illegal leaks from disgraced FBI Director [[James Comey]] and the U.S. Justice Department, that President Donald Trump was attempting to [[obstruct justice]] by firing Comey.<ref>https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/386203-muellers-many-conflicts-of-interest-paint-a-suspect-portrait </ref> Comey was fired on Rosenstein's recommendation making Rosenstein both a prosecutor and witness in the Mueller investigation.<ref>https://www.npr.org/2017/11/22/565677234/deputy-attorney-general-rosenstein-supervises-mueller-probe-but-hes-also-a-witne </ref><ref>https://www.lawfareblog.com/why-hasnt-rod-rosenstein-recused-himself-mueller-investigation </ref>
No evidence can be found to provide a legal basis for the original FBI counterintelligence investigation of the [[2016 Trump campaign]]. Former CIA Director [[John Brennan]] claimed to have received information under longstanding [[intelligence sharing ]] agreements with the [[UK]] and allied intelligence agencies, and turned the information over to the FBI.<ref>https://www.themarketswork.com/2018/04/22/nunes-interview-no-official-intelligence-used-problems-for-brennan/ </ref> However it was subsequently discovered the information was the paid product of [[Hillary Clinton]] and the [[Democratic National Committee]].<ref>http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/255020/how-cia-director-john-brennan-targeted-james-comey </ref> Additionally, Brennan used an American citizen in the UK who functioned as an infiltrator, informant, and [[agent provocateur]].<ref>A network of retired UK and other allied intelligence operatives working with Brennan set up and fed Trump campaign volunteer George Papadopoulos information that they had connections to Russia and Hillary Clinton's deleted emails, and could get them for the Trump campaign. Papadopoulos then spoke openly about these meetings with Alexander Downer, which then was fed back to Brennan.<br>https://themarketswork.com/2018/05/10/ties-that-bind-stefan-halper-joseph-mifsud-alexander-downer-papadopoulos/ </ref>
The information eventually was packaged into the ''[[Steele dossier]]'' and used to [[fraud]]ulently procure a FISA Title I surveillance warrant against a member of the Trump campaign, granting the FBI full intrusion into all members of the Trump campaign, transition team, administration, and members of Congress that the original target - [[Carter Page]] - shared any electronic communications with.<ref>https://saraacarter.com/intelligence-committee-reveals-weakly-sourced-doc-used-fisa-application/ </ref>