WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – The FBI’s former acting director said he began an obstruction of justice and counter-intelligence investigation involving US President Donald Trump and his ties to Russia shortly after Mr Trump fired bureau director James Comey in May 2017, CBS News reported on Thursday (Feb 14).

Former FBI acting director Andrew McCabe said he was disturbed by his conversation with Mr Trump following Mr Comey’s dismissal and got the investigations started the following day, according to excerpts from an interview with 60 Minutes to be broadcast on Sunday.

“I was speaking to the man who had just run for the presidency and won the election for the presidency and who might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable adversary on the world stage,” McCabe said. “And that was something that troubled me greatly.”

“I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion that were I removed quickly and reassigned or fired that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace.”

Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed later that month to take over the investigations of Russian interference in the 2016 US election, including the obstruction of justice and counter-intelligence probes.

Mr Mueller’s office is examining possible coordination between Moscow and the Trump campaign. Moscow has denied interfering and Mr Trump says there was no collusion with his campaign.

In June 2017, Mr Comey told the Senate Intelligence Committee he believed Mr Trump had directed him in February to drop an FBI probe into the Republican President’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn as part of the broader Russia investigation.

McCabe, who became acting FBI director after Mr Comey’s firing, told CBS he met the team investigating the Russia cases after he spoke with Mr Trump.

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