President Trump asked Australia, other countries to help AG Barr investigate origins of Mueller inquiry – USA TODAY

The White House said President Trump's outreach on William Barr's behalf was a legitimate effort to assist the inquiry into the Mueller investigation. USA TODAY

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has asked multiple countries, including Australia, to helpAttorney General William Barr's ongoing inquiry into the origins of special counsel Robert Mueller's examination of Russian interference in the 2016 election investigation, White House and Justice Department officials said Monday.

Trump has sought the assistance most recentlywithAustralianPrime Minister Scott Morrison on behalf of his attorney general who is leading a politically charged internal inquiry to determine whether U.S. officials abused their authority in the now-concludedRussia investigation.

As the Department of Justice has previously announced, a team led by U.S. Attorney John Durham is investigating the origins of the U.S. counterintelligence probe of the Trump 2016 presidential campaign," Justice spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. "Mr. Durham is gathering information from numerous sources, including a number of foreign countries. At Attorney General Barrs request, the president has contacted other countries to ask them to introduce the attorney general and Mr. Durham to appropriate officials.

It was not immediately clear how many countries Trump has contacted on Barr's behalf.

The disclosure, first reported by The New York Times, comes as Congress is examining a July 25 telephone call in which Trump pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate his political rival Joe Biden.

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During that call, which has prompted a House impeachment inquiry, the president invoked Barr's name, repeatedly indicating that Barr would be calling to assist in reviving a then-dormant inquiry into a Ukrainian energy company, where Biden's son, Hunter Biden, served as a board member.

Neither the former vice president nor his son have been accused of wrongdoing by the Ukrainian government.

Justice officials said Barr had no prior knowledge that Trump had suggested the Ukrainian president work with the attorney general.

Australia, however, played a pivotal role in the FBI's decision to launch the initial investigation into Russia interference in 2016. At the time, Australia's top diplomat in the United Kingdompassed information to U.S. authorities after a meeting with George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign foreign policy adviser. The diplomat saidPapadopoulosconfided that Russians were offering up damaging information on then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Papadopoulos later served served two weeks in prison for lying to FBI agents about his interactions with a Russian national while working for the Trump campaign. Trump has dismissed Papadopoulos as a low-level campaign aide.

Hewas the first former Trump aide to be sentenced in Mueller'sinvestigation of Moscow's interference operation.

President Donald Trump, right, and Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison toast as they speak in the Rose Garden outside the White House for a state dinner in Washington on Sept. 20, 2019.(Photo: ERIK S. LESSER, EPA-EFE)

Papadopoulosadmitted that he lied to the FBIabout interactions in which people he thought were linked to the Russian government described Moscow having thousands of emails containingdamaging information about Hillary Clinton.

An Australian government spokesman Monday acknowledged Trump's recent entreaties.

"The Australian government has always been ready to assist and cooperate with efforts that help shed further light on the matters under investigation," the government said in a written statement. "The (prime minister) confirmed this readiness once again in conversation with the president."

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Earlier this year, Trump appeared to offer a preview of the attorney general's expected efforts to pursue contacts with other governments in the Mueller examination.

"He can look, and I hope he looks at the UK, and I hope he looks at Australia, and I hope he looks at Ukraine," Trump said in a May 24 exchange with reporters on the South Lawn of the White House.

"I hope he looks at everything, because there was a hoax that was perpetrated on our country. It's the greatest hoax in the history of our country, and somebody has to get to the bottom of it."

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley characterized Trump's outreach on Barr's behalf a legitimate effort to assist the inquiry into the Mueller investigation.

Im old enough to remember when Democrats actually wanted to find out what happened in the 2016 election," Gidley said. "The Democrats clearly don't want the truth to come out anymore as it might hurt them politically, but this call relates to a DOJ inquiry publicly announced months ago to uncover exactly what happened. The DOJ simply requested that the resident provide introductions to facilitate that ongoing inquiry, and he did so, that's all."

But Mary McCord, former acting assistant attorney general for Justice's National Security Division, said there are other existing means of seeking introductions to foreign counterparts, including through law enforcement, intelligence and diplomatic channels.

"As the attorney general of the United States, he almost certainly would have his calls returned even without an introduction," McCord said. "I am not surprised that the attorney general is involved in the Durham investigation, as he is the one who directed Durham to conduct the investigation and Durham reports to him.It is more concerning if the president is involved, given his attacks on the FBI and others involved in the Russia investigation, and the potential for him to benefit politically from the investigation."

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President Trump asked Australia, other countries to help AG Barr investigate origins of Mueller inquiry - USA TODAY