Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein reveals Robert Mueller's probe will say Donald Trump 'helped Putin destabilize the United States' amid claims he staged secret meetings with Russian officials
- Journalist Carl Bernstein claimed the report says Trump became Putin's 'pawn'
- He said Mueller's report discusses at length if he is working as a Russian agent
- It comes amid reports Trump concealed details of meetings with Putin last year
- The Washington Post said he took a translator's notes at a meeting in Helsinki
- The New York Times also claimed the FBI launched an investigation into Trump
- A story in the Times said suspicions were aroused after James Comey's sacking
Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein has claimed Robert Mueller's report will say Donald Trump 'helped destabilized the United States'.
Bernstein told CNN on Sunday that Trump's actions had led White House insiders to believe he has become a 'half-witting pawn' working on behalf of Vladimir Putin.
It comes as the Washington Post reported on Saturday that Trump had taken extraordinary measures to conceal the contents of his meetings with Putin.
'This is about the most serious counterintelligence people we have in the U.S. government saying, 'Oh, my God, the president's words and actions lead us to conclude that somehow he has become a witting, unwitting, or half-witting pawn, certainly in some regards, to Vladimir Putin,'' Bernstein said.
Carl Bernstein (pictured), famous for his reporting on the Watergate scandal, made the claims in an interview with CNN Sunday
Bernstein said he had found out from government sources what Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election will say
'From a point of view of strength… rather, he has done what appears to be Putin's goals.
'He has helped Putin destabilize the United States and interfere in the election, no matter whether it was purposeful or not,' the journalist added.
Bernstein also explained that he knew from his own high-level sources that Mueller's report would discuss this assessment.
Senator Mark Warner, the ranking Democrat on the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee, also told CNN on Sunday that whether Trump was a witting or unwitting agent of is ‘the defining question’ of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation.
‘You had Trump say only nice things about Putin. He never spoke ill about Russia,’ Warner told CNN.
‘Republican campaign doctrines softened on Russia and decreased their willingness to defend Ukraine.’
Mueller's bombshell report will reportedly say that Trump 'helped destabilize the United States'
Trump hit back at claims he has worked as a Russian agent over the weekend by saying it was the 'most insulting thing he has ever been asked'
U.S. intelligence agencies have said Moscow tried to tip the election to Trump.
Russia has denied interfering, and Trump has said repeatedly there was no collusion between his campaign and Moscow.
But another bombshell story in the Washington Post last weekend reported that Trump confiscated his translator's notes about at least one of his meetings with Putin, and ordered the linguist not to discuss the conversations with other top U.S. officials.
'I'm not keeping anything under wraps - I couldn't care less, it's so ridiculous,' Trump fired back in a phone interview with Fox New's Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night.
'Anybody could have listened to that meeting, it is open for grabs. The whole Russia thing it's a hoax, it's a total hoax, everybody knows it.'
Trump has met Putin in person five times since assuming office, and the Post claims that there is no detailed record of those meetings, even in classified files.
Separate reports in the Washington Post this weekend claimed Trump concealed details of meetings with Putin at the Helsinki summit (pictured)
Meanwhile, the New York Times claimed over the weekend that the FBI began a counterintelligence investigation into whether Trump was acting as a Russian agent after the President fired FBI Director James Comey.
Comey at the time was leading an investigation into Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
During an interview with Fox News host Jeanine Pirro on Saturday, Trump blasted the notion that he worked as a secret agent for Russia.
One day after the New York Times made the claim, Pirro posed the question to Trump in an interview on Saturday night, asking: 'Are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President?'
'I think it's the most insulting thing I've ever been asked,' Trump replied. 'I think it's the most insulting article I've ever had written.'
'It was a great insult, and the New York Times is a disaster as a paper,' Trump said.
