Trump Team Talked With Russian Intelligence During Election Campaign (Report)

Phone records and intercepted calls show communication between the two sides in the year before the election, the New York Times reports

Donald Trump
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Members of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and their associates had repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the presidential election, according to phone records and intercepted calls, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

The communication was detected by American law enforcement and intelligence agencies around the time it came to light that Russia was trying to hack the Democratic National Committee, three officials said, according to the Times.

The agencies also investigated whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians and had a hand in the hacking to influence the election, but so far there is no evidence of that.

Speaking anonymously, the officials said they also intercepted communication from other of Trump’s associates and members of the Russian government outside of the intelligence services. Details of the continuing investigation are classified, and topics of conversation have not been revealed.

Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman who had also worked as a political consultant in Russia and Ukraine, was one of those named on the communication records.

When confronted about the allegations on Tuesday, Manafort said: “This is absurd. I have no idea what this is referring to,” the Times reported.

“I have never knowingly spoken to Russian intelligence officers, and I have never been involved with anything to do with the Russian government or the Putin administration or any other issues under investigation today,” he continued.

“It’s not like these people wear badges that say, ‘I’m a Russian intelligence officer,” Manafort added.

The FBI also closely examined at least three other people connected to Trump’s White House bid: businessman and former foreign policy adviser Carter Page, Republican operative Roger Stone, and and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. However, it is not known if there calls were intercepted.

Flynn resigned from his post after less than a month on Monday, admitting that he gave “incomplete information” about a call he had with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. last December regarding sanctions against Russia, and that he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other top White House officials about the conversation.

“In the course of my duties as the incoming National Security Advisor, I held numerous phone calls with foreign counterparts, ministers, and ambassadors … Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador,” Flynn wrote in his resignation letter.

“I have sincerely apologized to the President and the Vice President, and they have accepted my apology.”

Read Twitter reactions to the latest reports regarding Russia below.

https://twitter.com/michaelianblack/status/831710120228769792

https://twitter.com/JenKirkman/status/831653123273875456

https://twitter.com/JenKirkman/status/831653567970701312

https://twitter.com/juliussharpe/status/831697357074952194

https://twitter.com/AlecMapa/status/831712676644429824

https://twitter.com/ayeletw/status/831712750602629121

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