Members of then US presidential nominee Donald Trump's campaign had constant contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year ahead of the election, according to intercepted phone calls and records by US intelligence agencies, CNN reports citing US officials.
Communications between campaign staff and representatives of foreign governments are not unusual, according to the officials, yet both the frequency of such contacts and the proximity to Trump of those involved have alarmed US intelligence and law enforcement.The communications also stood out in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Trump was speaking glowingly about Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the officials in a report by The New York Times.
The only Trump aide named was Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman for several months last year and a former political consultant in Russia and Ukraine.
“This is absurd,” Manafort told the Times, “I have no idea what this is referring to. 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.”
“It’s not like these people wear badges that say, ‘I’m a Russian intelligence officer,” he added.The phone calls were intercepted during a routine investigation into Russia’s alleged meddling in the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee.
The officials stressed that the intercepted calls are different from the wiretapped conversations last year between Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, and Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US. Flynn, who resigned due to the calls, talked about the Obama administration’s sanctions on Russia.
The investigation is still ongoing to determine the motives for the communications.
One concern, according to CNN, was whether Trump’s associates were coordinating with Russian intelligence operatives over the release of damaging information about the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Trump has previously spoken often about the need for a closer relationship between the US and Russia.
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