Trump team in close contact with Russian intelligence ahead of US election: US reports

Extract from ABC News

Updated about 4 hours ago

Photo: The calls happened at a time Mr Trump was speaking highly of Mr Putin. (AP: Seth Wenig/Reuters: Alexander Zemlianichenko)

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Phone records and intercepted calls show members of Donald Trump's presidential campaign had repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the US election, according to US media reports.

Key points:

• Multiple US officials have spoken of intercepted communications, the New York Times and CNN reports
• Communications were between Trump campaign members, associates and Russian intelligence, government officials
• Russian officials discussed their special access to Mr Trump in intercepted calls

US law enforcement and intelligence agencies reportedly intercepted the communications about the same time they were discovering evidence Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee.
Both The New York Times and CNN have cited multiple current and former American officials in their reports.
The intelligence agencies sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election, the Times said.
The Times reports the officials interviewed in recent weeks had seen no evidence of such cooperation so far.
Mr Trump criticised the leaks on Twitter, speculating they may have come from the FBI or NSA.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the reports, pointing to the anonymity of the sources and saying the reports "are not based on any facts, do not point to actual facts".
But the intercepts have alarmed US intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr Trump was speaking glowingly about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to CNN, two law enforcement officials said US investigators' concerns were also heightened by communications between Russian officials — intercepted before and after the election — during which they discussed having special access to Mr Trump.
CNN reported both Mr Trump, who was President-elect at the time, and then-President Barack Obama were both briefed on the communications between the Trump team and suspected Russian intelligence figures.
Officials said the intercepted communications were not limited to Trump campaign officials, and included other Trump associates, the news outlets reported.

Photo: Michael Flynn resigned after conceding he gave "incomplete information" about his discussions with Russia's ambassador to the US. (Reuters: Carlos Barria)

On the Russian side, the contacts also included members of the Russian Government outside the intelligence services, the officials told the Times.
The officials said one of Mr Trump's campaign advisers picked up on the calls was Paul Manafort, who was Mr Trump's campaign chairman for several months last year and had worked as a political consultant in Russia and Ukraine, the Times said.
The officials declined to identify the other Trump associates on the calls.
The revelations come just days after Mr Trump's national security adviser was forced to resign for misleading the White House about conversations he had last year with the Russian ambassador about sanctions the Obama administration had imposed on the country.

Manafort denies wrongdoing

Photo: Mr Trump's campaign chairman Paul Manafort was among those on intercepted calls, the Times reports. (Reuters: Jonathan Ernst)

Several of Mr Trump's associates, including Mr Manafort, have done business in Russia, and law enforcement officials did not say to what extent the contacts may have been about business, the Times said.
It is not unusual for US businessmen to come into contact with foreign intelligence officials, sometimes unwittingly, in countries such as Russia and Ukraine, where the spy services are deeply embedded in society, according to the Times.
Mr Manafort, who has not been charged with any crimes, dismissed the accounts of the US officials in a telephone interview with the Times.
He told the Associated Press he had not been interviewed by the FBI about the alleged contacts.

Video: The head of US intelligence says Russia's hacking program poses a major threat to US interests. (ABC News)

"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," Mr Manafort said.

Officials would not disclose many details, including what was discussed on the calls, which Russian intelligence officials were on the calls, and how many of Mr Trump's advisers were talking to the Russians.
It is also unclear whether the conversations had anything to do with Mr Trump himself, the Times said.
The White House has not yet commented on the media reports.
Reuters/AP