Trump-Russia contacts subject of investigations

Inquiries predate Flynn’s resignation, officials say

U.S. intelligence agencies and the FBI are conducting multiple investigations to determine the full extent of contacts that President Donald Trump’s advisers and associates had with Russia during and after the 2016 campaign, according to four national security officials with knowledge of the matter.

Several agencies are conducting the inquiries into Russia’s efforts to meddle in the U.S. election and coordinating as needed, said the officials, who requested anonymity to speak about sensitive matters. The investigations predate the resignation of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser on Monday.

Trump associates whose activities the agencies are examining include his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, energy consultant Carter Page, longtime Republican operative Roger Stone and Flynn, two of the officials said. Manafort, in a statement to Bloomberg, said he “never had any connection to Putin or the Russian government — either directly or indirectly — before during or after the campaign.”

The FBI has two parallel ongoing investigations, one official said. A counterintelligence investigation is looking at Russian espionage activities and to what extent, if any, they involve communications with or collusion by U.S. officials. The second, a cybersecurity investigation, is probing the hacking of U.S. political groups and operatives.

For example, investigators are focusing on a phone call Flynn had in December with Sergey Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the U.S., which was intercepted by intelligence agencies and shared with the FBI, the two officials said. The FBI interviewed Flynn about that communication shortly after Trump was inaugurated.

Leading congressional Republicans have joined calls by Democrats for a deeper look at contacts between Trump’s team and Russian intelligence agents Wednesday, indicating a growing sense of political peril within the party as new reports surfaced of extensive contacts between the two.

Senate Intelligence Committee staff started collecting information in January on its broader probe of Russia’s alleged interference in last year’s election, according to Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who sits on the panel. Manchin said Wednesday he expects the committee to begin calling in witnesses starting later this month. Among those he would like to see testify are Flynn, Manafort and former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was fired after she refused to defend Trump’s executive order on immigration.

“We’re going to do everything we can to be open and transparent,” Manchin said in an interview. “You need to clear it up.”

Manafort, who served as Trump’s campaign director for several months before being removed, denied that the campaign had any link to Russia.

“In the campaign, the only conversations on any topic that related to Russia, hacking (etc.) were those following the coverage in the news,” Manafort said in a statement he provided to Bloomberg. “There was no link, that I am aware of, between the campaign or me with the Russian (government) and anyone associated with it.”

The New York Times reported that Trump campaign aides and associates “had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before” the November election, citing four current and former U.S. officials the newspaper didn’t identify. It’s unclear if the talks pertained to Trump personally, and the paper said there’s been no evidence uncovered that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian attempts to influence the election.

In the wake of Flynn’s ouster, several Republicans are starting to call for more robust probes of any potential Russia contacts.

AP Michael Flynn shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin in December 2015. The Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia are under investigation by the FBI.