Trump aides, Russians in constant contact
MICHAEL Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and e-mails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race, according to US officials familiar with the exchanges.
The previously undisclosed interactions form part of the record now being reviewed by the FBI and congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the US election and contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
Six of the previously undisclosed contacts were phone calls between Sergei Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the US, and Trump advisers, including Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, three current and former officials said.
Conversations between Flynn and Kislyak accelerated after the November 8 vote as the two discussed establishing a back-channel between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to bypass the US national security bureaucracy, which both sides considered hostile to improved relations.
The US Justice Department has appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate alleged Russian meddling in the US presidential campaign and possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. His aides have repeatedly denied any collusion.
Meanwhile, the US media revealed that Trump’s team knew about a separate FBI probe into Flynn’s lobbying work for the Turkish government before giving him the job of national security adviser.
Officials familiar with the matter told the New York Times the disclosure was made to the transition team’s chief lawyer on January 4, two weeks before Trump’s inauguration.
The newspaper suggested the president-elect knew about the investigation into the Flynn Intel Group’s contract with a Dutch firm owned by a Turkish businessman to run a campaign to allegedly discredit US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Flynn was forced to resign after 24 days in office.
Claims of close ties between Trump’s election campaign and the Kremlin have persisted. Last week, Trump fired FBI director James Comey, raising fears of a cover-up.
A report emerged in the New York Times suggesting Trump had asked Comey to close the probe into Flynn’s links to Russia.
Russia has repeatedly denied US claims that it meddled in the presidential vote.
The Kremlin has said Russia did not have official contacts with Trump’s team during the campaign.
In January, the White House initially denied any contacts with Russian officials. It has since confirmed four meetings between Kislyak and Trump advisers during that time. – Reuters and Sputnik