New York Daily News

Trump aides linked to Russia spies

Feds eye campaign spy chats Top advisers’ Moscow calls found in DNC hack probe

- BY CAMERON JOSEPH and DENIS SLATTERY

SEVERAL PEOPLE close to President Trump had repeated contact with Russian intelligen­ce officials while working on his campaign, according to new reports Tuesday.

The FBI and U.S. intelligen­ce agencies are poring over a trove of phone records and intercepte­d calls made between high level advisers and others linked to Trump’s campaign and Russian operatives in the time before the presidenti­al election, according to The New York Times.

Both the frequency of the communicat­ions and the proximity to Trump of those involved “raised a red flag” with U.S. intelligen­ce and law enforcemen­t, officials familiar with the matter told CNN.

The allegation­s come one day after Trump’s national security adviser, Michael Flynn, resigned for misleading the White House about discussing sanctions with Russian officials.

The unusual level of contact was discovered as the FBI investigat­ed election-related Russian cyberattac­ks targeting Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee.

Sources told The Times there was no evidence linking the Trump campaign to the hacks.

But the amount of interactio­n between people close to Trump and senior Russian intelligen­ce officials raised red flags, partially due to how often Trump showered Russian President Vladimir Putin with praise.

Sources told The Times that the FBI has looked closely at Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has worked in Ukraine and has close ties to Putin allies.

“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.”

The FBI has also examined businessma­n Carter Page (below) and Republican operative Roger Stone (opposite page).

Aside from the phone calls, the FBI has collected travel records and conducted interviews, officials told The Times.

Officials did not disclose details about what was discussed in the phone calls.

The FBI is also reportedly looking into the credibilit­y of a dossier compiled by a British intelligen­ce officer that contained unsubstant­iated claims linking Trump with Russian officials, among other claims that Moscow had embarrassi­ng videos that could be used to blackmail Trump. In January, both the President and Vice President Pence adamantly denied that the Trump campaign had any interactio­n with Moscow. On Tuesday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer appeared to stand by those earlier denials. Brian Fallon, the Clinton campaign’s press secretary, said on Twitter that the report proved “everything we suspected during the campaign,” adding “this is a colossal scandal.” Intelligen­ce officials sharing such highly sensitive and damning informatio­n is sure to anger Trump. The President seemed more upset Tues-

day morning that news of Flynn’s apparent duplicity had leaked out to the media than the fact that one of his top advisers lied.

“The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington?” he tweeted Tuesday morning.

Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the President should get used to it.

“Leaks are endemic to Washington, D.C., leaks happen, and they will continue to happen, they are at a level now with this administra­tion I don’t think I have ever seen,” McCain said.

The White House acknowledg­ed Tuesday it’s known about the Flynn controvers­y “for weeks.”

“We’ve been reviewing and evaluating this issue with respect to Gen. Flynn on a daily basis for a few weeks, trying to ascertain the truth,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday, claiming that Trump had asked Flynn to resign Monday following an “eroding level of trust as a result of this situation and a series of other questionab­le instances.”

Those comments both contradict­ed White House adviser Kellyanne Conway’s Tuesday morning remarks that Flynn had decided on his own to resign, even though Trump had full confidence in him, and Trump’s comments Friday that he didn’t know about the matter.

Flynn had publicly denied he’d spoken to Russia’s ambassador about President Barack Obama’s sanctions against the country before Trump’s inaugurati­on.

He also denied it privately to Vice President Pence. He later acknowledg­ed the topic may have come up.

While the White House maintains it had known about the controvers­y since late January, a Pence aide said the vice president just found out about it last week.

“He became aware of the incomplete informatio­n he received through media accounts on Feb. 9, last Thursday,” Pence spokesman Marc Lotter told the Daily News. “He then inquired about that.”

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the FBI had questioned Flynn about the December phone call — which was being monitored by NSA officials eavesdropp­ing on the Russian ambassador — shortly after Trump’s inaugurati­on.

After the interview, then-acting Attorney General Sally Yates told the White House that Flynn was vulnerable to Russian blackmail because of inconsiste­ncies between his public statements and what intelligen­ce officials knew to be true, the report said.

The White House’s acknowledg­ment that it knew about Flynn’s conversati­on weeks ago — and that he’d misled Pence and other Trump administra­tion officials about it — raises questions about why he was allowed to remain national security adviser for weeks afterward.

Russia has carried out a series of provocatio­ns recently, including positionin­g a spy ship off the coast of Delaware, secretly deploying a cruise missile, violating a key arms treaty, and carrying out flights near a U.S. Navy warship. Spicer, meanwhile, vowed that the Trump administra­tion planned on taking a tough stance against Russia.

“The irony of this entire situation is that the President has been incredibly tough on Russia,” Spicer said.

 ??  ?? Michael Flynn (l.), who quit as national security adviser Monday, and ex-Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort (far l.) are among key Trump advisers found by feds to have had frequent contacts with Russian spies before November election.
Michael Flynn (l.), who quit as national security adviser Monday, and ex-Donald Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort (far l.) are among key Trump advisers found by feds to have had frequent contacts with Russian spies before November election.
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