FBI, others probe possible Trump aid
Intelligence agencies collaborate in Kremlin investigation
WASHINGTON — The FBI and five other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have collaborated for months in an investigation into Russian attempts to influence the November election, including whether money from the Kremlin covertly aided President-elect Donald Trump, two people familiar with the matter said.
The agencies involved in the inquiry are the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and representatives of the director of national intelligence, the sources said.
Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Mr. Trump win, the two sources said. One of the allegations involves whether a system for routinely paying thousands of Russian-American pensioners may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers, the two sources said.
The informal, inter-agency working group began to explore possible Russian interference last spring, long before the FBI received information from a former British spy hired to develop politically damaging and unverified research about Mr. Trump, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry.
On Jan. 6, the director of national intelligence released a declassified report that concluded Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an influence campaign to “undermine faith in the U.S. democratic process,” damage Hillary Clinton’s election prospects and bolster Mr. Trump’s. The campaign included the hacking of top Democrats’ emails and fake news distributed by Russian sources.
As for Mr. Putin, he took a parting shot at the Obama administration Tuesday, accusing it of trying to undermine Mr. Trump’s legitimacy with fake allegations and “binding the presidentelect hand and foot to prevent him from fulfilling his election promises.”
Mr. Trump has spoken admiringly of Russia and Mr. Putin, and Moscow’s announcement Wednesday that Edward Snowden — a main source of secrets about United States surveillance in recent years — will be allowed to remain in the country for “a couple more years” was paired with speculation that Russia could extradite him to the U.S. as a signal of good will to the incoming Trump administration.
The president-elect, who will be inaugurated Friday, has said he believes Russia was involved with the hacking, and he has called allegations that he or his associates were involved a “political witch hunt” and a “complete and total fabrication.”
A key mission of the six agency group has been to examine who financed the email hacks of the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta.
The working group is scrutinizing the activities of a few Americans who were affiliated with Mr. Trump’s campaign or his business empire and of multiple individuals from Russia and other former Soviet nations who had similar connections, the sources said.
U.S. intelligence agencies not only have been unanimous in blaming Russia for the hacking of Democrats’ computers but also have concluded that the leaking and dissemination of thousands of emails of top Democrats, some of which caused headaches for the Clinton campaign, were done to help Mr. Trump win.