‘Trump aides were in touch with Russians to hurt Clinton’
23 Mar 2017
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has reportedly obtained information suggesting that aides of President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to coordinate the release of information to damage Democrat Hillary Clinton's campaign.
US officials told CNN that the agency is currently reviewing human intelligence, travel, business and phone records, and several accounts of in-person meetings. However, the officials did caution that the information was not conclusive.
The bombshell report comes several days after FBI Director James Comey announced that his agency had begun looking into the Trump campaign's activities because his agents had gathered a ''credible allegation of wrongdoing'' or ''reasonable basis to believe an American may be acting as an agent of a foreign power".
One law enforcement official told the network that the information suggests people "connected to the campaign were in contact and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready".
The FBI has already been investigating former Trump associates including Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, and Carter Page for their contact with Russian officials.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on Monday denied that any collusion took place. "Investigating it and having proof of it are two different things," he told reporters after Comey's announcement.
Representative Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, told MSNBC on Wednesday night that there is ''more than circumstantial evidence now'' indicating that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to disrupt the election.
''I can tell you that the case is more than that,'' he told the network. ''And I can't go into the particulars, but there is more than circumstantial evidence now.''
He added, ''I don't want to go into specifics, but I will say that there is evidence that is not circumstantial and is very much worthy of investigation, so that is what we ought to do.''
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