Senior Russian intelligence and political officers discussed how to influence aides on President Trump’s campaign during the run up to last year’s presidential election, according to the New York Times.
The Times reported three current and former American officials familiar with the intelligence, each of them anonymous, said the Russians wanted to influence Trump’s then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and adviser retired Lt. Gen. Mike Flynn. The Russian officials reportedly had indirect ties to both men, which led them to believe they could be used to influence Trump’s thoughts on Russia.
According to the report, some Russians bragged about their relationship with Flynn while others talked about working their ties to Victor Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine. Manafort did political work for Yanukovych for a number of years before the Ukrainian was deposed.
The information was passed onto the FBI, which opened up a counterintelligence operation.
The intelligence reports on Russian officials were on part of the reason American intelligence officials believed Russia was responsible for hacking the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign officials, according to the report. Intelligence received by American officials showed the Russians were discussing whether to release that information in order to influence opinions on the election.
It’s not clear the Russian officials actually ever tried to influence Flynn or Manafort. Both men have denied working with The Kremlin in order to help Trump win the election.
Manafort resigned shortly after the Republican convention due to increased questions about his past political work in Ukraine and his payment for that work.
Flynn was named Trump’s national security adviser but was forced to resign after it was revealed he lied to Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. He’s since come under fire for not disclosing payments from the Russian government for a speech he gave in 2015, which would have been a violation of federal law.
Former FBI Director Robert Mueller is now the special counsel leading the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Both Trump and the Russian government have denied any cooperation between the two to defeat Hillary Clinton.
Trump fired former FBI Director James Comey this month and Democrats have alleged he did so in order to weaken, or end, the FBI’s investigation into possible collusion. Multiple committees in both chambers of Congress are investigating the collusion allegation as well.
The American intelligence community believes the Russian government sought to influence the 2016 president campaign and, during the process, developed a preference for Trump.
