Six law enforcement and intelligence agencies have reportedly spent months investigating whether Russian officials aided President-elect Trump during the 2016 election in order to nab him a victory.
Sources familiar with the probe told McClatchy that investigators are focused largely on money that Moscow may have moved in order to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
The FBI, CIA, National Security Agency, Justice Department and Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network are said to be collaborating on the investigation, which is also examining whether Russia financed email hacks that targeted the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta last year.
Investigators are specifically searching for potential ties between individuals who are close to the Trump Organization or the president-elect’s team and senior officials in Russia.
Sources said lead investigators are looking into what involves a system for paying Russian-American pensioners and whether the money was used to compensate email hackers in the U.S. or send money through intermediaries to hackers located elsewhere.
Trump recently accused U.S. intelligence officials of carrying out a “political witch hunt” against him by investigating a series of explosive claims contained in a dossier made public last week.
“I have nothing to do with Russia – no deals, no loans, no nothing!” the incoming Republican president recently wrote on Twitter.
However, Trump did concede at a press conference earlier this month that he believes Russia was behind the hack-and-leak operations that impacted Democratic political institutions during the election.
Trump recently said he would consider lifting the sanctions President Obama imposed on Russia in response to its malicious cyber activity if Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to reduce the country’s nuclear stockpile.
A spokesman for the FBI declined to comment.
