麻烦大了: Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence
- 主题发起人 ccc
- 开始时间
- 注册
- 2011-12-21
- 消息
- 22,707
- 荣誉分数
- 6,788
- 声望点数
- 273
其实没啥事吧？ 估计都是选前抓克林顿邮件服务器装13那破事结的梁子。。造报应了Trump Campaign Aides Had Repeated Contacts With Russian Intelligence
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, MARK MAZZETTI and MATT APUZZOFEB. 14, 2017
President Trump spoke with Vladimir V. Putin on Jan. 28. His national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, right, resigned Monday. Credit Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
WASHINGTON — Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald J. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, according to four current and former American officials.
American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee, three of the officials said. The intelligence agencies then sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election.
The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation.
But the intercepts alarmed American intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr. Trump was speaking glowingly about the Russian president, Vladimir V. Putin. At one point last summer, Mr. Trump said at a campaign event that he hoped Russian intelligence services had stolen Hillary Clinton’s emails and would make them public.
Mr. Manafort, who has not been charged with any crimes, dismissed the officials’ accounts in a telephone interview on Tuesday. “This is absurd,” he said. “I have no idea what this is referring to. I have never knowingly spoken to Russian intelligence officers, and I have never been involved with anything to do with the Russian government or the Putin administration or any other issues under investigation today.”
He added, “It’s not like these people wear badges that say, ‘I’m a Russian intelligence officer.’”
Several of Mr. Trump’s associates, like Mr. Manafort, have done business in Russia. And it is not unusual for American businessmen to come in contact with foreign intelligence officials, sometimes unwittingly, in countries like Russia and Ukraine, where the spy services are deeply embedded in society. Law enforcement officials did not say to what extent the contacts might have been about business.
The officials would not disclose many details, including what was discussed on the calls, the identity of the Russian intelligence officials who participated, and how many of Mr. Trump’s advisers were talking to the Russians. It is also unclear whether the conversations had anything to do with Mr. Trump himself.
A report from American intelligence agencies that was made public in January concluded that the Russian government had intervened in the election in part to help Mr. Trump, but did not address whether any members of the Trump campaign had participated in the effort.
The intercepted calls are different from the wiretapped conversations last year between Michael T. Flynn, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, and Sergey I. Kislyak, Russia’s ambassador to the United States. In those calls, which led to Mr. Flynn’s resignation on Monday night, the two men discussed sanctions that the Obama administration imposed on Russia in December.
But the cases are part of American intelligence and law enforcement agencies’ routine electronic surveillance of the communications of foreign officials.
Paul D. Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign chairman, at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. Credit Sam Hodgson for The New York Times
The F.B.I. declined to comment. The White House also declined to comment Tuesday night, but earlier in the day, the press secretary, Sean Spicer, stood by Mr. Trump’s previous comments that nobody from his campaign had contact with Russian officials before the election.
“There’s nothing that would conclude me that anything different has changed with respect to that time period,” Mr. Spicer said in response to a question.
Two days after the election in November, Sergei A. Ryabkov, the deputy Russian foreign minister, said “there were contacts” during the campaign between Russian officials and Mr. Trump’s team.
“Obviously, we know most of the people from his entourage,” Mr. Ryabkov told Russia’s Interfax news agency.
The Trump transition team denied Mr. Ryabkov’s statement. “This is not accurate,” Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, said at the time.
The National Security Agency, which monitors the communications of foreign intelligence services, initially captured the calls between Mr. Trump’s associates and the Russians as part of routine foreign surveillance. After that, the F.B.I. asked the N.S.A. to collect as much information as possible about the Russian operatives on the phone calls, and to search through troves of previous intercepted communications that had not been analyzed.
The F.B.I. has closely examined at least three other people close to Mr. Trump, although it is unclear if their calls were intercepted. They are Carter Page, a businessman and former foreign policy adviser to the campaign; Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative; and Mr. Flynn.
All of the men have strongly denied that they had any improper contacts with Russian officials.
As part of the inquiry, the F.B.I. is also trying to assess the credibility of the information contained in a dossier that was given to the bureau last year by a former British intelligence operative. The dossier contained a raft of allegations of a broad conspiracy between Mr. Trump, his associates and the Russian government. It also included unsubstantiated claims that the Russians had embarrassing videos that could be used to blackmail Mr. Trump.
The F.B.I. has spent several months investigating the leads in the dossier, but has yet to confirm any of its most explosive claims.
Senior F.B.I. officials believe that the former British intelligence officer who compiled the dossier, Christopher Steele, has a credible track record, and he briefed investigators last year about how he obtained the information. One American law enforcement official said that F.B.I. agents had made contact with some of Mr. Steele’s sources.
The agency’s investigation of Mr. Manafort began last spring as an outgrowth of a criminal investigation into his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and for the country’s former president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. It has focused on why he was in such close contact with Russian and Ukrainian intelligence officials.
The bureau did not have enough evidence to obtain a warrant for a wiretap of Mr. Manafort’s communications, but it had the N.S.A. scrutinize the communications of Ukrainian officials he had met.
The F.B.I. investigation is proceeding at the same time that separate investigations into Russian interference in the election are gaining momentum on Capitol Hill. Those investigations, by the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, are examining not only the Russian hacking but also any contacts that Mr. Trump’s team had with Russian officials during the campaign.
On Tuesday, top Republican lawmakers said that Mr. Flynn should be one focus of the investigation, and that he should be called to testify before Congress. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said the news about Mr. Flynn underscored “how many questions still remain unanswered to the American people more than three months after Election Day, including who was aware of what, and when.”
Mr. Warner said Mr. Flynn’s resignation would not stop the committee “from continuing to investigate General Flynn, or any other campaign official who may have had inappropriate and improper contacts with Russian officials prior to the election.
- 注册
- 2003-04-13
- 消息
- 239,012
- 荣誉分数
- 37,383
- 声望点数
- 1,393
U.S. lawmakers push for answers on Trump team's Russia ties
By Steve Holland and Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON A crisis over the relationship between President Donald Trump's aides and Russia deepened on Wednesday as a growing number of Trump's fellow Republicans demanded expanded congressional inquiries into the matter.
Trump sought to focus attention on what he called criminal intelligence leaks about his ousted national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
Trump forced Flynn out on Monday after disclosures he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office, and that he later misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations.
The drama of Flynn's departure was the latest in a series of White House missteps and controversies since the Republican president was sworn in on Jan. 20.
At a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, Trump said Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, was a "wonderful man" who had been mistreated by the news media.
But Republican Trump critics including Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham voiced fresh consternation. Adding to the pressure were comments by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, who has been a Trump supporter.
Corker said the Russia issue was threatening Trump's agenda on foreign affairs and domestic matters like healthcare and tax policy. He questioned whether the White House was able to stabilize itself and said Flynn should testify before Congress.
"Let's get everything out as quickly as possible on this Russia issue," Corker told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "Maybe there's a problem that obviously goes much deeper than what we now suspect."
Democrats, doubting Trump's Justice Department or the Republican-led Congress will pursue the matter vigorously, have demanded an independent investigation of possible illegal communications between Flynn and the Russian government and any efforts by Flynn or other White House officials to conceal wrongdoing.
CALLS FOR RECUSAL
The most powerful Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a close ally of Trump, must recuse himself from any investigation.
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee asked Sessions and FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday to send the committee documents and provide a briefing on Flynn's resignation.
Citing reports that both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice Department were involved in events leading to Flynn's departure, Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein said they raised "substantial questions" about Flynn's discussion with Russian officials.
Graham called for a broader bipartisan congressional investigation to be conducted by a newly formed special committee rather than existing committees, if it turns out Trump's presidential campaign communicated with the Russians.
But the top Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives have insisted the matter be investigated by existing Republican-led committees.
The Senate and House Intelligence Committees and a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary committee have announced they launched investigations into alleged Russian efforts to influence the election through computer hacking.
U.S. intelligence agencies previously concluded that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the presidential campaign as part of efforts to tilt the vote in the Nov. 8 election in Trump's favor.
Congressional inquiries into alleged Russian interference in the U.S. elections are gaining momentum as Capitol Hill investigators press intelligence and law enforcement agencies for access to classified documents.
The FBI and several U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating Russian espionage operations in the United States. They are also looking at contacts in Russia between Russian intelligence officers or others with ties to President Vladimir Putin's government and people connected to Trump or his campaign.
The FBI recently questioned Flynn about his telephone contacts with the Russian ambassador in Washington. People familiar with the agency's multiple probes said there was no evidence so far of pre-election collusion between Russians and Trump's campaign, or any evidence of criminal activity by Flynn or anyone else connected to Trump.
Some experts expressed concern the White House could curtail or divert probes into Flynn and Russian involvement in the election unless Congress becomes more aggressive by holding hearings and appointing an independent commission or special prosecutor into whether Trump's team violated federal laws in their contacts with Russia.
Intelligence agencies now overseen by Trump may not be ideally suited to the job, they added.
"It's not, at the end of the day, the job of the intelligence community to regulate the White House - and it shouldn't be," said Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor who focuses on constitutional law and national security.
'VERY UN-AMERICAN'
In Twitter posts on Wednesday, Trump called the reported Russian connection with his campaign team nonsense and said the leaks were the "real scandal."
From early on in his White House bid, Trump said he would like improved relations with Putin, a stance criticized by Democrats and those Republicans concerned about Washington softening its stance after Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and aggression in Syria.
Only a few Republican lawmakers have supported even the idea of extending any investigation to cover actions by Trump's team in the weeks after the election, when Flynn made his calls.
Some Republicans, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, are calling for investigations into leaks to the news media of conversations between Flynn and Russia's ambassador in Washington.
The Trump administration has offered Flynn's former job to U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Robert Harward, said two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear if Harward, a former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, had accepted the offer, according to sources.
By Steve Holland and Patricia Zengerle | WASHINGTON
WASHINGTON A crisis over the relationship between President Donald Trump's aides and Russia deepened on Wednesday as a growing number of Trump's fellow Republicans demanded expanded congressional inquiries into the matter.
Trump sought to focus attention on what he called criminal intelligence leaks about his ousted national security adviser, Michael Flynn.
Trump forced Flynn out on Monday after disclosures he had discussed U.S. sanctions on Russia with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump took office, and that he later misled Vice President Mike Pence about the conversations.
The drama of Flynn's departure was the latest in a series of White House missteps and controversies since the Republican president was sworn in on Jan. 20.
At a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, Trump said Flynn, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general, was a "wonderful man" who had been mistreated by the news media.
But Republican Trump critics including Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham voiced fresh consternation. Adding to the pressure were comments by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, who has been a Trump supporter.
Corker said the Russia issue was threatening Trump's agenda on foreign affairs and domestic matters like healthcare and tax policy. He questioned whether the White House was able to stabilize itself and said Flynn should testify before Congress.
"Let's get everything out as quickly as possible on this Russia issue," Corker told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "Maybe there's a problem that obviously goes much deeper than what we now suspect."
Democrats, doubting Trump's Justice Department or the Republican-led Congress will pursue the matter vigorously, have demanded an independent investigation of possible illegal communications between Flynn and the Russian government and any efforts by Flynn or other White House officials to conceal wrongdoing.
CALLS FOR RECUSAL
The most powerful Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said Attorney General Jeff Sessions, a close ally of Trump, must recuse himself from any investigation.
The Republican and Democratic leaders of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee asked Sessions and FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday to send the committee documents and provide a briefing on Flynn's resignation.
Citing reports that both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Justice Department were involved in events leading to Flynn's departure, Senators Chuck Grassley and Dianne Feinstein said they raised "substantial questions" about Flynn's discussion with Russian officials.
Graham called for a broader bipartisan congressional investigation to be conducted by a newly formed special committee rather than existing committees, if it turns out Trump's presidential campaign communicated with the Russians.
But the top Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives have insisted the matter be investigated by existing Republican-led committees.
The Senate and House Intelligence Committees and a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary committee have announced they launched investigations into alleged Russian efforts to influence the election through computer hacking.
U.S. intelligence agencies previously concluded that Russia hacked and leaked Democratic emails during the presidential campaign as part of efforts to tilt the vote in the Nov. 8 election in Trump's favor.
Congressional inquiries into alleged Russian interference in the U.S. elections are gaining momentum as Capitol Hill investigators press intelligence and law enforcement agencies for access to classified documents.
The FBI and several U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating Russian espionage operations in the United States. They are also looking at contacts in Russia between Russian intelligence officers or others with ties to President Vladimir Putin's government and people connected to Trump or his campaign.
The FBI recently questioned Flynn about his telephone contacts with the Russian ambassador in Washington. People familiar with the agency's multiple probes said there was no evidence so far of pre-election collusion between Russians and Trump's campaign, or any evidence of criminal activity by Flynn or anyone else connected to Trump.
Some experts expressed concern the White House could curtail or divert probes into Flynn and Russian involvement in the election unless Congress becomes more aggressive by holding hearings and appointing an independent commission or special prosecutor into whether Trump's team violated federal laws in their contacts with Russia.
Intelligence agencies now overseen by Trump may not be ideally suited to the job, they added.
"It's not, at the end of the day, the job of the intelligence community to regulate the White House - and it shouldn't be," said Stephen Vladeck, a University of Texas law professor who focuses on constitutional law and national security.
'VERY UN-AMERICAN'
In Twitter posts on Wednesday, Trump called the reported Russian connection with his campaign team nonsense and said the leaks were the "real scandal."
From early on in his White House bid, Trump said he would like improved relations with Putin, a stance criticized by Democrats and those Republicans concerned about Washington softening its stance after Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and aggression in Syria.
Only a few Republican lawmakers have supported even the idea of extending any investigation to cover actions by Trump's team in the weeks after the election, when Flynn made his calls.
Some Republicans, including House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, are calling for investigations into leaks to the news media of conversations between Flynn and Russia's ambassador in Washington.
The Trump administration has offered Flynn's former job to U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Robert Harward, said two U.S. officials familiar with the matter. It was not immediately clear if Harward, a former deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, had accepted the offer, according to sources.
