Whats going on? Could be treasonable activities.
Trump team in close contact with Russian intelligence ahead of US election: US reports
Updated about 2 hours ago
Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin
PHOTO: The calls happened at a time Mr Trump was speaking highly of Mr Putin. (AP: Seth Wenig/Reuters: Alexander Zemlianichenko)
"Phone records and intercepted calls show members of Donald Trump's presidential campaign had repeated contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the US election, according to US media reports.
Key points:
Multiple US officials have spoken of intercepted communications, the New York Times and CNN reports
Communications were between Trump campaign members, associates and Russian intelligence, government officials
Russian officials discussed their special access to Mr Trump in intercepted calls
US law enforcement and intelligence agencies reportedly intercepted the communications about the same time they were discovering evidence Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee,
Both The New York Times and CNN have cited multiple current and former American officials in their reports.
The intelligence agencies sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election, the Times said.
The Times reports the officials interviewed in recent weeks had seen no evidence of such cooperation so far.
But the intercepts have alarmed US intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Mr Trump was speaking glowingly about Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to CNN, two law enforcement officials said US investigators' concerns were also heightened by communications between Russian officials — intercepted before and after the election — during which they discussed having special access to Mr Trump.
CNN reported both Mr Trump, who was President-elect at the time, and then-President Barack Obama were both briefed on the communications between the Trump team and suspected Russian intelligence figures.
Officials said the intercepted communications were not limited to Trump campaign officials, and included other Trump associates, the news outlets reported.
On the Russian side, the contacts also included members of the Russian Government outside the intelligence services, the officials told the Times.
The officials said one of Trump's campaign advisers picked up on the calls was Paul Manafort, who was Trump's campaign chairman for several months last year and had worked as a political consultant in Russia and Ukraine, the Times said.
The officials declined to identify the other Trump associates on the calls.
The revelations come just days after Mr Trump’s national security adviser was forced to resign for misleading the White House about conversations he had last year with the Russian ambassador about sanctions the Obama administration had imposed on the country."
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-...act-with-russian-intelligence:-report/8273394
