NY Times says Trump campaign had repeated contact with Russian intelligence

[webfact]

NY Times says Trump campaign had repeated contact with Russian intelligence

REUTERS

 

Then Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump arrives for his election night rally at the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan, New York, U.S., November 9, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo

 

(Reuters) - Phone records and intercepted calls show that members of Donald Trump's presidential campaign and other Trump associates had repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials in the year before the election, the New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing four current and former U.S. officials.

 

U.S. 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, according to the Times.

 

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 newspaper said.

 

The officials interviewed in recent weeks said they had seen no evidence of such cooperation so far, it said.

 

However, the intercepts alarmed U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in part because of the amount of contact that was occurring while Trump was speaking glowingly about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

The intercepted calls are different from the wiretapped conversations last year between Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, and Sergei I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, the Times said.

 

During those calls, the two men discussed sanctions that the Obama administration imposed on Russia in December. Flynn misled the White House about those calls and was asked to resign on Monday night.

 

The White House did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment on the Times story.

 

The Times reported that the officials said the intercepted communications were not limited to Trump campaign officials, and included other Trump associates.

 

On the Russian side, the contacts also included members of the Russian government outside the intelligence services, the officials told the Times. All of the current and former officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the continuing investigation is classified, the newspaper reported.

 

The officials said one of the 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.

 

Manafort, who has not been charged with any crimes, dismissed the accounts of the U.S. officials in a telephone interview with the Times on Tuesday.

 

Several of Trump's associates, like Manafort, have done business in Russia. It is not unusual for U.S. 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, according to the Times.

 

Law enforcement officials did not say to what extent the contacts may have been about business, the Times said.

 

Officials would not disclose many details, including what was discussed on the calls, which Russian intelligence officials were on the calls, and how many of Trump's advisers were talking to the Russians. It is also unclear whether the conversations had anything to do with Trump himself, the Times said.

 

(Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Paul Tait)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-15

[oxo1947]

So the American --CIA--or whoever is tapping peoples phones then reporting their conversations to the New York times.........it would be difficult for even Len Deighton to  make some of this stuff up. ..........

[sujoop]

Even though the Republican controlled House is looking the other way or making shameless excuses (same as Trump's equally guiltless & shameless followers),  at least 'some' checks and balances are at work like the FBI probe which will then issue their report to Trump's Attorney General Jeff Sessions... (who is certain to review/dismiss = rinse/repeat comrades, GOP & Trump's shameless supporters) Meanwhile, Trump's team and deplorables (forgot, the non-PC Trumpeters don't like that term;) are more focused on the whistleblowers and justifications for potentially treasonous acts. Sad.

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by sujoop

[Scott]

Troll posts and replies removed.  

[IMA_FARANG]

We all suspected that, but any comment to that effect were  shouted  down by Trump loyalists and Donald's own 'twitter rants'  as '  false news'.

 

[pegman]

18 minutes ago, sujoop said:

Even though the Republican controlled House is looking the other way or making shameless excuses (same as Trump's equally guiltless & shameless followers),  at least 'some' checks and balances are at work like the FBI probe which will then issue their report to Trump's Attorney General Jeff Sessions... (who is certain to review/dismiss = rinse/repeat comrades, GOP & Trump's shameless supporters) Meanwhile, Trump's team and deplorables (forgot, the non-PC Trumpeters don't like that term;) are more focused on the whistleblowers and justifications for potentially treasonous acts. Sad.

 

Don't believe it. Trump has been, and remains, an enemy of conservative Republicans. Their guy is Pence and the only person keeping him from being president is Trump. Same goes for a major portion of the personal at NSA, CIA, FBI ........That means he's toast. The Democrates will be screaming for his head but it will be the Congressional Republican, feed by conservative spooks, who will use a special prosecutor to take Trump down. The religious right will then control all branches of USA gov. Trump won't last the year. So now that that is clear who will be the next VP?

[IMA_FARANG]

Here I will reveal something I know from the past.

When Nixon was President Henry Kissinger carried on off the record with the Chinese Government on a Top Secret matter.

Did you actually think Nixon visited  China just to watch a table tennis player play

You never heard of this before and Kissinger actually spoke to senior high-ranking members of the  Chinese  government without Nixon knowing about it and no prior authorization

However  Kissinger  told Nixon about his secret talks to the Chinese on his return to Washington.

Just a lesson from history to  show you how some tines such things are required in government.

Without revealing any more that Top Secret natter was the real reason Nixon made his trip to China.

 

Edited February 15, 2017 by IMA_FARANG
Added a coment

[ilostmypassword]

15 minutes ago, IMA_FARANG said:

Here I will reveal something I know from the past.

When Nixon was President Henry Kissinger carried on off the record with the Chinese Government on a Top Secret matter.

Did you actually think Nixon visited  China just to watch a table tennis player play

You never heard of this before and Kissinger actually spoke to senior high-ranking members of the  Chinese  government without Nixon knowing about it and no prior authorization

However  Kissinger  told Nixon about his secret talks to the Chinese on his return to Washington.

Just a lesson from history to  show you how some tines such things are required in government.

The thing is, that was when Nixon was President.  This is much more akin to the recent news that Nixon told the South Vietnamese not to accept negotiations with the north. This was in 1968 when Nixon was running for president. As Trump's aides were allegedly in contact with Russian Intelligence during Trump's campaign.

Edited February 15, 2017 by ilostmypassword

[jcsmith]

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

[pegman]

2 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

The thing is, that was when Nixon was President.  This is more akin to the recent news that Nixon told the South Vietnamese not to accept negotiations with the north. This was in 1968 when Nixon was running for president.

True. The other would be the rumoured coordination between Reagan's people and Ruhollah Khomeini's folks during the 1980 campaign concerning the Iran hostages release. The Mad Mulah was determined to take Carter down because he had given the MadDog of Iraq the signal to invade Iran. Later on that relationship even developed into an arms smuggling. 

As for what the American intelligence community has on Trump I would expect transcripts on each and every conversation between the parties. With a $70b annual budget who could expect less?

https://fas.org/irp/budget/

[craigt3365]

This is getting serious.  Interesting that so many Trump supporters who called this "fake news" during the elections are now silent. LOL

[heybruce]

2 hours ago, oxo1947 said:

So the American --CIA--or whoever is tapping peoples phones then reporting their conversations to the New York times.........it would be difficult for even Len Deighton to  make some of this stuff up. ..........

If you are talking by phone to a high ranking Russian official, it's safe to assume that your government, the Russian government, and maybe a few other governments will be recording the call. 

 

What's surprising is that the Trump campaign didn't know this, or thought it wouldn't come back to haunt them.  Repeated contact with the Russian government gives the impression of some sort of coordination between their government and the Trump campaign.  Now they have to explain why that isn't the case, without releasing tax returns or detailed financial disclosures of course.

Edited February 15, 2017 by heybruce

[Jingthing]

Yes, move on indeed.

To IMPEACHMENT.

As soon as the republicans controlling Congress which mostly already gets that trump is both incompetent and dangerously INSANE gathers up the political cajones to get that started.

Edited February 15, 2017 by Jingthing

[oxo1947]

26 minutes ago, heybruce said:

If you are talking by phone to a high ranking Russian official, it's safe to assume that your government, the Russian government, and maybe a few other governments will be recording the call. 

I don't doubt that heybruce...my surprise is in the fact that they did not approach the party(s) concern for an explanation---but (it would seem) the New York Times. Why would Police/CIA or any other government funded organisation feel that this is the correct channel.

[DriveByTrucker]

33 minutes ago, oxo1947 said:

I don't doubt that heybruce...my surprise is in the fact that they did not approach the party(s) concern for an explanation---but (it would seem) the New York Times. Why would Police/CIA or any other government funded organisation feel that this is the correct channel.

Well is seems to have been going on for a while, and it might surface in the media now because the responsible people have apparently not taken any action (coverup?). And dont forget in any real democracy the media is (as the "fourth branch") responsible for checks and balances as well.

[craigt3365]

3 minutes ago, DriveByTrucker said:

Well is seems to have been going on for a while, and it might surface in the media now because the responsible people have apparently not taken any action (coverup?). And dont forget in any real democracy the media is (as the "fourth branch") responsible for checks and balances as well.

You can not have a true democracy without freedom of the press.  Well put.  And as we've seen, Trump doesn't like this.  For obvious reasons.

[retarius]

Is it really beyond the wit of journalism to show us a timeline of when Trumps' people called Russian intelligence and what they talked about (Flynn's phone was tapped…illegally apparently). We keep getting stories with only half the information. I cannot believe it is not intentional.

[craigt3365]

1 minute ago, retarius said:

Is it really beyond the wit of journalism to show us a timeline of when Trumps' people called Russian intelligence and what they talked about (Flynn's phone was tapped…illegally apparently). We keep getting stories with only half the information. I cannot believe it is not intentional.

The information is classified.  And for good reasons.  The journalists are only reporting what they can.

 

I'd love to see an investigation like this happen in, say, Russia or China! LOL  Never happen.

[retarius]

2 minutes ago, craigt3365 said:

The information is classified.  And for good reasons.  The journalists are only reporting what they can.

 

I'd love to see an investigation like this happen in, say, Russia or China! LOL  Never happen.

If it's classified why is is it being leaked to the NYT? Why not declassify it? Let's have some transparency. Corruption and abuse of power thrive in secrecy.

[DriveByTrucker]

6 minutes ago, retarius said:

Is it really beyond the wit of journalism to show us a timeline of when Trumps' people called Russian intelligence and what they talked about (Flynn's phone was tapped…illegally apparently). We keep getting stories with only half the information. I cannot believe it is not intentional.

 Wasn't it the Russian ambassador's phone that was tapped?

[oxo1947]

1 hour ago, DriveByTrucker said:

And dont forget in any real democracy the media is (as the "fourth branch") responsible for checks and balances as well.

I am not questioning the press right to print--DriveBy-- if they have been given a story I think their duty bound to---although they should always try to verify, but just questioning  why would an anti crime organisation (I take it the FBI is the one that deals with internal & CIA with external) do nothing about this but just feed it to the press.

.

Just another point of interest--its funny to see some of the names lined up in support of this seem to be  many of the same names that condemned Snowden /  Assange for leaking to the press.

Edited February 15, 2017 by oxo1947

[craigt3365]

7 minutes ago, retarius said:

If it's classified why is is it being leaked to the NYT? Why not declassify it? Let's have some transparency. Corruption and abuse of power thrive in secrecy.

I've not seen any details, just high level info.  Stuff like this gets leaked to the press all the time.  The US government is one of the most transparent in the world.  Not #1, but OK.  You should rant about other countries.

[craigt3365]

6 minutes ago, oxo1947 said:

I am not questioning the press right to print--DriveBy-- if they have been given a story I think their duty bound to---although they should always try to verify, but just questioning  why would an anti crime organisation (I take it the FBI is the one that deals with internal & CIA with external) do nothing about this but just feed it to the press.

.

Just another point of interest--its funny to see some of the names lined up in support of this seem to be  many of the same names that condemned Snowden /  Assange for leaking to the press.

This is exactly how the Russian hacking info came out.  A small leak, criticized by the same people here, came out and eventually, enough info was released to know it was true.  I'd wager a bit this will follow the same path.

[DriveByTrucker]

15 minutes ago, oxo1947 said:

I am not questioning the press right to print--DriveBy-- if they have been given a story I think their duty bound to---although they should always try to verify, but just questioning  why would an anti crime organisation (I take it the FBI is the one that deals with internal & CIA with external) do nothing about this but just feed it to the press.

.

Just another point of interest--its funny to see some of the names lined up in support of this seem to be  many of the same names that condemned Snowden /  Assange for leaking to the press.

What can an FBI investigator do  if the boss says that "he doesnt see the point in investigating his own party members?" Nepotism is one of the most important enemies of democracy! The fact that Trump knew about Flynn's illegal practices for weeks and didnt do anything about it says is all. So what else can the FBI investigator do  than leaking some info to the press. One way of getting the garbage to the surface....

Dont think you should see this/Snowden/Assange as one and the same. There are serious differences between the three.....

[dunroaming]

4 hours ago, pegman said:

Don't believe it. Trump has been, and remains, an enemy of conservative Republicans. Their guy is Pence and the only person keeping him from being president is Trump. Same goes for a major portion of the personal at NSA, CIA, FBI ........That means he's toast. The Democrates will be screaming for his head but it will be the Congressional Republican, feed by conservative spooks, who will use a special prosecutor to take Trump down. The religious right will then control all branches of USA gov. Trump won't last the year. So now that that is clear who will be the next VP?

I agree but I think Trump is self destructing anyway.  He is way out of his depth and still under the illusion that he can do whatever he wants to by shouting everyone else down.  I also feel he won't last the year one way or another.

[FitnessHealthTravel]

Posession is 9/10's of the Law as they say. Trump owns the White House, try taking that away.  Seriously the media need to get on with it, more the <deleted> forward!

[ilostmypassword]

19 minutes ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

Posession is 9/10's of the Law as they say. Trump owns the White House, try taking that away.  Seriously the media need to get on with it, more the <deleted> forward!

They tried that with Richard Nixon and we can how far that got them!

[whatawonderfulday]

Trust all the naïve Americans who voted for Trump and his gang of goofers are proud that their President now acts as " The Voice of Russia".   So it appears his electoral campaign slogan, or one of them,  "making America Great Again" really means making them great at receiving most of the established world"s ridicule at having a President elected by the American people with an administration that appears in the pocket of the Russians.

 

 

God Bless America - you will need it.

[dunroaming]

33 minutes ago, FitnessHealthTravel said:

Posession is 9/10's of the Law as they say. Trump owns the White House, try taking that away.  Seriously the media need to get on with it, more the <deleted> forward!

Actually Trump doesn't own the White House, he is just a short term tenant and he is rapidly tearing up the terms and conditions of the tenancy and therefore needs to be evicted.  However that is done doesn't matter that much as long as it is done quickly.

[Redline]

7 hours ago, oxo1947 said:

So the American --CIA--or whoever is tapping peoples phones then reporting their conversations to the New York times.........it would be difficult for even Len Deighton to  make some of this stuff up. ..........

All governments do it.  Wake up, it's 2017!  Some of them were Russian secret service.  They were doing there job because they followed the trail.  Just because it led to your boys hahaaaa~lock em up!