Months before the presidential election, U.S. spies collected intelligence showing senior Russian officials discussing how to exert influence over Donald Trump using his advisers, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
Their discussions centered around then-adviser Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign adviser at the time, according to three current and former U.S. officials.
Both men had indirect ties to Moscow and the Russian officials were confident that they could be used to sway President Trump, according to The Times.
Some of the officials boasted of their close ties to Flynn, while others weighed using their relationship to the deposed president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, who at one time employed Manafort.
Yanukovych, who was backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is now living in exile in Russia.
The information U.S. spies collected over the summer was considered credible enough by intelligence agencies to pass along to the FBI. The bureau opened its probe into possible coordination between campaign officials and Russia in July.
On Tuesday, former CIA Director John Brennan told lawmakers that he passed along intelligence to the bureau showing Trump campaign associates had interactions with Russian officials.
Those interactions left him “concerned” about the possibility of collusion, Brennan said, arguing that the information “raised questions in my mind about whether Russia was able to gain the cooperation of those individuals” — whether wittingly or unwittingly.
He insisted that he did not know if there had been any intentional collusion between those campaign associates, whom he declined to name, and emphasized it is possible for an individual to be recruited by Russian intelligence services without his knowledge.
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Russian officials discussed how to use Flynn, Manafort to influence Trump: report https://t.co/iH91WCvVHP pic.twitter.com/IeHbh0KdV6
— The Hill (@thehill) May 25, 2017
Top Russian Officials Discussed How to Influence Trump Aides Last Summer, @20committee https://t.co/GGLVohVY09
— David Levine (@davidelevine1) May 24, 2017
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