Top Russian Officials Discussed How to Influence Trump Aides Last Summer
Source: New York Times
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG, ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO MAY 24, 2017
WASHINGTON American spies collected information last summer revealing that senior Russian intelligence and political officials were discussing how to exert influence over Donald J. Trump through his advisers, according to three current and former American officials familiar with the intelligence.
The conversations focused on Paul Manafort, the Trump campaign chairman at the time, and Michael T. Flynn, a retired general who was advising Mr. Trump, the officials said. Both men had indirect ties to Russian officials, who appeared confident that each could be used to help shape Mr. Trumps opinions on Russia.
Some Russians boasted about how well they knew Mr. Flynn. Others discussed leveraging their ties to Viktor F. Yanukovych, the deposed president of Ukraine living in exile in Russia, who at one time had worked closely with Mr. Manafort.
The intelligence was among the clues which also included information about direct communications between Mr. Trumps advisers and Russian officials that American officials received last year as they began investigating Russian attempts to disrupt the election and whether any of Mr. Trumps associates were assisting Moscow in the effort. Details of the conversations, some of which have not been previously reported, add to an increasing understanding of the alarm inside the American government last year about the Russian disruption campaign.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/24/us/politics/russia-trump-manafort-flynn.html?emc=edit_na_20170524&nl=breaking-news&nlid=57435284&ref=headline&_r=0
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)He continued to insist that Russia could be an ally even after Moscows seizure of Crimea the following year, and Obama administration officials have said that contributed to their decision to push him out of the D.I.A.
But in private life, Mr. Flynn cultivated even closer ties to Russia. In 2015, he earned more than $65,000 from companies linked to Russia, including a cargo airline implicated in a bribery scheme involving Russian officials at the United Nations, and an American branch of a cybersecurity firm believed to have ties to Russias intelligence services.
The biggest payment, though, came from RT, the Kremlin-financed news network. It paid Mr. Flynn $45,000 to give a speech in Moscow, where he also attended the networks lavish anniversary dinner. There, he was photographed sitting next to Mr. Putin.
A senior lawmaker said on Monday that Mr. Flynn misled Pentagon investigators about how he was paid for the Moscow trip. He also failed to disclose the source of that income on a security form he was required to complete before joining the White House, according to congressional investigators.
"frequently, those who go along a treasonous path do not even realize they're along that path until it gets to be a bit too late."
FailureToCommunicate
(14,022 posts)rockfordfile
(8,704 posts)Trump has always been connected to Russia.