Washington — Michael Flynn and other advisers Donald trump exchanged at least 18 calls and emails with Russian officials and other individuals associated with the Kremlin in the last seven months of the presidential race in 2016, reported Reuters, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the situation.
The new information supplements the dossier, which is now studying the FBI and the investigators of the Congress in the investigation of Russian interference in presidential elections and contact election headquarters trump with Moscow.
Three current and former officials said that six of the previously unknown contacts — a telephone conversation of the Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak and advisers trump, including Flynn, who became the first adviser to the President on national security.
Flynn’s conversation with Kislyak became more frequent after the November elections, as they discussed the creation of a communication channel trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin to bypass the national security Council of the United States, which, in the opinion of both parties, hostile to better relations, said the existing four American officials.
In January, the White house initially denied the existence of contacts with Russian officials during the election campaign, but since then the American administration, and the assistants trump in the election campaign have confirmed that during this period Kislyak met with advisers to the Republican candidate four times.
Sources told Reuters on contacts, said studied at the moment the contacts have not seen evidence of criminal actions or collusion of the election headquarters trump with Russia. However, the information obtained can increase the pressure on trump and his advisors from the FBI and Congress who want a full report about the relations with Russian officials and other individuals associated with the Kremlin during the election campaign and after the elections.
The white house did not respond to requests for comment. Lawyer Flynn declined to comment. The official Russian foreign Ministry refused to talk about contacts and referred Reuters to the administration trump.
The representative of the Russian Embassy in Washington said: “We do not comment daily contacts with local interlocutors”.
Exchange 18 calls and text messages took place from April to November 2016 during this period were cybercanine aimed at discrediting presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and to increase the chances of trump. In January, the American intelligence agencies stated that to hold it, Putin ordered.
The topic discussed was the establishment of economic relations between the US and Russia undermined because of sanctions against Moscow, cooperation in the fight against Islamic state (a terrorist organization banned in Russia — approx. ed.) in Syria and deterrence is increasingly confident in asserting itself on the world stage of China, said the sources.
Members of the Senate and of committees of the house of representatives on intelligence asked the CIA and the national security Agency (NSA) to inspect the records of conversations and other documents relating to interviews assistants trump with Russian officials and other individuals associated with Putin, told Reuters sources familiar with the investigation.
The U.S. justice Department announced on Wednesday that it has appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller to the position of spectracular to investigate the alleged interference of Russia in the U.S. presidential election and the possible collusion of the election headquarters trump with Moscow. Thus, Muller will head launched last July, the FBI’s investigation. Trump and his aides have repeatedly denied allegations of collusion with Moscow.
The extreme scale
In addition to the six telephone conversations with Kislyak, contacts, reported Reuters American officials, consisted of 12 calls, emails or text messages exchanged between Russian officials or people who are considered close to Putin and aides of trump during the election campaign.
One of these people was the Ukrainian oligarch and politician Viktor Medvedchuk, said the source Reuters, familiar with the details of contact staff trump with representatives of Russia, and two-informed source.
It is not clear with whom of the representatives of the headquarters of the trump contact Medvedchuk, however, one of the topics discussed was the Russian-American cooperation, said the sources.
Medvedchuk denied information about contacts with any headquarters of the trump.
“Don’t know any of the inner circle of Donald trump, so such conversations and could not be,” he told Reuters by email.
In conversations during the election campaign in the United States, Russian officials stressed the need for pragmatic, business approach and pointed to the possibility of concluding agreements, focusing on common economic and other interests and leaving aside contentious issues, said the sources.
Veterans of previous election campaigns said that the contacts with foreign officials during the presidential race — is not uncommon, but called the extreme scale interaction helpers trump with representatives of Russia and the people associated with Putin.
“The number of phone calls to foreign officials, especially representing the country that we consider to be enemy or hostile force — a rarity,” said Reuters Republican Richard Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of state.
The Dismissal Of Flynn
Anyone associated with Putin, the participants of the interviews, in addition to Medvedchuk and Kislyak, remain classified, and the names of councillors trump, not counting Flynn, masked in the reports of the intelligence services, because they are American citizens and have the right to inviolability of private life.
The U.S. and intelligence services of allied countries, as well as law enforcement agencies systematically monitor the contacts and movements of Russian officials.
Vice-President Mike Pence and others in January denied that representatives of the electoral headquarters of the trump was in contact with Russian officials, but later the White house confirmed that Kislyak met twice with Jeff Sissom, who at that time was a Senator, and later became the attorney General.
In April Kislyak attended the event in Washington, which trump said he wants to improve relations with Russia. It was also attended by White House senior adviser and son-in-law trump Jared Kushner. In addition Kislyak met with two other councillors electoral headquarters of the trump in July at the Republican national Convention.
Trump fired Flynn in February, when it became clear that at the end of December provided the false information about a telephone conversation with Kislyak — after the November elections, and almost immediately after the introduction of new sanctions against Moscow imposed by the administration of former President Barack Obama. Flynn has offered to testify in Congress in exchange for immunity from prosecution, but the house Committee on intelligence rejected the proposal.
Weeks Parker, Jonathan Landay, Warren Strobel featuring John Walcott in Washington, Natalia Zinets and Alessandra Prentice in Kiev, Christian Lowe in Moscow.
