Trump associates might have coordinated with Russians: U.S. Officials

The FBI has information that indicates associates of U.S. President Donald Trump might have communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging Hillary Clinton's campaign in the elections.

FBI Director James Comey was referring to this piece of information when he announced before the Congress, few days before, that the agency was investigating Trump campaign's ties with Russia, CNN quoted a source as saying.

The FBI is now reviewing that information, which includes human intelligence, travel, business and phone records and accounts of in-person meetings, according to CNN.

The officials have, however, cautioned that the information was not conclusive and that the investigation was ongoing.

 

In his statement, Comey had said the FBI began looking into possible coordination between Trump campaign associates and suspected Russian operatives.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, however, remained largely unperturbed with the testimony and said there was no evidence to suggest any collusion took place.

The FBI has been investigating four former Trump campaign associates - Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Carter Page - for contacts with Russians known to U.S. intelligence.

Earlier in the day, House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes suspected that Trump's personal communications and those of associates may have been picked up by intelligence agencies conducting surveillance after the elections, hurrying to the White House to brief the President and angering Democrats who say they've been left in the dark.

Nunes said at a news conference he discovered the accounts of Trump conversations when he was reviewing intelligence reports and said the information was not related to Russia, which is accused of interfering in the U.S. election.

Following this, Trump, in a brief media meeting, said he felt "somewhat" vindicated about Nune's claims.

However, Nunes said he alerted House Speaker Paul Ryan about the information before he headed to the White House.