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NY Times, Jan. 20 2017
Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry Into Trump Associates
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, MATTHEW ROSENBERG, ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO
WASHINGTON — American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are
examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part
of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials
and associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump, including his former
campaign chairman Paul Manafort, current and former senior American
officials said.
The continuing counterintelligence investigation means that Mr. Trump
will take the oath of office on Friday with his associates under
investigation and after the intelligence agencies concluded that the
Russian government had worked to help elect him. As president, Mr. Trump
will oversee those agencies and have the authority to redirect or stop
at least some of these efforts.
It is not clear whether the intercepted communications had anything to
do with Mr. Trump’s campaign, or Mr. Trump himself. It is also unclear
whether the inquiry has anything to do with an investigation into the
hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computers and other
attempts to disrupt the elections in November. The American government
has concluded that the Russian government was responsible for a broad
computer hacking campaign, including the operation against the D.N.C.
The counterintelligence investigation centers at least in part on the
business dealings that some of the president-elect’s past and present
advisers have had with Russia. Mr. Manafort has done business in Ukraine
and Russia. Some of his contacts there were under surveillance by the
National Security Agency for suspected links to Russia’s Federal
Security Service, one of the officials said.
Mr. Manafort is among at least three Trump campaign advisers whose
possible links to Russia are under scrutiny. Two others are Carter Page,
a businessman and former foreign policy adviser to the campaign, and
Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative.
The F.B.I. is leading the investigations, aided by the National Security
Agency, the C.I.A. and the Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit.
The investigators have accelerated their efforts in recent weeks but
have found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, the officials said. One
official said intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped
communications had been provided to the White House.
Counterintelligence investigations examine the connections between
American citizens and foreign governments. Those connections can involve
efforts to steal state or corporate secrets, curry favor with American
government leaders or influence policy. It is unclear which Russian
officials are under investigation, or what particular conversations
caught the attention of American eavesdroppers. The legal standard for
opening these investigations is low, and prosecutions are rare.
“We have absolutely no knowledge of any investigation or even a basis
for such an investigation,” said Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump
transition.
In an emailed statement Thursday evening, Mr. Manafort called
allegations that he had interactions with the Russian government a
“Democrat Party dirty trick and completely false.”
“I have never had any relationship with the Russian government or any
Russian officials. I was never in contact with anyone, or directed
anyone to be in contact with anyone,” he said.
“On the ‘Russian hacking of the D.N.C.,’” he said, “my only knowledge of
it is what I have read in the papers.”
The decision to open the investigations was not based on a dossier of
salacious, uncorroborated allegations that were compiled by a former
British spy working for a Washington research firm. The F.B.I. is also
examining the allegations in that dossier, and a summary of its contents
was provided to Mr. Trump earlier this month.
Representatives of the agencies involved declined to comment. Of the
half-dozen current and former officials who confirmed the existence of
the investigations, some said they were providing information because
they feared the new administration would obstruct their efforts. All
spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to
discuss the cases.
Numerous news outlets, including The New York Times, have reported on
the F.B.I. investigations into Mr. Trump’s advisers. BBC and then
McClatchy revealed the existence of a multiagency working group to
coordinate investigations across the government.
The continuing investigation again puts the F.B.I. director, James B.
Comey, in the middle of a politically fraught investigation. Democrats
have sharply criticized Mr. Comey’s handling of the investigation into
Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Mrs. Clinton has said
his decision to reveal the existence of new emails late in the campaign
cost her the election.
The F.B.I. investigation into Mr. Manafort began last spring, and was an
outgrowth of a criminal investigation into his work for a pro-Russian
political party in Ukraine and for the country’s former president,
Viktor F. Yanukovych. In August, The Times reported that Mr. Manafort’s
name had surfaced in a secret ledger that showed he had been paid
millions in undisclosed cash payments. The Associated Press has reported
that his work for Ukraine included a secret lobbying effort in
Washington aimed at influencing American news organizations and
government officials.
Mr. Stone, a longtime friend of Mr. Trump’s, said in a speech in Florida
last summer that he had communicated with Julian Assange, the founder of
WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that published the hacked Democratic
emails. During the speech, Mr. Stone predicted further leaks of
documents, a prediction that came true within weeks.
In a brief interview on Thursday, Mr. Stone said he had never visited
Russia and had no Russian clients. He said that he had worked in Ukraine
for a pro-Western party, but that any assertion that he had ties to
Russian intelligence was “nonsense” and “totally false.”
“The whole thing is a canard,” he said. “I have no Russian influences.”
The Senate intelligence committee has started its own investigation into
Russia’s purported attempts to disrupt the election. The committee’s
inquiry is broad, and will include an examination of Russian hacking and
possible ties between people associated with Mr. Trump’s campaign and
Russia.
Investigators are also scrutinizing people on the periphery of Mr.
Trump’s campaign, such as Mr. Page, a former Merrill Lynch banker who
founded Global Energy Capital, an investment firm in New York that has
done business with Russia.
In an interview on Thursday, Mr. Page expressed bewilderment about why
he might be under investigation. He blamed a smear campaign — that he
said was orchestrated by Mrs. Clinton — for media speculation about the
nature of his ties to Russia.
“I did nothing wrong, for the 5,000th time,” he said. His adversaries,
he added, are “pulling a page out of the Watergate playbook.”
The lingering investigations will pose a test for Senator Jeff Sessions,
Republican of Alabama, who has been nominated for attorney general. If
Mr. Sessions is confirmed, he will for a time be the only person in the
government authorized to seek foreign intelligence wiretaps on American
soil.
Mr. Sessions said at his confirmation hearing that he would recuse
himself from any investigations involving Mrs. Clinton. He was not asked
whether he would do so in cases involving associates of Mr. Trump.
Jonathan Martin contributed reporting.
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