US
intelligence investigating Russian links of leading Trump associates
– report
President-elect’s
team denies any knowledge of inquiries, which according to the New
York Times involve ex-campaign chief Paul Manafort
Guardian staff
Friday 20 January
2017 05.56 GMT
Donald Trump’s
transition team has been forced to distance itself from reports that
American intelligence agencies have intercepted communications and
financial transactions as part of a broad investigation into possible
links between Russia and associates of the president-elect.
On the eve of
Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States,
the business dealings of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort
were among the matters under investigation, the New York Times
reported, citing current and former senior American officials.
Manafort, who stood
down as Trump’s campaign chief in August 2016, has made millions
from consulting work while working for pro-Russia oligarchs including
Rinat Akhmetov, Dmitry Firtash and Oleg Deripaska.
The National
Security Agency has conducted surveillance of Manafort’s business
contacts, the Times said, for suspected links to Russia’s security
service, the FSB.
Other Trump
associates whose contacts are said to be under the microscope include
Carter Page, an investment banker who worked in Russia and who was a
foreign policy adviser to the campaign, and Roger Stone, whose
involvement in Republican politics goes back to Richard Nixon.
However, the Trump
team denied any knowledge of the investigations – which have
reportedly been led by the FBI and supported by the NSA, CIA and the
treasury department’s financial crimes unit – or why they might
be under way.
“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.
Manafort said the
reports were called the 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 in an emailed statement.
“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 reports follow
weeks of intrigue over the possible involvement of Russia in trying
to help Trump win last November’s election.
A secret CIA
analysis reportedly concluded that people with connections to the
Russian government provided emails, hacked from the Democratic
National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign, to WikiLeaks in
the runup to the 8 November election.
In December,
outgoing president Barack Obama ordered US intelligence to review
evidence of Russian interference in the election, although the Times
reported that it was not clear whether the latest revelations were
part of that review.
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