New evidence suggests Trump associates may have coordinated with Russian officials: CNN

The FBI possesses information indicatingassociates of US President Donald Trump communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the divulging of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, CNN reports, citing US officials.

One source told CNN that this is what FBI Director James Comey alluded to when he announced on Monday that not only was the FBI investigating Russian interference in the US election, but the Trump campaign's ties to Russia.

The information the FBI is now reviewing, CNN reports citing those US officials, includes: human intelligence, travel, business and phone records and accounts of in-person meetings.

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US officials told CNN this information intelligence was not taken from the leaked dossier of unverified compiled by Christopher Steele, who was hired by Trump's opponents (first Republicans, then by Democrats), though that dossier also suggested there was coordination between Russian operatives and the Trump campaign.

These officials have cautioned that the investigation is ongoing and that the information was not conclusive, though it has raised the suspicions of FBI counterintelligence that "coordination" may have taken place.

"Coordination" is a term Comey described during the Monday's House Intelligence hearing: He made a distinction between two parties actively working together, and one party manipulating a second party into advancing the first party's interests without them knowing.

Background: Is there anything elseto suggest links between Trump and Russia?

Two days after the US election, the Washington Post reportedRussian officials saying they "conferred"with the Trump campaign, saying "there were contacts", during the election.

"Obviously we know most of the people from his entourage," said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. Trump spokesman Hope Hicks said the campaignhad "no contact with Russian officials".

Yesterday, an Associated Press reportclaimed that Paul Manafort, Trump's election campaign manager for 143 days, signed a $10 million anual contractin 2006 from a Russian billionaireto advance Russian presidentVladimir Putin's interests.

Manafort stepped down from Trump's campaign after it became known that he lobbied for the pro-Putin Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Manafort denies he islinked to Russia.

As WION wrote on March 11, then-Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone hasadmitted to having direct contact with both Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and the hacker who hacked the Democrats' emails during the US election Guccifer 2.0, who US intelligence says is really just a front for the Russian military intelligence agency.

On Monday's hearing, FBI Director James Comey said that the Russians hacked the Democrats and used "cutouts"..."to cover up that they were the ones releasing" the stolen information.

Roger Stone appeared to have advanced knowledge of the contents of the emails WikiLeaks possessed before they were made public. Roger Stone has denied there was anything illegal or improper in this communication.

The first time WikiLeaks published Democrat campaign chief John Podesta's hacked emails came abouttwo hours after the recording of Donald Trump saying he grabbed women "by the p*ssy".

Afterwards, Trump praised WikiLeaks and continued throughout the election to usePodesta's hacked emailsto cudgel Clinton.

During the third presidential debate, Donald Trump spoke directly to Russia, encouraging them to hack his Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton, saying: "Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 [Democrat] emails that are missing."

Trump's pick for Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of the world's largest publicly tradedinternational oil and gas company ExxonMobil, was personally awarded the "Order of frienship" from Vladimir Putin, given to "reward foreign nationals whose work, deeds and efforts were aimed at the betterment of relations with the Russian Federation and its people". Despite having one of the most sought after jobs in politics anywhere Tillerson has no prior experience in politics.Areport yesterday said Tillerson was "stunned" when he was approached for the job, as he was preparing for retirement.

Several members of Trump's campaign and White House administration have had contacts with Russian officialsand lied about it, including: Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had to recuse himself from any Trump-Russia probe after meeting Russian ambassador to the US SergeyKislyak at least three times despite saying under oath he had never met any Russian officials;National Security Adviser Gen Michael Flynn, who had to resign after he was recorded discussing American sanctions against Russia with Ambassador Kislyakand lying about it, even to Vice President Mike Pence; Carter Page, and JD Gordon.

Vladimir Putin.

(WION)