Exclusive: Trump campaign had at least 18 undisclosed contacts with Russians - sources

[duncang]

Source: Reuters

Michael Flynn and other advisers to Donald Trump’s campaign were in contact with Russian officials and others with Kremlin ties in at least 18 calls and emails during the last seven months of the 2016 presidential race, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the exchanges told Reuters.

The previously undisclosed interactions form part of the record now being reviewed by FBI and congressional investigators probing Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election and contacts between Trump’s campaign and Russia.

Six of the previously undisclosed contacts described to Reuters were phone calls between Sergei Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the United States, and Trump advisers, including Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, three current and former officials said.

Conversations between Flynn and Kislyak accelerated after the Nov. 8 vote as the two discussed establishing a back channel for communication between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could bypass the U.S. national security bureaucracy, which both sides considered hostile to improved relations, four current U.S. officials said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-russia-contacts-idUSKCN18E106

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Notice the back channel comment at the bottom.

[C_U_L8R]

1. I wonder how many backchannels Trump really has

Not just those that bypass our standard security and diplomacy but comms where Trump is avoiding lawful record keeping required of the president - unofficial messaging and emai accounts, online conferencing, hidden financial channels (including illicit payoffs and self-dealing), no bid contacts, shady quid pro quo arrangements, and lord knows what hanky-panky goes on over at Trump Incorporated.

[luvMIdog]

3. yeah who knows how many skeletons have been hidden

[C_U_L8R]

4. It's the living ones that scare me the most

[luvMIdog]

5. lately witnesses have been bumped off in different parts of the world ;)

[DK504]

7. Especially when he just gave them classified info...

Since the Russians aren't even cy about this any longer, it will be interesting to see who is murdered.

This should add to the indictment list that I growing daily.

[luvMIdog]

2. that could bypass the U.S. national security

and this is the same clown putting tourists through hell at airports. The same guy making America the laughing stock all over the world. He had always thought he was above the law and everyone else. That idiot thinks in one month he knows more about national security than men who have spent years and years in that field. Really I hope they lock his ass up

[thesquanderer]

6. Back channel equals violation of the Logan Act. (n/t)

Last edited Thu May 18, 2017, 09:47 AM - Edit history (1)

[Sunlei]

8. I find it interesting how Republican party separates trump campaign russian dealings from their long

long term, PRE-trump Russian collusion.