Donald Trump at The White House, February 13 2017.
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24 hours after national security advisor Michael Flynn resigned, new reports have emerged alleging that Donald Trump aides frequently communicated with Russian intelligence officials over the course of last year.
The New York Times reports that American law enforcement and intelligence agencies discovered the alleged communications in phone records and intercepted calls. This discovery was made around the same time they uncovered evidence that Russia was hacking into the Democratic National Committee.
The four officials, who spoke anonymously, said there was no evidence the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to disrupt the election.
Additionally, a CNN report said “high-level advisers close to then-presidential nominee Donald Trump were in constant communication during the campaign with Russians known to U.S. intelligence”.
Trump responded to the report Wednesday morning via Twitter. He appeared to suggest that his own intelligence agencies may have leaked classified information to the media.
This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2017
The reports were denied on Tuesday by White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, in the wake of Michael Flynn's resignation. Trump himself has also denied any such contacts in the past.