The trump administration's ties to the Russian government has once more come to light following a new report. President Donald Trump's election campaign aides had regular contact with Russian authorities and intelligence officials during the course of last year, the report alleges. The report was published by the New York Times a mere twenty-four hours after Michael Flynn resigned from Trump's administration due to his ties to Russia.
The report states that four US intelligence officials are not guilty of attempting to influence the result of the election.
However, the regular contact between Trump's team and Russia raises further questions. Furthermore, a CNN report stated that 'senior advisers to Donald Trump were in daily contact with Russia throughout the duration of the presidential campaign'.
Potential repercussions
Despite the ambiguity of the report, they pose a threat to the Trump administration on a number of levels:
- The report contradicts Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, who claimed that there was no contact between the Trump team and Russia. Last month, the President also denied links to Russia.
- The report puts pressure on the Republican party to launch an investigation into links with Russia.
- The leaking of more documents highlights intelligence officials' willingness to leak information against Trump.
- The leaked documents corroborate reports leaked last year by Christopher Steele of the MI6. Steele claimed that Trump and Russia colluded to influence the election-if this is the case, Trump could face trial for constitutional treason.
Rekindling of election campaign tensions
The resurfacing of Trump's alleged collusion with Russia has rekindled the flames of battle.
Senior officials in Hillary Clinton's campaign believed that Russia hacked her emails days before the election to purposefully sabotage her campaign. Clinton's former spokesperson, Brian Fallon, took to Twitter to state: 'Everything that we suspected throughout the course of the election campaign is proving to be true. This is a colossal scandal that must be thoroughly investigated'.
