Report: Russia Obtained Compromising Personal, Financial Information on Trump
Donald Trump was presented classified documents last week containing allegations that Russian operatives obtained compromising personal and financial information on the president-elect, according to a new report by CNN.
Included in the documents were allegations that there was communication between Trump surrogates and Russian government intermediaries during the campaign.
The allegations were presented in a two-page appendix to the report on the alleged Russian campaign aimed at influencing the U.S. presidential election.
The four most senior U.S. intelligence officials — Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan and National Security Agency Director Adm. Mike Rogers — briefed both Trump and President Obama on the findings.
Top congressional leaders and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees were also briefed on the allegations.
The allegations presented to the president and president-elect did not originate from the American intelligence community — rather, they came from a former British intelligence agent, CNN reported.
According to the report, the former MI6 agent was originally commissioned by anti-Trump Republicans to perform opposition research during the primaries, and was later funded by Democrats.
CNN EXCLUSIVE: Intel chiefs presented Trump with claims of Russian efforts to compromise him. https://t.co/aI2SCG7eQu pic.twitter.com/0O2NXQAQIt
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) January 10, 2017
CNN reported that soon after the former British intelligence agent began researching Trump’s business ties, he came across questionable information about Trump’s businesses in Russia. He then took the findings to an FBI colleague, and they eventually made their way to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
McCain personally delivered the findings to FBI Director James Comey after becoming “sufficiently disturbed” by the allegations, the report said.
The former MI6 agent has a reputation within the intelligence community and is considered to be a reliable source, according to CNN. That said, the FBI is still reviewing the findings to establish their veracity.
The rather unprecedented decision to present the unconfirmed findings to the president-elect was to make Trump aware that intelligence agencies and senior congressional officials are circulating allegations involving him personally.
The senior intelligence officials also wanted to demonstrate to Trump that Russia had compiled harmful information about both parties, but only released damaging information about Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party. (For more from the author of “Report: Russia Obtained Compromising Personal, Financial Information on Trump” please click HERE)
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