FBI Warned Hope Hicks About Emails From Russian Spies: Report

Russian operatives repeatedly reached out to senior Trump advisor during the transition. 

The FBI was so worried about attempts by Russian intelligence operatives to make contact with the Trump team during the transition that the FBI warned Hope Hicks about emails from Russian operatives.

The new report of emails from Russian government accounts to one of Donald Trump’s senior advisors is the latest revelation of the repeated attempts by Russian intelligence agents to make contact with the Trump inner circle.

According to The New York Times, “The Russian outreach efforts show that, even after American intelligence agencies publicly accused Moscow of trying to influence the outcome of last year’s presidential election, Russian operatives were undaunted in their efforts to establish contacts with Mr. Trump’s advisers.”

The outreach from Russians continued even after Trump took office.

The report notes that once Trump took office, “senior F.B.I. counterintelligence agents met with Ms. Hicks in the White House Situation Room at least twice, gave her the names of the Russians who had contacted her, and said that they were not who they claimed to be. The F.B.I. was concerned that the emails to Ms. Hicks may have been part of a Russian intelligence operation, and they urged Ms. Hicks to be cautious.”

Read the full New York Times report here.

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