The FBI has information indicating President Donald Trump's associates communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign, CNN reported.
According to CNN, which cited unnamed U.S. officials, the information includes intelligence, travel, business and phone records and accounts of in-person meetings.
CNN emphasized the information is not conclusive, but has raised suspicions of FBI counterintelligence investigators, and a probe is ongoing.
An unnamed law enforcement official told CNN the information suggests "people connected to the campaign were in contact and it appeared they were giving the thumbs up to release information when it was ready." But other unnamed U.S. officials told CNN it's premature to draw that conclusion, noting the information so far is largely circumstantial.
According to intelligence agencies, Russian intelligence agencies began orchestrating the release of hacked emails stolen in a breach of the Democratic National Committee and associated organizations, as well as email accounts belonging to Clinton campaign officials.
But the stolen emails "transformed an ordinary cyber-intrusion investigation into a much bigger case handled by the FBI's counterintelligence division," CNN reported.
According to CNN, its sources said the information was not drawn from the leaked dossier of unverified information compiled by a former British intelligence official for Trump's political opponents – but that the dossier also suggested coordination between Trump campaign associates and Russian operatives.
Meanwhile, CNN also reported communications between Trump's associates and Russians have ceased in recent months amid the high-profile focus on Russia's alleged ties to the Trump campaign. Some Russian officials have also changed their methods of communications, making monitoring more difficult, the unnamed officials told CNN.
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