President Donald Trump and his aides are in hot water after it was discovered that they were in constant contact with senior Russian officials during the campaign season.
As suspected months ago, the Russians were involved in cyber hacking that may have affected the results of the election, which gave Trump a minority win over Hillary Clinton last November.
But now U.S. intelligence, multiple current and former intelligence, law enforcement and administration officials are revealing how deep this Russian problem goes.
In January President Barack Obama put a sanction on four Russian officials and five Russian entities because of “Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities” that caused election interference. The administration also ordered 35 Russian diplomats to leave the country and two Russian compounds are being closed.
After President Trump’s national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn forcibly stepped down from his role on Monday night for a security-sensitive call with a Russian ambassador, the FBI began looking into the entire Trump clan.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest in hair, beauty, style and celebrity news.
Reports claim the president has known about Flynn’s actions for some time, but denied it.
As reported by CNN, officials emphasized that communications between campaign staff and representatives of foreign governments are not unusual. However, these communications stood out to investigators due to the frequency and the level of the Trump advisers involved. Investigators have not reached a judgment on the intent of those conversations.
In addition to the FBI, Congressional committees are looking at this, but the process to action will take time and be a “slow bleed scandal.”