A former Russian intelligence officer who worked with US President Donald Trump's former top campaign officials Paul Manafort and Rick Gates was communicating with Gates during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to court records filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office. Gates pleaded guilty last month to lying to the FBI and conspiring to defraud the United States, and has agreed to cooperate with Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and whether there was any collusion with Moscow by Trump's campaign. In it, prosecutors said that Gates and van der Zwaan were in touch with the ex-Russian intelligence officer, who also worked for Manafort's lobbying firm in Ukraine, in September and October 2016. In the past, he has denied having ties to Russian intelligence services. The Russian government has denied meddling in the 2016 election and Trump has denied any collusion by his campaign.

Source: dna March 28, 2018 15:33 UTC