Trump and His Associates Had More Than 100 Contacts With Russians Before the Inauguration – The New York Times

During the 2016 presidential campaign and transition, Donald J. Trump and at least 17 campaign officials and advisers had contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks, or their intermediaries, a New York Times analysis has found. At least 10 other associates were told about interactions but did not have any themselves.

Knowledge of these interactions is based on New York Times reporting, documents submitted to Congress, and court records and accusations related to the special counsel investigating foreign interference in the election.

Among these contacts are more than 100 in-person meetings, phone calls, text messages, emails and private messages on Twitter. Mr. Trump and his campaign repeatedly denied having such contacts with Russians during the 2016 election.

The special counsel has also investigated connections between the Trump campaign and WikiLeaks, which released thousands of Democratic emails that were hacked by Russia before the election.

Donald J. Trump at least 6 contacts

Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire who hosted a Miss Universe pageant with Mr. Trump in Moscow, and the billionaire’s son, Emin, reached out to Mr. Trump several times. (Separately, both men helped arrange the now-famous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with a Kremlin-linked attorney about getting information that could be damaging to Hillary Clinton.) Mr. Trump was also pursuing a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Michael D. Cohen at least 17 contacts

Mr. Cohen was deeply involved in the plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. His partner in the effort was Felix Sater, a Trump business associate with deep contacts in Russia. Mr. Cohen admitted lying to Congress about the duration of the project’s discussions and the extent of Mr. Trump’s involvement in them. And Mr. Cohen is also now known to have met with a Russian oligarch on a separate matter.

Donald Trump Jr. at least 17 contacts

Mr. Trump Jr. had various contacts with Russians and a Russian intermediary regarding the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting, as well as the possibility of setting up a campaign page on a Russian social media site. He also exchanged private messages with WikiLeaks.

George Papadopoulos at least 12 contacts

Mr. Papadopoulos had multiple contacts with Russian operatives who said they wanted to arrange meetings between Mr. Trump, or his campaign, and Mr. Putin, or Mr. Putin’s staff members. He frequently told campaign officials about these conversations. He pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about these contacts.

Paul Manafort at least 6 Russian contacts

Mr. Manafort had multiple contacts with Konstantin V. Kilimnik, a longtime business associate tied to Russian intelligence, during the period of time he served on the campaign. He had political polling data shared with Mr. Kilimnik and told him he could offer private campaign briefings to a Russian oligarch. He also attended the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.

Michael T. Flynn at least 5 contacts

During the transition, Mr. Flynn had several conversations with Sergey I. Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States at the time, about Russian sanctions and about blocking an impending United Nations vote criticizing Israeli settlements.

Jared Kushner at least 6 contacts

Mr. Kushner met with Mr. Kislyak during the transition and discussed opening a communications channel with Russian officials. He also attended the Trump Tower meeting.

Roger J. Stone Jr. at least 18 contacts

Mr. Stone sold himself to the campaign as a conduit of inside information from WikiLeaks. In an indictment unsealed on Jan. 25, the special counsel disclosed evidence that a top campaign official dispatched Mr. Stone to get information from WikiLeaks about the thousands of hacked Democratic emails.