![\"trump_putin\"](\"http:\/\/i2.wp.com\/www.towleroad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/trump_putin.jpeg?resize=740%2C414\")
<\/p>\nTrump Administration Sought Help from FBI to Squash Reports about its Communications with Russia<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Trump administration contacted the FBI asking it to publicly dispute reports about communications between Trump\u2019s associates and Russia during the 2016 campaign, CNN reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n White House officials had sought the help of the bureau and other agencies investigating the Russia matter to say that the reports were wrong and that there had been no contacts, the officials said. The reports of the contacts were first published by The New York Times and CNN on February 14.<\/p>\n The direct communications between the White House and the FBI were unusual because of decade-old restrictions on such contacts. Such a request from the White House is a violation of procedures that limit communications with the FBI on pending investigations.<\/p>\n CNN has more<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n The CNN reports as additional news emerged that Trump\u2019s former campaign chair Paul Manafort was the victim of a blackmail attempt by\u00a0a Ukrainian parliamentarian named Serhiy Leshchenko.<\/p>\n Politico reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n The undated communications, which are <\/b>allegedly from the iPhone of Manafort\u2019s daughter, include a text that appears to come from a Ukrainian parliamentarian named Serhiy Leshchenko, seeking to reach her father, in which he claims to have politically damaging information about both Manafort and Trump.<\/p>\n Attached to the text is a note to Paul Manafort<\/a> referring to \u201cbulletproof\u201d evidence related to Manafort\u2019s financial arrangement with Ukraine\u2019s former president, the pro-Russian strongman Viktor Yanukovych, as well as an alleged 2012 meeting between Trump and a close Yanukovych associate named Serhiy Tulub.<\/p>\n \u201cConsidering all the facts and evidence that are in my possession, and before possible decision whether to pass this to [the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine] or FBI I would like to get your opinion on this and maybe your way to work things out that will persuade me to do otherwise,\u201d reads the note. It is signed \u201cSergii\u201d \u2014 an alternative transliteration of Leshchenko\u2019s given name \u2014 and it urges Manafort to respond to an email address that reporters have used to reach Leshchenko.<\/p>\n And\u00a0House Republicans are reportedly planning to do away with a Democratic resolution \u201cthat would have forced disclosure of President Donald Trump\u2019s potential ties with Russia and any possible business conflicts of interest,\u201d Politico adds, in a separate report<\/a>:<\/p>\n Seeking to avoid a full House vote on the so-called \u201cresolution of inquiry\u201d \u2014 a roll call<\/a> that would be particularly embarrassing and divisive for the right \u2014 Republicans will send proposal by Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) to the House Judiciary Committee for a panel vote on Tuesday, two Democratic sources said. The GOP-controlled committee is expected to kill the resolution.<\/p>\n Without committee action, obscure parliamentary procedures would allow Democrats to call<\/a> the resolution to the floor for a vote by the full House. But rejection by the Judiciary panel all but assures the measure will never see a floor vote.<\/p>\n The post Trump Administration Sought Help from FBI to Squash Reports about its Communications with Russia<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n