WASHINGTON
— American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are examining
intercepted communications and financial transactions as part of a broad
investigation into possible links between Russian officials and
associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, current and former senior American officials said.
The
continuing counterintelligence investigation means that Mr. Trump will
take the oath of office on Friday with his associates under
investigation and after the intelligence agencies concluded that the
Russian government had worked to help elect him. As president, Mr. Trump
will oversee those agencies and have the authority to redirect or stop
at least some of these efforts.
It
is not clear whether the intercepted communications had anything to do
with Mr. Trump’s campaign, or Mr. Trump himself. It is also unclear
whether the inquiry has anything to do with an investigation into the
hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computers and other
attempts to disrupt the elections in November. The American government
has concluded that the Russian government was responsible for a broad
computer hacking campaign, including the operation against the D.N.C.
The
counterintelligence investigation centers at least in part on the
business dealings that some of the president-elect’s past and present
advisers have had with Russia.
Mr. Manafort has done business in Ukraine and Russia. Some of his
contacts there were under surveillance by the National Security Agency
for suspected links to Russia’s Federal Security Service, one of the
officials said.
Mr.
Manafort is among at least three Trump campaign advisers whose possible
links to Russia are under scrutiny. Two others are Carter Page, a
businessman and former foreign policy adviser to the campaign, and Roger
Stone, a longtime Republican operative.
The F.B.I. is leading the investigations, aided by the National Security Agency, the C.I.A.
and the Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit. The investigators
have accelerated their efforts in recent weeks but have found no
conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, the officials said. One official said
intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped communications had
been provided to the White House.
Counterintelligence
investigations examine the connections between American citizens and
foreign governments. Those connections can involve efforts to steal
state or corporate secrets, curry favor with American government leaders
or influence policy. It is unclear which Russian officials are under
investigation, or what particular conversations caught the attention of
American eavesdroppers. The legal standard for opening these
investigations is low, and prosecutions are rare.
“We
have absolutely no knowledge of any investigation or even a basis for
such an investigation,” said Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump
transition.
In
an emailed statement Thursday evening, Mr. Manafort called allegations
that he had interactions with the Russian government a “Democrat Party
dirty trick and completely false.”
“I
have never had any relationship with the Russian government or any
Russian officials. I was never in contact with anyone, or directed
anyone to be in contact with anyone,” he said.
“On the ‘Russian hacking of the D.N.C.,’” he said, “my only knowledge of it is what I have read in the papers.”
The
decision to open the investigations was not based on a dossier of
salacious, uncorroborated allegations that were compiled by a former
British spy working for a Washington research firm. The F.B.I. is also
examining the allegations in that dossier, and a summary of its contents
was provided to Mr. Trump earlier this month.
Representatives
of the agencies involved declined to comment. Of the half-dozen current
and former officials who confirmed the existence of the investigations,
some said they were providing information because they feared the new
administration would obstruct their efforts. All spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the cases.
Numerous
news outlets, including The New York Times, have reported on the F.B.I.
investigations into Mr. Trump’s advisers. BBC and then McClatchy
revealed the existence of a multiagency working group to coordinate
investigations across the government.
The
continuing investigation again puts the F.B.I. director, James B.
Comey, in the middle of a politically fraught investigation. Democrats
have sharply criticized Mr. Comey’s handling of the investigation into
Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Mrs. Clinton has said
his decision to reveal the existence of new emails late in the campaign
cost her the election.
The F.B.I. investigation into Mr. Manafort began last spring, and was an outgrowth of a criminal investigation
into his work for a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine and for the
country’s former president, Viktor F. Yanukovych. In August, The Times
reported that Mr. Manafort’s name had surfaced in a secret ledger
that showed he had been paid millions in undisclosed cash payments. The
Associated Press has reported that his work for Ukraine included a
secret lobbying effort in Washington aimed at influencing American news
organizations and government officials.
Mr.
Stone, a longtime friend of Mr. Trump’s, said in a speech in Florida
last summer that he had communicated with Julian Assange, the founder of
WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that published the hacked Democratic
emails. During the speech, Mr. Stone predicted further leaks of
documents, a prediction that came true within weeks.
In
a brief interview on Thursday, Mr. Stone said he had never visited
Russia and had no Russian clients. He said that he had worked in Ukraine
for a pro-Western party, but that any assertion that he had ties to
Russian intelligence was “nonsense” and “totally false.”
“The whole thing is a canard,” he said. “I have no Russian influences.”
The
Senate intelligence committee has started its own investigation into
Russia’s purported attempts to disrupt the election. The committee’s
inquiry is broad, and will include an examination of Russian hacking and
possible ties between people associated with Mr. Trump’s campaign and
Russia.
Investigators
are also scrutinizing people on the periphery of Mr. Trump’s campaign,
such as Mr. Page, a former Merrill Lynch banker who founded Global
Energy Capital, an investment firm in New York that has done business
with Russia.
In
an interview on Thursday, Mr. Page expressed bewilderment about why he
might be under investigation. He blamed a smear campaign — that he said
was orchestrated by Mrs. Clinton — for media speculation about the
nature of his ties to Russia.
“I
did nothing wrong, for the 5,000th time,” he said. His adversaries, he
added, are “pulling a page out of the Watergate playbook.”
The
lingering investigations will pose a test for Senator Jeff Sessions,
Republican of Alabama, who has been nominated for attorney general. If
Mr. Sessions is confirmed, he will for a time be the only person in the
government authorized to seek foreign intelligence wiretaps on American
soil.
Mr.
Sessions said at his confirmation hearing that he would recuse himself
from any investigations involving Mrs. Clinton. He was not asked whether
he would do so in cases involving associates of Mr. Trump.
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