FACTS

Kremlin Backs Trump on Russia Claims

“Let’s not believe anonymous information.”

The Kremlin on Wednesday dismissed an overnight report from The New York Times that claimed Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign staff were in consistent contact with Russian intelligence officers in the run-up to the election. “Let’s not believe anonymous information,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call with reporters. He noted that the sources used in the Times story were unnamed. “It’s a newspaper report which is not based on any facts,” he said. According to the report, Trump associates and campaign staffers were consistently and repeatedly in contact with senior Russian intelligence officials in the time leading up to the election. The Times story cites multiple former and current American officials who allegedly based their information on phone records, as well as intercepted calls.