According to a report in The New York Times, American spies collected information last summer indicating that senior Russian intelligence and political officials were talking about how to influence Donald Trump through his advisers. Those advisers included Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman at the time, and Michael Flynn, who went on to serve as national security adviser. The information collected at the time was credible enough that it was passed over to the FBI, resulting in the bureau's opening of a counterintelligence investigation. It remains unclear, however, as to whether these Russian officials tried to directly influence Flynn and Manafort.
