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Former CIA chief: Russia may have recruited Trump campaign aids

WASHINGTON, May 23 (KUNA) -- Former CIA Director John Brennan noted concern that Russia may have recruited aides from Donald Trump's campaign to help Moscow influence the US presidential election.
"I encountered and am aware of information and intelligence that revealed contacts and interactions between Russian officials and US persons involved in the Trump campaign that I was concerned about because of known Russian efforts to suborn such individuals," Brennan told lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee. "And it raised questions in my mind again whether or not the Russians were able to gain the cooperation of those individuals." But he added, "I don't know whether such collusion existed." By the time he stepped down as CIA director in January, Brennan stressed, "I had unresolved questions in my mind about whether or not the Russians had been successful in getting US persons, involved in the campaign or not, to work on their behalf, again, either in a witting or unwitting fashion." The FBI's current investigation into a link between Trump's campaign and Russia is "certainly well founded and needed to look into these issues," said Brennan.
He also denounced leaks of classified information such as Trump's meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
"These continue to be very, very damaging leaks, and I find them appalling, and they need to be tracked down," Brennan said.
Meanwhile, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats provided a separate testimony to the Senate Armed Services where he dodged questions about the Russia probe.
"I don't feel it's appropriate to characterize discussions and conversations with the president," said Coats.
In March, Trump had asked Coats to say publicly that he saw no evidence the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, according to a Washington Post report.
"I have always believed that given the nature of my position and information which we share it's not appropriate for me to comment publicly on any of that, so on this topic as well other topics, I don't feel it's appropriate to characterize discussions and conversations with the president," Coats said.
The top intelligence advisor continued to refuse to comment on any of the leaked reports.
"Lives are at stake in many instances and leaks jeopardize those lives," Coats insisted. "Leaks have played a very significant negative role relative to our national security. The release of information not only undermines confidence in our allies about our ability to maintain secure information that we share with them, it jeopardizes sources and methods that are invaluable to our ability to find out what's going on and what those threats are." (end) ak.bs