FBI 'looking into former Trump campaign manager's Russian ties'

The FBI is conducting an inquiry into alleged connections between Donald Trump’s former campaign manager and pro-Russian interests, reports in US media suggest.

NBC News quotes intelligence sources saying the FBI is looking into ties between Paul Manafort and prominent pro-Russian politicians and businessmen.

It was alleged in August that a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine, led by former president Victor Yanukovych, paid Mr Manafort $12.7 million (£10.4 million) between 2007 and 2012 for unknown services. Mr Manafort denied he had received the payments or worked for the Ukrainian government.

The FBI inquiry into the matter is not yet a full-fledged criminal investigation, NBC reported.

Mr Manaford said: “None of it is true…there’s no investigation going on by the FBI that I’m aware of”.

“This is all political propaganda, meant to deflect”.

A spokeswoman for Mr Trump said: "Mr. Trump severed ties with Mr. Manafort many months ago. Mr. Trump has no knowledge of any of his past or present activities.”

The FBI refused to comment.

It comes less than a week after FBI Director James Comey triggered a furious backlash by making public the fact his organisation is investigating newly uncovered emails sent by Hillary Clinton’s close aide Huma Abedin.

The timing of the announcement, eleven days before the November 8 election, led legal experts, Democrats and some Republicans to condemn the FBI Director's decision to make the new inquiries public.

The criticism was fuelled by US media reports that Mr Comey had refused to authorise an announcement accusing Russia of interfering in the election by hacking the emails of senior Democrats. The White House publicly blamed Moscow for the attacks.

It led the Clinton campaign to accuse Mr Comey of a “blatant double standard” and call on the FBI director to “immediately explain this incongruence and apply the same standard to Donald Trump’s associates as he has applied to Hillary Clinton’s”.

The latest allegations about Mr Trump’s connections with Russia come a day after Harry Reid, the Democrat leader in the Senate, claimed the FBI possessed “explosive information about close ties and co-ordination between Donald Trump, his top advisers and the Russian government”.

Mr Reid has written to Mr Comey calling on him to make the information public.

Mr Trump has faced continued questions about his ties to the Russian state. He has consistently praised Vladimir Putin and in July appeared to call on Russian intelligence officials to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails.

It comes as American magazine Mother Jones reports a former senior spy alleging the FBI was passed evidence that “there was an established exchange of information between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin of mutual benefit”.

The source said he uncovered evidence, which he passed to the FBI, that the “Russian regime has been cultivating, supporting and assisting Trump for at least 5 years. [The] aim, endorsed by Putin, has been to encourage splits and division in western alliance”.

He claims Mr Trump “and his inner circle have accepted a regular flow of intelligence from the Kremlin, including on his Democratic and other political rivals”.

Mr Trump has consistently denied any links with Moscow, saying: “I have nothing to do with Russia”.

David Kramer, a former senior State Department official in the George W. Bush administration, previously told NBC News: "The relationships that Trump's advisors have had with pro-Russian forces are deeply disturbing" .

Adam Schiff, a Democrat who sits on the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee, said: "Americans have every right to be concerned about what they see in terms of Trump advisors and their closeness with the Kremlin, Trump's policies vis-a-vis Russia [and] Trump's potential financial interests.”

The FBI had previously completed an investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her time as US Secretary of State. It concluded there was no basis for criminal proceedings but accused her of “extreme carelessness”.

The new emails came to light during an investigation into whether Anthony Weiner, a former US congressman and Ms Abedin’s estranged husband, send explicit images to an underage girl.