Clinton camp: FBI must say what it knows about Trump's Russia ties

A top aide to Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urged the FBI to disclose what it knows about any ties between Republican Donald Trump and Russia, accusing the law enforcement agency of unfairly publicizing its inquiry into Clinton's email practices while staying quiet about Trump, APA reports citing Reuters.

 

A week before Election Day, the Clinton campaign has been trying to contain damage from FBI Director James Comey's announcement on Friday of new emails that might pertain to Clinton's use of a private server while secretary of state.

 

Trump seized on the revelation to intensify his criticism of a rival he has long dubbed "Crooked Hillary" and welcomed a slight improvement for him in a new ABC/Washington Post poll on Tuesday.

 

Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook questioned why the Federal Bureau of Investigation's director had not released any information about its investigation into Russia's role in the U.S. election or ties to Trump and his senior aides.

 

"If you're in the business of releasing information about investigations on presidential candidates, release everything you have on Donald Trump. Release the information on his connections to the Russians," Mook said on CNN.

 

"They don't say a thing when it comes to Donald Trump and investigations against him, yet when it comes to Hillary Clinton, for some reason, they are more than happy to talk."

 

The FBI opened a preliminary inquiry into allegations that Trump or his associates might have had questionable dealings with Russian individuals or businesses, but found no evidence to warrant opening a full investigation, according to sources familiar with the matter.

 

The inquiry reviewed allegations that Trump or his associates might have engaged in contacts or commerce with individuals subject to U.S. or international financial sanctions or violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

 

U.S. intelligence agencies such as the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, which generally are barred from investigating or spying on U.S. citizens, did not investigate Trump or his alleged dealings in Russia, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

 

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Department of Homeland Security recently declared that they had concluded that the Russian government was trying to disrupt or discredit the U.S. presidential election and the broader U.S. political process by hacking into Democratic Party and Clinton campaign emails.

 

The United States has blamed Russia for cyber attacks on Democratic Party organizations.

 

An article in Slate said that a group of computer scientists had been alarmed by records showing thousands of apparent connection attempts between a mail server operated on behalf of the Trump Organization and computers inside a Russian company, Alfa Bank in Moscow.

 

Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks said the server in question, which had been used to send out hotel marketing material, had been dormant for years.