'No Concrete Proof': FBI Scrambles to Seek Out Spies in the White House

CNN has failed to present any concrete proof pertaining to its allegations that Russia and the Trump team were involved in "the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign," according to RIA Novosti political analyst Vladimir Ardayev.

In his think piece for the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, political analyst Vladimir Ardayev underscored that CNN didn't have any concrete proof to back up its so-called revelations that Russia and the Trump team had been engaged in "the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign."

On Thursday, CNN quoted unnamed "US officials" as saying that the FBI has information that indicates associates of President Donald Trump “communicated with suspected Russian operatives to possibly coordinate the release of information damaging to Hillary Clinton's campaign."

In this vein, Ardayev also drew attention to the fact that the US officials mentioned by CNN said that "the information was not conclusive and that the investigation is ongoing."

"CNN does not give any concrete proof, but instead draws parallels between the information and FBI Director James Comey's recent allegations about the Trump campaign's ties to the Russia government," Ardayev said.

He added that CNN wasn’t able to cite any comments on the matter released directly by the FBI or the White House.

The Russian President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, for his part, said that "this is another piece of information without any sources which can't be commented on, neither can it be taken as some serious thing."

Ardayev also quoted the Seattle Times as saying that this latest information attack on Trump and his team had been provoked by the recent statements of chairman of the House intelligence committee Davin Nunes.

Earlier this week, he expressed concern that the secret information obtained by special services is increasingly made public and is freely interpreted for political purposes.

Nunes stressed that "the surveillance was conducted legally and did not appear to be related to the current FBI investigation into Trump associates' contacts with Russia or with any criminal warrants," according to the Seattle Times.

Ardayev noted in this regard that with the FBI already investigating four former Trump campaign associates, including Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and Carter Page, for their alleged contacts with Russia, "the relevant information is freely being leaked in the press."

On February 13, then-National Security Adviser Michael Flynn announced his resignation after the media reported that he had misled the Trump administration about the extent of his talks with Russian officials. Flynn, however, conceded no wrongdoing in his resignation letter.

On Thursday, Dmitry Peskov said that US President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort's program to promote Russia's interests in post-Soviet countries has no connection to Russian authorities and had never been brought to the attention of the Kremlin.

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