Russia probe: New email found from top Donald Trump aide trying to set up Putin meeting
Congress has uncovered emails, one from a current aide of Donald Trump, which were sent in 2016 to campaign officials regarding setting up meetings between Mr Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The emails were part of a set of 20,000 that were turned over to Congress a few months ago as part of the investigation into alleged ties between the campaign team and Russia.
Rick Dearborn, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, sent an email regarding an individual who wanted to connect then-candidate Mr Trump and the Russian leader, CNN reported.
The individual in question was not named but referenced as "WV".
It remains unclear who this person is, what this person's intent was, and if the meeting actually was set up.
A source told CNN that Mr Dearborn "appeared skeptical" in the email.
The email was reportedly sent around June 2016, the same month Donald Trump, Jr met with Russian, Kremlin-connected lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya in Trump Tower.
Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and campaign manager Paul Manafort were also at the meeting and according to an email thread made public by Mr Trump Jr himself, the meeting was taken to discuss possible information Ms Veselnitskaya had on opponent Hillary Clinton's financial ties to Russia.
Prior to his position in the White House, Mr Dearborn was a top aide of Attorney Jeff Sessions, who was a Senator at that time. He was a policy aide to the campaign.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said to CNN: "We aren't going to comment on potentially leaked documents."
Mr Trump has repeatedly lamented members his administration leaking information to the press.
Campaign adviser George Papadopoulos also sent a questionable email in March 2016, according to what an unnamed source told CNN.
This source said the email was sent to Trump campaign officials with the subject line: "Meeting with Russian Leadership -- Including Putin" but the idea was rejected at the time by the campaign.
Paul Manafort joined the campaign that same month but the timeline of the beginning of his tenure and the email.
Mr Papadopoulous seemed undeterred by his initial email's rejection and on 27 April 2016 he sent a message to Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager at the time, that read: "Putin wants to host the Trump team when the time is right".
It was the same day as then-candidate Mr Trump gave a foreign policy speech which Mr Dearborn played a part in crafting at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC. That evening there was a reception at the hotel which then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak attended and one of the times Mr Sessions encountered him.
It was a meeting Mr Sessions failed to initially disclose ahead of his confirmation as Attorney General.
