As The Hill details, the officials' discussions were intercepted by U.S. intelligence, CNN reported, citing two former intelligence officials and a congressional source.
A source told CNN the information was related to finances.
Russians appeared to think "they had the ability to influence the administration through the derogatory information," the source said.
However, not only is The White House slamming the suggestions...
"This is yet another round of false and unverified claims made by anonymous sources to smear the President," a White House spokesman told CNN.
"The reality is, a review of the President's income from the last ten years showed he had virtually no financial ties at all. There appears to be no limit to which the President's political opponents will go to perpetuate this false narrative, including illegally leaking classified material."
The spokesman said the story plays "into the hands of our adversaries and put our country at risk."
But CNN itself admits this is all bluster:
...sources said the Russians claims "could have been exaggerated or even made up."
Sources declined to say specifically which aides were being discussed.
"The Russians could be overstating their belief to influence," said one of the sources.
Still, when has anonymous sourcing of unverifiable claims held the liberal media back from penning another Democrat narrative-confirming article to spoon-feed to the echo-chamber?
- Source
