5 Things You Should Know About the Trump-Russia Allegations

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Saturday, February 18, 2017

4. Unconfirmed Reports

File: People wearing balaclavas are silhouetted as they pose with a laptops in front of a screen projected with the word 'cyber' and binary code, in this picture illustration taken in Zenica October 29, 2014. | REUTERS/Dado Ruvic

The whole debate over the extent of ties between the White House and Moscow remain hard to hammer down, as investigations and revelations are still pending.

Earlier this week, The New York Times reported that there are multiple members of the Trump administration who had contact with Russian intelligence officials before last November.

"American law enforcement and intelligence agencies intercepted the communications around the same time they were discovering evidence that Russia was trying to disrupt the presidential election by hacking into the Democratic National Committee," reported the NY Times.

"The intelligence agencies then sought to learn whether the Trump campaign was colluding with the Russians on the hacking or other efforts to influence the election. The officials interviewed in recent weeks said that, so far, they had seen no evidence of such cooperation."

Regarding any specific wrongdoing by Trump or his associates, David French of the National Review noted that "the smoke billows, but the fire remains hidden."

"We do not know if Trump officials had unlawful or inappropriate communications or contacts with Russian officials. We don't yet know for certain that those communications or contacts even related to Trump," wrote French.

"We do not know what, if anything, Trump knew about those contacts. Indeed, we do not know if any of the important and disturbing claims about Russian influence over Trump or his team are true. Those are the questions that demand answers."