Netherlands warned U.S. about contacts between Russia and Trump: report

Last year Dutch and British intelligence services, and other United States allies, warned Washington that people close to Russian president Vladimir Putin was in contact with people around then presidential candidate Donald Trump, the New York Times reports based on a number of sources who worked in the White House during the Obama regime.

According to the newspaper, several of these White House employees put effort into spreading this information among American politicians, because they were afraid that Trump would cover everything up once he was in power. 

While the Dutch and British services were warning Washington about these contacts, the U.S. intelligence services also intercepted communications between Russians in which they discussed contacts with people affiliated with Trump and to what extent to interfere in the U.S. elections. According to the newspaper, some of these communications happened in the Kremlin itself.

Anonymous sources also told the newspaper that Trump's Justice Minister Jeff Sessions had two meetings with the Russian Ambassador to the United States last year. What they were meeting about is unclear. But these meetings stand in direct contrast to Sessions' claims that he had "no communications with the Russians." 

Trump has always denied that his people were in contact with Russians. Though in February Trump's national security adviser Michael Flynn stepped down after it was revealed that he lied about having contact with the Russian ambassador.