Russia reportedly believed it could 'influence the Trump administration' with 'derogatory information'

American intelligence reportedly discovered that Russia was confident it "had the ability to influence the [Trump] administration through ... derogatory information," people familiar with the intelligence told CNN. The Russian conversations, intercepted during the 2016 campaign, reportedly referred to incriminating financial information that could have been used to sway Trump or his close inner circle, CNN adds.

"This is yet another round of false and unverified claims made by anonymous sources to smear the president," the White House said in a statement. "The reality is, a review of the president's income from the last ten years showed he had virtually no financial ties at all."

The review of Trump's income was done by his paid lawyers, and is not transparent or verifiable because Trump has refused to release his tax returns. An unverified dossier composed by former British spy Christopher Steele also echoed beliefs that Russia held incriminating information about Trump and his inner circle, and could use it to blackmail the administration.

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