Report: While working for the Trump campaign, Rick Gates sought plans for social media manipulation

In 2016, an Israeli company sent several proposals to top Trump campaign official Rick Gates for social media manipulation, The New York Times reports.

The company, Psy-Group, sent over at least three proposals as part of what it called "Project Rome." The Times spoke with several people who knew of Project Rome, and also viewed documents. One plan included creating fake online identities to attack President Trump's then-opponent in the GOP primary, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), in an attempt to target and sway 5,000 delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention. Another plan involved using social media to sow division "among rival campaigns and factions."

The Times says there's no evidence that the Trump campaign ever agreed to go along with any of the proposals, and people with knowledge of the matter said Gates became uninterested once other campaign aides started working on an in-house social media strategy. Gates learned about Psy-Group through Republican consultant George Birnbaum in March 2016, and the company's owner, Joel Zamel, met in August 2016 with Donald Trump Jr.

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Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office has copies of the proposals and investigators have spoken with Psy-Group employees, the Times reports. Gates is now cooperating with Mueller, after pleading guilty to several charges of financial fraud and tax evasion. Read more about the proposals and Psy-Group, which is now in liquidation, at The New York Times.