Top Trump aide emailed campaign officials about proposed contact with Putin

Congressional investigators looking into connections between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections have found an email from a senior Trump aide that references "a previously unreported effort to arrange a meeting last year between Trump campaign officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin," CNN reports.

The aide who reportedly sent the email was Rick Dearborn, who is now President Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff.

Dearborn's name hasn't come up before in relation to the Russia investigations.

He was also formerly Jeff Sessions' former chief of staff, and was a top policy aide on Trump's campaign.

The email happened around June 2016, around the time of the now infamous Don Jr. meeting with so many Russians we can't seem to remember them all.

Investigators now want to know if Dearborn may have helped arrange two meetings we know took place between the then-Russia ambassador to the US, Sergey Kislyak, and then-senator Sessions, who is now Trump's Attorney General.

From CNN:

The aide, Rick Dearborn, who is now President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff, sent a brief email to campaign officials last year relaying information about an individual who was seeking to connect top Trump officials with Putin, the sources said.
The person was only identified in the email as being from "WV," which one source said was a reference to West Virginia. It's unclear who the individual is, what he or she was seeking, or whether Dearborn even acted on the request. One source said that the individual was believed to have had political connections in West Virginia, but details about the request and who initiated it remain vague.

Sources said the email occurred in June 2016 around the time of the recently revealed Trump Tower meeting where Russians with Kremlin ties met with the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., his son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as then-campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.

While many details around the Dearborn email are unclear, its existence suggests the Russians may have been looking for another entry point into the Trump campaign to see if there were any willing partners as part of their effort to discredit — and ultimately defeat — Hillary Clinton.

Oh, but wait, there's more:

And Dearborn wasn't the only person within the Trump campaign emailing about potential Russia meetings. Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos sent an email to top campaign officials in March 2016 about arranging meetings with Russians, sources said. The subject line was "Meeting with Russian Leadership — Including Putin," according to the source.

Instagram: @ginadearborn