By Jasmine Lam

Staff Writer

Throughout President Donald J. Trump’s campaign trail, there has been speculation of whether or not Trump and his campaign aides had had any contact with Russian intelligence that may have altered the election results.

According to CNN, the Democrat National Committee (DNC) reported that they were hacked by two cyber espionage groups during Hillary Clinton’s campaign. One group had been in the DNC’s systems for a year and monitored emails while the other had access for several months, obtaining information about Trump.

The DNC and its cyber security firm were certain that at least one of the files that was taken contained research about Trump. A declassified United States intelligence report stated that Russia was directly tied with the hackings but nothing was reported about it tampering with the campaign itself.

Trump’s aides have denied allegations that they were in contact with Russia during his campaign trail, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions. However, four current and former American officials told the New York Times that Trump associates had repeated communication with senior Russian intelligence officials.

An ongoing investigation has found that five members of Trump’s administration were in contact with Russia, but there is no evidence that any of the members had a part in the hacking.

Former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper told ABC News, “There was no evidence whatsoever, at the time, of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”

On March 4, Trump took to Twitter to claim that former President of the US, Barack Obama, wiretapped Trump Tower during his campaign. Obama denied the allegation through a spokesman.

In the light of this allegation, the House Intelligence Committee informed the Department of Justice that they had little more than a week to produce evidence to support his claim, but nothing was brought forth. The Trump administration then asked for more time.