re: FBI, 5 other agencies probe possible covert Kremlin aid to Trump

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* Investigating since last spring

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Which would predate the Steele memos.

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* Investigators got FISA warrant in Oct.

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Article cites prior BBC article but does not independently confirm this. I'd use caution here. I did not like the BBC's sourcing on this part.

The part that really gets my attention:

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Investigators are examining how money may have moved from the Kremlin to covertly help Trump win, the two sources said. One of the allegations involves whether a system for routinely paying thousands of Russian-American pensioners may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers, the two sources said.

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The working group is scrutinizing the activities of a few Americans who were affiliated with Trump’s campaign or his business empire and of multiple individuals from Russia and other former Soviet nations who had similar connections, the sources said.

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Does this give some independent corroboration to the pension stuff that was in one of the Steele memos?