Russia as late as June 2016. Trump also expressed skepticism that Russia had hacked the emails at the same time as he and other Campaign advisors privately sought information HOM███████████ about any further planned WikiLeaks releases. After the election, when questions persisted about possible links between Russia and the Trump Campaign, the President-Elect continued to deny any connections to Russia and privately expressed concerns that reports of Russian election interference might lead the public to question the legitimacy of 8 his election. 1. Press Reports Allege Links Between the Trump Campaign and Russia On June 16, 2015, Donald J. Trump declared his intent to seek nomination 9 as the Republican candidate for President. By early 2016, he distinguished 10 himself among Republican candidates by speaking of closer ties with Russia, 11 saying he would get along well with Russian President Vladimir Putin, 12 questioning whether the NATO alliance was obsolete, and praising Putin as a 13 “strong leader.” The press reported that Russian political analysts and 14 commentators perceived Trump as favorable to Russia. Beginning in February 2016 and continuing through the summer, the media reported that several Trump campaign advisors appeared to have ties to Russia. For example, the press reported that campaign advisor Michael Flynn was seated next to Vladimir Putin at an RT gala in Moscow in December 2015 and that 15 Flynn had appeared regularly on RT as an analyst. The press also reported that foreign policy advisor Carter Page had ties to a Russian state-run gas 16 company, and that campaign chairman Paul Manafort had done work for the 17 “Russian-backed former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.” In addition, the press raised questions during the Republican National Convention about the Trump Campaign’s involvement in changing the Republican platform’s 18 stance on giving “weapons to Ukraine to fight Russian and rebel forces.” 2. The Trump Campaign Reacts to WikiLeaks’s Release of Hacked Emails On June 14, 2016, a cybersecurity firm that had conducted in-house analysis