Did Russia Want Trump To Win? 6 Facts About President-Elect's Connections To Moscow

The Central Intelligence Agency’s allegations that Russia had a hand in his election win "ridiculous," President-elect Donald Trump said during an interview with Fox Business on Sunday.

“I think it’s just another excuse,” he told host Chris Wallace. “I don’t believe it. I don’t know why, and I think it’s just, you know, they talk about all sorts of things—every week it’s another excuse. We had a massive landslide victory as you know in the Electoral College… I don’t believe it.”

Below is a list of the ties between Trump, who won the Electoral College by 74 votes but lost the popular vote by more than 2.6 million, and Russia, the target of U.S. sanctions for intervening in Ukraine’s domestic conflict.

Rex Tillerson

The Exxon Mobil Corporation chief executive and chairman has not only presided over his company’s drilling in the country for years, but was awarded the country’s Order of Friendship medal in 2012 and opposed U.S. sanctions against Moscow, which essentially froze Exxon’s activities there. He's expected to be chosen as Trump's future secretary of state.

“He has had more time with Vladimir Putin than probably any other American with the exception of Henry Kissinger,” former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre told the Wall Street Journal.

Carter Page

A former foreign policy advisor to Trump, Page took “a leave of absence” from the campaign in September after falling under FBI scrutiny for his ties to Moscow, the Washington Post reported. He also paid the city a visit just last week.

Paul Manafort

Manafort, who left Trump’s campaign after an August reshuffling, has a history of supporting the Russia-backed former Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovych. An investigation by the New York Times found that Manafort received a total of $12.7 million in cash from the ousted president’s political party between 2007 and 2012.

Encouraging Russia To Hack

At a July news conference, while lambasting opponent Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server, Trump touted Putin’s “leadership qualities.” He had “nothing to do with Russia,” he said, but then encouraged hackers in the country to infiltrate Clinton’s server.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”

Ivanka and Putin’s Girlfriend

In August, Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, who has played a large role in his campaign, posted a picture of herself with the ex-wife of billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch and rumored girlfriend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Wendi Deng Murdoch, vacationing in Croatia.

Russian Hackers Published DNC, Not RNC Emails

A more tenuous link, but a link nonetheless: U.S. intelligence officials have “high confidence” that Russian hackers gained access to Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee emails last summer, the Times reported, citing “senior administration officials.”

Only the Democrats’ communications were released to WikiLeaks, however, leading to a scandal for the party and the resignation of its chair—a damper for the Democratic National Convention. The Republicans have maintained that their committee email was not compromised, but that individuals within the party had been attacked, according to the Times.