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Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner has appeared before Senate investigators, telling them that he met with Russian officials four times last year.
His testimony will likely be followed next week by Donald Trump Jr and former Trump campaign director Paul Manafort.
There are four investigations into Russian influence on the 2016 election: the US Justice Department probe led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller as well as three congressional investigations.
Here's what we know about contacts between former and current Trump officials and people linked to the Kremlin, both before and after the election.
Jared Kushner
Mr Kushner is a senior White House adviser and the husband of the President's daughter Ivanka Trump.
He says these were his meetings with Russian officials during the campaign:
- In April 2016, he met then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in Washington after a foreign policy speech by Donald Trump. Mr Kushner says they exchanged pleasantries and shook hands, and spoke for less than a minute.
- On June 9, he says he arrived late for the meeting between Mr Trump Jr and a Russian attorney, where the issue of the ban on US adoption of Russian children was being discussed. Mr Kushner says that after 10 or so minutes he emailed his assistant, saying, "Can u pls call me on my cell? Need excuse to get out of meeting." He says while he was copied into the email chain about the meeting, he had not read it.
And he says these were his contacts during the presidential transition:
- On December 1, he met with Mr Kislyak at Trump Tower for 20-30 minutes, where he says he stated a "desire for a fresh start in relations", as he had with other foreign officials.
- On December 13, at the request of the Russian ambassador, he met for 20-25 minutes with Russian banker Sergey Gorkov, who Mr Kislyak said had "a direct line to the Russian President". Mr Kushner said "no specific policies [were] discussed".
Reuters has previously reported that Mr Kushner had two calls with Mr Kislyak between April and November 2016, but Mr Kushner says "I am highly sceptical these calls took place".
He says he took part in thousands of calls during this period, but has no recollection of any with the Russian ambassador, and nor can he find any records of any.
"I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government," he wrote in his statement.
"I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds to finance my business activities in the private sector."
Mr Kushner's testimony on Monday was before the Senate Intelligence Committee.
He's expected to meet with the House of Representatives Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Donald Trump Jr
Earlier this month, Mr Trump Jr released emails that showed he had accepted an offer to meet with a Russian government lawyer to obtain incriminating information about his father's presidential rival Hillary Clinton.
"This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its Government's support for Mr Trump," read the email dated June 3, 2016.
Mr Trump Jr replied, "If it's what you say I love it."
The Russian lawyer involved, Natalia Veselnitskaya, denies having Kremlin ties.
Mr Trump Jr says she did not provide any damaging information about Mrs Clinton at the meeting, and instead sought to discuss Russian sanctions.
"In retrospect, I probably would have done things a little differently," he said.
"For me, this was opposition research."
Michael Flynn
Donald Trump's first national security adviser resigned less than a month after inauguration for misleading the White House about phone calls that he'd had with the Russian ambassador during the presidential transition.
"Unfortunately, because of the fast pace of events, I inadvertently briefed the Vice-President elect and others with incomplete information," he said.
The White House had publicly stated that Mr Flynn had not discussed sanctions with the Russian envoy, but Mr Flynn later conceded the issue may have come up.
There were questions about whether Mr Flynn could have violated the Logan Act, a law aimed at keeping private citizens from conducting diplomacy.
Mr Flynn initially refused to hand over documents to a Senate panel, instead pleading the fifth amendment against self-incrimination. But a person close to Mr Flynn later said he would turn over documents related to his lobbying businesses.
Jeff Sessions
During his confirmation hearing in January, the Attorney-General denied having any contact with Russian officials.
But it later emerged that Mr Sessions had spoken to the Russian ambassador twice during the election campaign, when he was a member of the Senate Armed Services committee but not yet an official member of Mr Trump's team.
As a result, Mr Sessions recused himself from "any existing or future investigations of any matter relating in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States".
That meant responsibility for the Justice Department's investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 election fell to Deputy Attorney-General Rod Rosenstein, the man who appointed former FBI director Robert Mueller as a special counsel.
Last week, Mr Trump said he never would have appointed Mr Sessions as his Attorney-General had he known he'd recuse himself, saying this was "very unfair to the President".
Paul Manafort
Mr Manafort became Trump's campaign manager in June 2016, but was forced to resign two months later amid reports of his business relationship with Kremlin-backed former Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovich.
He previously worked as a consultant to a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine and helped support Mr Yanukovich.
According to a financial audit reported by The New York Times, he also once owed $17 million to Russian shell companies.
"I have never knowingly spoken to Russian intelligence officers and I have never been involved with anything to do with the Russian Government or the Putin administration," Mr Manafort has previously said.
Mr Manafort was also at the meeting with Ms Veselnitskaya alongside Mr Kushner and Mr Trump Jr.
ABC/wires
Topics: world-politics, donald-trump, united-states, russian-federation
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