1. Almost as soon as they took office, top Trump administration officials began secret efforts to establish proposals for lifting Russian sanctions. The sanctions were implemented as punishment after Russia meddled in our election to help Trump win and for its intervention in Ukraine.

Yahoo News: “Unknown to the public at the time, top Trump administration officials, almost as soon as they took office, tasked State Department staffers with developing proposals for the lifting of economic sanctions, the return of diplomatic compounds and other steps to relieve tensions with Moscow.”

2. The FBI and Congress are examining whether Donald Trump and his aides had an undisclosed meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Jared Kushner and Jeff Sessions have already come under fire for failing to disclose similar meetings with the Russian ambassador.

NBC News: “The FBI and Congress are examining a campaign event last spring during which Donald Trump, Jeff Sessions and Jared Kushner were in a small gathering with Russian ambassador to the U.S. Sergey Kislyak and other diplomats at Washington's Mayflower Hotel, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.”

3. Flight data suggests that Sergey Gorkov, the head of a Kremlin-linked bank, met with Putin less than one day after he reportedly met with Kushner to discuss establishing backchannel communications. The bank maintains that the meeting was business related.

Washington Post: “A 19-seat twin-engine jet owned by a company linked to VEB flew from Moscow to the United States on Dec. 13 and departed from the Newark airport, outside New York City, at 5:01 p.m. Dec. 14, according to positional flight information provided by FlightAware, a company that tracks airplanes…After leaving Newark on Dec. 14, the jet headed to Japan, where Putin was visiting on Dec. 15 and 16. The news media had reported that Gorkov would join the Russian president there.”