Trump aide referenced setting up meeting with Putin in previously unseen email, according to reports

Sources tell CNN the email mentioned an effort to arrange talks between the President's election campaign team and the Russian president

America's intelligence agencies have concluded with 'high confidence' that Russia launched a wide-ranging attempt to influence the 2016 election at Vladimir Putin's behest (Alexei Nikolsky, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

An aide to Donald Trump referenced an effort to connect campaign officials with Russian President Vladimir Putin during last year’s presidential campaign, according to CNN.

The report said investigators who are probing potential connections between the Trump campaign and Russia unearthed an email in which Rick Dearborn, who now works in the White House, mentioned an intermediary who hoped to arrange a meeting between Mr Putin and the Trump campaign.

The unnamed individual hoping to set up the meeting was known only as “WV”, according to CNN. Mr Dearbon declined the network's request for comment, and White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders refused to “comment on potentially leaked documents”.

Sources also told CNN that another campaign adviser to Mr Trump, George Papadapolous, had contacted other campaign officials about setting up a meeting with Russian officials, including an email with the subject line “Meeting with Russian Leadership — Including Putin,”. Mr Papadapolous also did not respond to CNN's requests for comment.

Revelations of contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian representatives have steadily surfaced in recent months.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation after it emerged Mr Sessions had not disclosed meeting twice during the campaign with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak, a decision that has been a source of anger to Mr Trump.

The President’s son, Donald Trump Jr, agreed to a meeting with a Russian lawyer who had promised compromising information on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. The President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort also attended the meeting.

America's intelligence agencies have concluded with "high confidence" that Russia launched a wide-ranging attempt to influence the 2016 election at Mr Putin's behest.