RNC paid little-known firm for reports on Clinton: report

The Republican National Committee last summer began paying a little-known consulting firm with expertise on Russia for reports on Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, Politico reported on Thursday.

RNC officials say that $34,100 of the payments to the Arlington, Va.-based Hamilton Trading Group were for research and intelligence on potential conflicts of interest surrounding the Clinton Foundation and Clinton’s time as secretary of State.

Hamilton Trading Group’s president and co-founder, former CIA officer Ben Wickham, told Politico that his firm’s work for the RNC had nothing to do with Russia and acknowledged that, in the past, he only mentioned work on RNC building security because the other work was covered by a non-disclosure agreement.

{mosads}”I’m not denying that I wasn’t totally forthcoming, but I’m telling you why,” Wickham said. “The security stuff that we did, which is legitimate, was not covered by any kind of a confidentiality agreement, so I can discuss that.”

The payments, which began in May and continued into August, came as concerns about Russia began emerging in the presidential race.

Hamilton Trading Group has performed background checks and security services for U.S. officials and businesses in Russia, working with a former KGB agent named Gennady Vasilenko, whom Wickham said “has very good contacts in Russia.”

Wickham also noted that he never had any contact with then-candidate Donald Trump or Trump’s embattled former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, who is said to be a top focus of a U.S. intelligence investigation into Trump associates’ ties to Moscow.

Among Hamilton Trading Group’s other work, Wickham told Politico, has been training Amtrak police on counter-terrorism security assessments and providing security for the International Monetary Fund’s Moscow offices.