Investigators probing whether Donald Trump's presidential campaign colluded with Russia have been questioning witnesses about events at the 2016 Republican National Convention, according to two sources familiar with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's inquiries.
Mueller's team has been asking about a convention-related event attended by both Russia's US ambassador and Jeff Sessions, the first US senator to support Trump and now his attorney-general, said one source, who requested anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.
Another issue Mueller's team has been asking about is how and why Republican Party platform language hostile to Russia was deleted from a section of the document related to Ukraine, said another source who also requested anonymity.
Mueller's interest in what happened at the Republican convention in Cleveland, Ohio in July 2016, is an indication that Trump campaign contacts and actions related to Russia remain central to the special counsel's investigation.
Trump, who was nominated as the Republican Party candidate for the November 2016 election during the convention, has denied any collusion with Russia during the campaign.
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Moscow has denied US intelligence agencies' findings that it interfered in the campaign to try to tilt the election in Trump's favour.
Investigators asked detailed questions about conversations that Sessions, then a Trump campaign adviser, had at a convention event attended by then-Russian Ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak, said the first source, who was questioned by Mueller about the event.
The same source said Mueller's team also had been asking whether Sessions had private discussions with Kislyak on the sidelines of a campaign speech Trump gave at Washington's Mayflower Hotel in April 2016.
Sessions' spokespersons denied repeatedly that he had any private discussions with Kislyak at the Mayflower, although Sessions admitted to speaking briefly to Kislyak at the event.
Spokespersons for Mueller and Sessions declined to comment on Mueller's interest in Sessions' activities at the convention and other convention-related events.
