Hope Hicks received a 'defensive briefing' from the FBI about Russian attempts to contact her

Earlier this year, FBI officials met with White House communications director Hope Hicks to disclose repeated efforts by Russian operatives to contact her during the presidential transition, the New York Times reports.

The agents were concerned about emails Hicks received from Russian government address shortly after Donald Trump won the election, and provided a “defensive briefing” to the longtime Trump aide. According to the Times, the FBI told Hicks the names of the Russian operatives who reached out to her, warning her that they were not telling the truth.

The outreach efforts indicate Russian operatives attempted to contact top Trump aides despite the United States publicly accusing the Kremlin of meddling in the 2016 election.

Hick was interviewed Thursday and Friday by special counsel Robert Mueller, the Times notes.