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Donald Trump

NEW YORK. — The Trump campaign has denied a report that a Trump Organisation server was used to send or receive communications with a Russian bank.The denial on Monday night came in response to a Slate article that said activity on the server indicated “a sustained relationship between a server registered to the Trump Organisation and two servers registered to an entity called Alfa Bank”, the largest private commercial bank in Russia.

The report is the latest allegation during this election season of questionable links between Trump and Russia.

The Clinton campaign quickly pounced on the report, declaring the story proof of “the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow”.

The Guardian has been unable to independently confirm Slate’s report. Rumors of an internet connection between the bank and a web address linked to the Trump Organisation have been circulating in Washington for a number of weeks.

However, the New York Times reported on Monday that “the FBI ultimately concluded that there could be an innocuous explanation, like a marketing email or spam, for the computer contacts”. Trump campaign press secretary Hope Hicks said as much: “First of all, it’s not a secret server.

The email server, set up for marketing purposes and operated by a third-party, has not been used since 2010.

The current traffic on the server from Alphabank’s (sic) IP address is regular DNS server traffic — not email traffic.”

“To be clear, The Trump Organisation is not sending or receiving any communications from this email server,” Hicks continued. “The Trump Organisation has no communication or relationship with this entity or any Russian entity.” — The Guardian.