According to information released Thursday by the Treasury Department, two 2016 Trump campaign officials gave private polling information from the campaign to a Russian government official, further detailing contacts between the Trump camp and the Kremlin, the New York Times reports.

Rick Gates and Paul Manafort provided the confidential data to Konstantin Kilimnik, an agent of the Russian government, during the 2016 campaign while Manafort was the campaign chair.  Kilimnik then passed the information on to the Russian intelligence services.  Presumably, the Russians used the information to direct its campaign to help get Trump elected.

“During the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign, Kilimnik provided the Russian Intelligence Services with sensitive information on polling and campaign strategy,” the Treasury Department said in a news release. “Additionally, Kilimnik sought to promote the narrative that Ukraine, not Russia, had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”

The fact that Manafort and Gates turned over the information to the Russians was uncovered during the Mueller investigation.  Kilimnik was charged in 2018 with obstruction of justice relating to financial matters in the United States; he has not returned to the US since the charges were filed.

While no motive for turning over the data has been released, Manafort was a business associate of Kilimnik’s and allegedly owed Russian interests tens of millions of dollars.