AN Australian diplomat is at the centre of the FBI’s investigation into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 US election.

Information shared by Australia has reportedly helped spark the FBI’s probe into Russia’s attempts to disrupt the election and possible collusion by Donald Trump’s campaign, The New York Times reported Saturday.

George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser who has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, told Australia’s ex-foreign minister Alexander Downer that Russia had “dirt” on Hillary Clinton, information that Australia later passed on to its close ally the United States, the Times said.

The conversation between Papadopoulos and Downer, then Australia’s high commissioner to Britain, took place at an upscale London bar in May 2016, the Times said, after Papadopoulos had been told that Moscow had thousands of emails that would embarrass Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential challenger in the election which Trump won.

“Two months later, when leaked Democratic emails began appearing online, Australian officials passed the information about Mr Papadopoulos to their American counterparts,” the Times said, citing four current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians’ role.

“It was first-hand information from one of America’s closest intelligence allies” that alarmed the FBI and helped prompt them to begin investigating, the Times said.

“The hacking and the revelation that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information about it were driving factors that led the FBI to open an investigation in July 2016,” the newspaper said.

The investigation was also spurred by intelligence from other allies, including the British and Dutch governments, the Times said.

The report added that it was unclear whether Downer was “fishing” for information during the Papadopoulos meeting, which came about because of a series of connections that began with an Israeli embassy official.

It is also not clear why the Australian government waited two months to pass the information to the FBI, the Times said.

The Times said Papadopoulos shared this information with Downer, but it was unclear whether he also shared it with anyone in the Trump campaign.

Downer was Australia’s foreign minister from 1996 to 2007 and became high commissioner to Britain in 2014. He was also leader of the Liberal Party while it was in Opposition from May 1994 until January 1995.

Former Attorney-General George Brandis is about to head to London to replace him as High Commissioner to the UK.

Trump fired FBI director James Comey in May, citing Comey’s probe into possible links between the presidential campaign and Russian interference, as well as Comey’s alleged protection of Clinton.

Comey’s firing led to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is carrying on the investigation, a wideranging probe that includes whether Trump’s campaign team colluded with Moscow, and whether there was possible obstruction of justice related to the firing of Comey.

Mueller’s team has already charged four people, including Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying over his Russian contacts and agreed to co-operate with the investigation.

Trump has repeatedly said there was “no collusion” between his campaign and Russia.

White House lawyer Ty Cobb declined to comment, saying in a statement that the administration is continuing to cooperate with the investigation now led by special counsel Robert Mueller “to help complete their inquiry expeditiously.”

A Year of Trump's Comments on Russia A Year of Trump's Comments on Russia

RUSSIA PROBE MAKES US LOOK BAD

Trump said this week that he believes the probe into Russian meddling in the US election “makes the country look very bad,” according to The New York Times.

Speaking to the newspaper, Trump said he believes special counsel Mueller will treat him fairly -- a view in contrast with recent attacks on Mueller’s credibility from Republicans, who have pressed for a new independent prosecutor to investigate anti-Trump bias.

“It makes the country look very bad, and it puts the country in a very bad position,” Trump told the Times. “So the sooner it’s worked out, the better it is for the country.”

The president added that he was not concerned about the ongoing investigation -- which his lawyers insisted would be finished by Thanksgiving -- as “everybody knows” there was no Russian collusion.

“There’s been no collusion. But I think he’s going to be fair,” Trump said of Mueller.

He repeated the allegations were invented by Democrats “as a hoax, as a ruse, as an excuse for losing an election,” the Times reported.

Trump also distanced himself from ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who was indicted in October in the first legal action stemming from the investigation.

“He worked for me for -- what was it, three and a half months?” he told the Times, mentioning Manafort’s connections to other Republicans including John McCain and Ronald Reagan.

According to the newspaper, Trump added it was “too bad” that Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from overseeing the probe -- pointing out that although he did not want to “get into loyalty,” Barack Obama’s first attorney general, Eric Holder Jr, “totally protected him.” Meanwhile, questioned on the re-opening of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, Trump maintained focus on the collusion probe.

He told the Times that “for purposes of hopefully thinking I’m going to be treated fairly, I’ve stayed uninvolved with this particular matter.”