Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump tried to brush off a question in a recent interview about his associates' interactions with Russians ahead of and during his presidential campaign by saying it was just "peanut stuff," despite his earlier blanket denials of any such interactions.

"The stuff you're talking about is peanut stuff," Trump said during a Reuters interview published late Tuesday, before pivoting to criticizing his 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Before he took office and early in the administration, Trump and his senior officials repeatedly denied any contact between members of the Trump campaign team and Russians.

"I have nothing to do with Russia. To the best of my knowledge no person that I deal with does," Trump told reporters during a February 2017 news conference.

Now, some two years after the 2016 election, court filings, public statements, CNN reporting and reporting from other news outlets show that at least 16 Trump associates had contacts with Russians during the 2016 campaign or transition.

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