Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has asked FBI Director James Comey to investigate whether GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump is conspiring with the Russians to swing the election, and whether Russia is using the campaign "to advance the interests of Russian President Vladimir Putin."

Trump has disavowed suggestions he has any kind of relationship with Russian officials or Putin. But Reid, D-Nev., who has relentlessly attacked Trump throughout his candidacy, said in a letter to Comey released Tuesday that "evidence of a direct connection between the Russian government and Donald Trump's presidential campaign continues to mount."

Reid pointed to the recent hacking of the Democratic National Committee emails as well as the House Democratic campaign arm, which has been blamed on the Russian government.

Reid called on Comey to investigate whether "complicit intermediaries" in the United States received the stolen material and publicized it. He also said he has learned that someone with "long ties" to Trump and his campaign is in contact with WikiLeaks, which posted the DNC emails.

"The prospect of individuals tied to Trump, Wikileaks and the Russian government coordinating to influence our election raises concerns of the utmost gravity and merits full examination," Reid wrote to Comey.

Reid cited reports about a Trump adviser Carter Page meeting with "high-ranking sanctioned individuals" in Moscow and delivering a speech critical of U.S. sanctions against the country while there.

Reid has a history of aggressively attacking GOP presidential nominees. In 2012, Reid delivered a Senate floor speech declaring that an investor in the company run by then GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney told him that Romney had not paid his taxes in 10 years.

The claim was proven to be completely false but Reid said he did not regret making the accusation. Read his letter here:



