refused to accept that. candidate trump even calling on russian hackers to target hillary clinton's personal e-mails. at the same time, trump's campaign manager, paul manafort, was accused of accepting millions of dollars in casual for representing russian interests in ukraine. the scandal forced him to resign. but manafort denied any wrongdoing saying the suggestion that he accepted cash payments was unfound. after president obama expelled 35 russian diplomats in december 2016 over hack allegations, the then president-elect praised vladimir putin's decision not to retaliate. president trump's pick for secretary of state was also controversial, rex tillerson, the former ceo of the oil company exxon. he was awarded a medal of friendship by the russian leader. in february 2017, it emerged that trump's national security advise, michael flynn, discussed