Do we have circumstantial evidence that information like this on people around Trump made its way from the UK to US intelligence agencies? Perhaps. I think it is worth noting that Donald Trump took the oath of office on Friday, 20 January 2017 and that three days later, on Monday 23 January 2017, the head of GHCQ suddenly and mysteriously resigned:
Robert Hannigan, head of Britain’s electronic intelligence agency, GCHQ, has announced his early resignation.
In a letter to Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, sent on Monday, Mr Hannigan said it was “the right time to move on”. Sources close to Mr Hannigan, 51, said the decision was taken for personal reasons.
GCHQ’s directors do not follow fixed terms in office but Mr Hannigan had been expected to serve at least four years in the job, as is typical for Britain’s other spy chiefs. Mr Hannigan’s predecessor, Sir Iain Lobban, led the agency for six years. Sir Iain is now a prominent cyber security adviser to a number of large companies, including Shell and Standard Chartered. Mr Hannigan took over as director in November 2014 after the Edward Snowden revelations with a promise to foster a culture of greater openness and public engagement at the secretive organisation based in Cheltenham.
Now, it is possible that this was a mere coincidence. But I do not believe in coincidences. Instead, I believe it is more likely that the UK’s Prime Minister became aware that info from the GHCQ was collected and passed to the United States. Did she discover this and alert the Donald Trump? Or did someone in the United States, like Admiral Rogers, alert Donald Trump and he had word passed to Prime Minister May? We do not yet know the answer to those questions.