US President Donald Trump  and at least 17 of his campaign officials and advisers had contacts with Russian nationals and WikiLeaks or their intermediaries before his inauguration, according to an analysis published by The New York Times on Saturday, The Hill reported.

Then-candidate Trump had at least six contacts before the Republican National Convention in July 2016, according to the analysis. One contact included signing a letter of intent to develop Trump Tower in Moscow, the Times reported.

Aras Agalarov, a Russian billionaire who hosted a Miss Universe pageant in Moscow with Trump, reached out to Trump several times before the Republican National Convention. Agalarov's son, Emin Agalarov, reportedly also contacted Trump on multiple occasions.

Aras Agalarov sent a letter to Trump shortly after the primaries began expressing “great interest” in his campaign, the Times noted.

Trump, according to the analysis, began denying his interactions with Russian nationals shortly after accepting the Republican presidential nomination.

The Times analysis was conducted by compiling the newspaper’s reporting, documents submitted to Congress and court records related to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia's election interference and potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Moscow.

At least 10 other associates were told about the interactions but did not have any themselves, the newspaper noted.

The president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., had at least 17 contacts with Russians and a Russian intermediary, including arranging the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting.

Trump Jr.'s contacts also included exchanging private Twitter messages with WikiLeaks, the organization that published troves of stolen emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign that U.S. intelligence officials later said were pilfered by Russian agents.