The scandal over Russian meddling in the 2016 US election has deepened as a previously unreported email emerges detailing efforts to arrange a meeting between Trump campaign officials and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Congressional investigators unearthed the email from a top Trump aide that referenced the attempted meeting, sources with direct knowledge of the matter told CNN.

The aide, Rick Dearborn, who is now President Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff, sent a brief email to campaign officials during the election campaign relaying information about someone who was seeking to connect top Trump officials with Mr Putin, the sources said.

It’s not known who the individual cited was, what he or she was seeking, or whether Mr Dearborn acted on the request.

One source told CNN the individual was believed to have had political connections in West Virginia, but details about the request and who initiated it were not known.

The CNN source said Mr Dearborn appeared skeptical of the requested meeting in the email.

Sources said the email was sent in June 2016, around the time of the recently revealed Trump Tower meeting between Russians with Kremlin ties and the President’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

CNN said the existence of the Dearborn email suggests that Moscow may have been looking to the Trump campaign for willing partners as part of their effort to discredit Hillary Clinton.

Mr Dearborn served as then-Senator Jeff Sessions’ chief of staff, as well as a top policy aide on the Trump campaign.

Donald Trump Jr last month released emails that showed he welcomed the prospect of receiving damaging information from the Russian government about Mrs Clinton.

Mr Kushner, now a senior White House adviser, last month denied any wrongdoing after admitting to four meetings with Russian officials during the 2016 election campaign.

Speaking to media outside the White House after a two-hour, closed-door grilling with the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 25, Mr Kushner said all his actions were “proper”.

“Let me be very clear: I did not collude with Russia, nor do I know of anyone else in the campaign who did so,” he said.

“I had no improper contacts. I have not relied on Russian funds for my businesses and I have been fully transparent in providing all requested information.”

Mr Kusher dismissed the notion that Russia was responsible for his father in law’s election victory.

“Donald Trump had a better message and ran a smarter campaign and that is why he won. Suggesting otherwise ridicules those who voted for him,’’ he said. 

– With agencies