The New York Times is breaking two separate pieces of news regarding White House Communications Director Hope Hicks.

First is that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team finally has conducted its much-anticipated interview with Hicks, meeting with her Thursday and Friday.

Second is that the F.B.I. warned Hicks that Russian operatives had been trying to make contact with her during the transition:

There is no evidence that Ms. Hicks did anything improper. According to former officials, American intelligence and law enforcement agencies became alarmed by introductory emails that Ms. Hicks received from Russian government addresses in the weeks after Mr. Trump’s election.

After he took office, senior F.B.I. counterintelligence agents met with Ms. Hicks in the White House Situation Room at least twice, gave her the names of the Russians who had contacted her, and said that they were not who they claimed to be. The F.B.I. was concerned that the emails to Ms. Hicks may have been part of a Russian intelligence operation, and they urged Ms. Hicks to be cautious.

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The contents of the emails to Ms. Hicks are unclear, as are the identities of the Russians who sent them.

Senior F.B.I. officials warned all senior aides in the early days of the administration about possible espionage efforts but then returned to speak further with Hicks and “at least one other person close to the president:”

In a meeting in the Situation Room in February, Ms. Hicks was told generally about the Russian intelligence efforts and pressed them for more information. A senior F.B.I. agent met again with Ms. Hicks, and provided her several names of Russians who had contacted her and whom the F.B.I. was concerned about.

Ms. Hicks informed Donald F. McGahn II, the White House counsel, about her meetings with the F.B.I.

The F.B.I. meetings with Ms. Hicks occurred at the time of a brewing controversy involving Michael T. Flynn, then the national security adviser, and his calls during the transition with the Russian ambassador at the time. Mr. Flynn lied to the F.B.I. about those discussions, and intelligence officials worried that his lies made him susceptible to Russian blackmail.