A report by the New York Times published Saturday provides new insight into the investigation of potential collusion between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russian officials, and the role of George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the campaign who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contact with individuals who had ties to the Russian government.

The Times—citing interviews and recently obtained documents—reveals that the FBI's probe reportedly was not prompted by the dossier compiled by a former British spy, as Trump and others have alleged, but rather because in May of 2016 Papadopoulos drunkenly bragged to Alexander Downer, an Australian diplomat based in Britian, that "Russia had political dirt on Hillary Clinton," in the form of thousands of stolen emails.

"The information that Mr. Papadopoulosgave to the Australians, answers one of the lingering mysteries of the past year: What so alarmed American officials to provoke the F.B.I. to open a counterintelligence investigation into the Trump campaign months before the presidential election?" the Times reports. "It was firsthand information from one of America's closest intelligence allies."

"Australian officials passed the information about Mr. Papadopoulos to their American counterparts, according to four current and former American and foreign officials with direct knowledge of the Australians' role," the Times explains—albeit, two months after receiving the tip. Still, the Times concludes, "the hacking and the revelation that a member of the Trump campaign may have had inside information about it were driving factors that led the FBI to open an investigation in July 2016 into Russia's attempts