"Links" is another word to watch.

There are links and there are links. I don't know about Trump, but anybody who owned a casino in Atlantic City might well have rubbed elbows with mobsters, even knowingly, without ever having been involved in a crime.

A "link" is some connection or relationship, no matter what and no matter how tenuous.

Suppose you had a school friend you haven't seen or heard from in twenty years, but now he's become a career criminal. Suddenly there'd be a "link" between you and organized crime, and you could be put in the unenviable position of having to explain why that link was utterly meaningless.