Tag: Paul Manafort

Mueller levels new claim of bank fraud against Manafort

The following article by Josh Gerstein was posted on the Politico website February 16, 2018:

Prosecutors say they’ve found ‘additional criminal conduct’ by the former Trump campaign chairman.

The special counsel’s office told a judge it has new evidence of bank fraud against Paul Manafort. No charges have been filed stemming from the new allegation. Credit: Andrew Harnik/AP Photo

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office has told a federal judge it has found evidence that Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman, committed bank fraud not addressed by the indictment last October in which he was charged with money laundering and failure to register as a foreign agent.

As legal wrangling continues over a $10 million bail package for Manafort, prosecutors this week accused him of submitting false information to a bank in connection with at least one of his mortgages.

“The proposed package is deficient in the government’s view, in light of additional criminal conduct that we have learned since the Court’s initial bail determination,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing submitted on Tuesday and made public in a redacted form on Friday evening. “That criminal conduct includes a series of bank frauds and bank fraud conspiracies.” Continue reading “Mueller levels new claim of bank fraud against Manafort”

Lawyers for Rick Gates withdraw from Russia case

The following article by Darren Samuelsohn was posted on the Politico website February 1, 2018:

Rick Gates, left, with Donald Trump in 2016.Evan Vucci/AP

Three attorneys representing Rick Gates told a federal court Thursday they are immediately withdrawing as counsel for the former Donald Trump campaign aide, who is fighting special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of him on money laundering and other charges.

Lawyers Shanlon Wu, Walter Mack and Annemarie McAvoy said in a two-page motion that they would explain the reasons for their abrupt move in documents filed under seal with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

“The document speaks for itself,” McAvoy told POLITICO, declining further comment. Continue reading “Lawyers for Rick Gates withdraw from Russia case”

Ex-Trump campaign chairman Manafort challenges his indictment in Russia probe by filing lawsuit against Mueller

The following article by Spencer S. Hsu and Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website January 3, 2018:

Trump’s former campaign head Paul Manafort, Manafort’s former business partner Rick Gates and Trump’s campaign adviser George Papadopoulos have been charged. (Video: Jenny Starrs/Photo: Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)

President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul J. Manafort, asked a federal court Wednesday to void the Justice Department’s appointment of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and charges Mueller’s office filed against him, elevating Trump supporters’ attempts to discredit the probe into Russian interference in last year’s election.

Manafort’s attorneys argued in a 17-page lawsuit in federal court in Washington that the department exceeded its legal authority when, in May, acting attorney general Rod J. Rosenstein ordered Mueller to investigate “links and/or coordination” between the Russian government and Trump campaign, as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly from” that investigation. Continue reading “Ex-Trump campaign chairman Manafort challenges his indictment in Russia probe by filing lawsuit against Mueller”

Robert Mueller May Indict Paul Manafort Again

The following article by Betsy Woodruff was posted on the Daily Beast website December 26, 2017:

The charges against the former Trump campaign boss appear to have been only an opening salvo in a legal barrage on the president’s confidants, informed observers say.

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast

From its inception, two things about special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation were clear: first, the White House’s biggest concern was that Mueller would follow the money; and second, Mueller is following the money.

It’s been seven months since Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein ordered Bob Muellerto take over the FBI’s counterintelligence probe into possible links between the Kremlin and people associated with the Trump campaign. Trump’s lawyers have long said they expected the probe to stay focused and end quickly. Instead, Mueller has assembled a team of prosecutors with expertise in handling financial investigations and white-collar crime, and obtained guilty pleas for crimes that weren’t committed during the election year. Continue reading “Robert Mueller May Indict Paul Manafort Again”

Paul Manafort says he edited Ukraine op-ed, is silent on colleague’s alleged ties to Russian intelligence

The following article by Spencer S. Hsu was posted on the Washington Post website December 7, 2017:

Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, arrives at the courthouse on Nov. 2. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Attorneys for former Trump campaign chairman Paul Man­afort acknowledged Thursday that he edited an opinion piece for a Ukraine newspaper but did not publicly address allegations by special counsel prosecutors that he drafted it with a former colleague with ties to Russian intelligence.

Manafort’s defense argued in a court filing to a federal judge in Washington that Manafort’s work on the op-ed piece for an English-language newspaper in Kiev defending himself did not violate a court gag order because it would not likely bias potential jurors in any U.S. trial.

Manafort, 68, and his longtime deputy, Rick Gates, 45, have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges filed Oct. 30, the first in the probe by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. Continue reading “Paul Manafort says he edited Ukraine op-ed, is silent on colleague’s alleged ties to Russian intelligence”

Prosecutors say longtime Manafort colleague has ‘ties’ to Russian intelligence

The following article by Rosalind S. Helderman and Spencer S. Hsu was posted on the Washington Post website December 4, 2017:

Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman, arrives at the courthouse on Nov. 2. (Matt McClain/The Washington Post)

Federal prosecutors asserted Monday that a longtime associate of Paul Manafort, the former chairman of President Trump’s campaign, has been “assessed to have ties” to Russian intelligence — the first time the special counsel has alleged a Trump official had such contacts.

The statement came as prosecutors working for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III withdrew their support for a joint bail deal filed last week that would have released Manafort from home detention and GPS monitoring while he awaits trial on charges including money laundering and fraud.

Manafort, 68, and his longtime deputy, Rick Gates, 45, have both pleaded not guilty to charges filed Oct. 30. Continue reading “Prosecutors say longtime Manafort colleague has ‘ties’ to Russian intelligence”

Trump’s campaign: Big Macs, screaming fits and constant rivalries

The following article by Michael Kranish was posted on the Washington Post website December 2, 2017:

Then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks to supporters at his primary election night event at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 15, 2016. At right is his son, Eric Trump, and at left is campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. (Gerald Herbert/AP)

Elton John blares so loudly on Donald Trump’s campaign plane that staffers can’t hear themselves think. Press secretary Hope Hicks uses a steamer to press Trump’s pants — while he is still wearing them. Trump screams at his top aides, who are subjected to ­expletive-filled tirades in which they get their “face ripped off.”

And Trump’s appetite seems to know no bounds when it comes to McDonald’s, with a dinner order consisting of “two Big Macs, two Fillet-O-Fish, and a chocolate malted.”

The scenes are among the most surreal passages in a forthcoming book chronicling Trump’s path to the presidency co-written by Corey Lewandowski, who was fired as Trump’s campaign manager, and David Bossie, another top aide. The book, “Let Trump Be Trump,” paints a portrait of a campaign with an untested candidate and staff rocketing from crisis to crisis, in which Lewandowski and a cast of mostly neophyte political aides learn on the fly and ultimately accept Trump’s propensity to go angrily off message. Continue reading “Trump’s campaign: Big Macs, screaming fits and constant rivalries”

Manafort flight records reveal numerous trips to Russia: report

The following article by Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website November 23, 2017:

© Camille Fine

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort took at least 18 trips to Moscow during his time as a political operative in Ukraine, McClatchy reported Thursday.

Manafort was also in frequent contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s allies for nearly a decade during his time working for pro-Russia political parties in Ukraine, according to the report.

Flight records, provided to McClatchy by a government source in Kiev, show the extent of Manafort’s connection to Russia was greater than previously known. Continue reading “Manafort flight records reveal numerous trips to Russia: report”

Mueller puts spotlight on foreign lobbying

The following article by Megan R. Wilson was posted on the Hill website November 15, 2017:

© Getty Images

The cottage industry of foreign lobbying is taking center stage as special counsel Robert Mueller investigates the activities of people in President Trump’s orbit.

Foreign advocacy work in Washington is common, lucrative and occasionally controversial, but has rarely received the front-page scrutiny it’s attracting now.

That’s mostly because of Paul Manafort and Richard Gates, two high-level figures from the Trump campaign who have been indicted as part of Mueller’s investigation. The charges against the two men, including allegations of money laundering, stem from work they did years ago to benefit a pro-Russia political party in Ukraine. Continue reading “Mueller puts spotlight on foreign lobbying”

‘This is a nothing burger’: How conservative media reacted to the Mueller indictments

The following article by Eli Rosenberg was posted on the Washington Post website October 31, 2017:

The revelation Monday of charges against three former Trump campaign officials in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into possible Russian influence in American politics delivered a sharp jolt to the news cycle.

Anticipation over the arrests had been high for days after news that the first charges in Mueller’s investigation were imminent had seeped out over the weekend. And the documents outlining allegations against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, business partner Rick Gates and former Trump foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, laid out what investigators had found in unvarnished detail. Continue reading “‘This is a nothing burger’: How conservative media reacted to the Mueller indictments”