In its report today, The Times of London describes a memo written by a Ukrainian prosecutor who investigated Manafort as determining that “he sabotaged U.S. interests in Ukraine and encouraged Russian nationalism in Crimea”.
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For the past two months, Manafort has effectively been running Trump’s campaign.
His name also appears in connection with a French political scandal known as the “Karachi affair” in which two arms contracts that France signed with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in 1994 are believed to have resulted in kickbacks to finance the presidential campaign of France’s Edouard Balladur.
And it seems like the Trump campaign may have taken action.
Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort is implicated in a report that shows illicit transfers of over $12 million from the party of former Ukrainian President and Putin ally Viktor Yanukovych.
“I am going to ask my senior officials not to accept speaking fees from corporations with a registered lobbyist for five years after leaving office or from any entity tied to a foreign government”, he said.
The heads of both firms – Podesta Group Inc and Mercury LLC – told the AP they had concluded their work did not merit disclosure to the department, according to the report.
Gates also directed the firms to gather information in the US on a rival lobbying operation, including a review of its public lobbying disclosures, to determine who was behind that effort, the emails show.
The lobbying firms continued the work until shortly after Yanukovych fled the country in February 2014, during a popular revolt prompted in part by his government’s crackdown on protesters and close ties to Russian Federation.
Pointing to Manafort’s involvement, Weber told AP that Manafort discussed the project before it began in a conference call with Podesta and himself.
The lobbying firms were paid to advocate positions in line with those of Yanukovych’s government, including downplaying the necessity for a congressional resolution to pressure Yanukovych to release his imprisoned political rival Yulia Tymoshenko, according to the AP. “I was not involved in any payment plans”, Manafort said.
Gates said Thursday he was busy with Trump campaign focus groups and promised to review AP’s questions in writing, then did not respond. Records show $12.7 million in cash payments to Manafort from 2007-2012, allegations he denies. Its powers are limited because it can’t compel lobbying firms or others to turn over documents without a judge’s approval, but investigators routinely monitor news reports for evidence of cases that raise suspicions about possible violations. Americans can work for foreign groups or candidates but they have to detail it to the U.S. Department of Justice and register as a foreign agent.
The Podesta Group’s CEO, Kimberley Fritts, said the two lobbying firms had coordinated on the legal conclusion that disclosure was not necessary to the Justice Department.
9 Kenyan government: More than US$1.4 million between 1990 and 1993 to lobby the USA government for more aid.
In papers filed in the U.S. Senate, Mercury and the Podesta Group listed the European nonprofit as an independent, nonpolitical client. Moreover, registering under the law would have required Gates, Manafort or the lobbying firms to disclose the specifics of their lobbying work and their efforts to sway public opinion through media outreach. The center has declined for years to reveal specific sources of its funding. As the London Times also reported, detectives from the Ukrainian National Anti-Corruption Bureau has “approached the FBI for assistance”.
The other firm, Podesta Group, was founded by Tony Podesta, brother of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta. Podesta said that he was not aware of any internal disagreement.
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Gates told the AP that he and Manafort introduced the lobbying firms to the European Centre nonprofit and occasionally consulted with the firms on Ukrainian politics.
