According to the AP report, Manafort helped the Party of Regions “secretly route at least $2.2 million in payments to two prominent Washington lobbying firms in 2012, and did so in a way that effectively obscured the foreign political party’s efforts to influence US policy”. According to the AP account, the lobbying firms did not register as foreign agents under US law with the Justice Department, potentially obscuring from public view a foreign political party’s attempts to influence Congress.
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The stories build on a major New York Times revelation from earlier in the week that revealed Manafort’s name appears in a ledger the Ukrainian government believes documents illicit cash payments made by the Party of Regions, the political organization that backed deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Yet his ties with the former Ukrainian president, today exiled in Russia, have come under the microscope as Trump defends Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader and calls for a reset in relations with Moscow.
However, if Manafort or Rick Gates – another Trump campaign strategist who had worked with Yanukovych’s party – had advised the Centre on what USA lobby firms to hire at the time, that may also have triggered disclosure for them under FARA. Violating the act is a felony and carries penalties of up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. The Ukrainian leader eventually 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. The Podesta Group is headed by Tony Podesta, brother of Democratic strategist and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta. Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, never disclosed their work as foreign agents as required under federal law.
Gates confirmed to AP previously that he was working for Ukraine’s ruling party, the Party of Regions, at the time.
Both Mercury and the Podesta Group told the AP that their work with the European Centre was legal.
Lobbyists in general prefer not to register under the foreign agents law because its requirements are so much more demanding, making their activities more open to public scrutiny.
While Manafort’s work for Yanukovych is well-known, his inclusion in the handwritten ledger of recorded payments cover his association with a fitting coat of sleaze. Gates previously told the AP, “At no time did our firm or members provide any direct lobbying support”. According to the United Kingdom newspaper, a Ukrainian prosecutor is investigating Manafort for “conspiring with a criminal organization” and “inciting ethnic hatred and separatism”. On Thursday, his firm said it had nothing new to add.
One of those firms, Mercury, lobbied against efforts in the US Congress to pressure Ukraine into releasing an opponent of Mr Yanukovych from jail.
His position on team Trump marks his return to Republican presidential politics after 20 years-he was reportedly considered but rejected in 2008 by John McCain, allegedly alarmed in part over his Yanukovych ties.
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