Indictment of Trump's campaign officials raises the heat on White House
Three of US President Donald Trump's former campaign aides were indicted on Monday, and two of them pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager of Trump, pleaded on Monday not guilty to all charges filed in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe over the alleged Russia meddling in the US 2016 presidential elections.
Manafort, together with his former business associate Rick Gates, appeared in the Federal District Court in Washington on Monday afternoon. Gates also pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
The indictment of Manafort and Gates neither mentioned Trump nor election meddling. However, the 31-page indictment against the two men contains 12 counts, including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the US, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading statements surrounding the Foreign Agents Registration Act, false statements and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.
In another development, an early foreign policy advisers to Trump's presidential campaign, George Papadopoulos, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about a contact with a professor with ties to Moscow, prosecutors said on Monday.
Papadopoulos admitted that he lied in a January interview with the FBI about his contacts with a Russian professor who has “substantial connections to Russian government officials,” according to the New York Times report, quoting court documents.
Papadopoulos told the FBI at the time that the conversation took place before he joined Trump's presidential campaign.
In fact, it happened days after he became Trump's adviser and the Russian professor took interest in him “because of his status with the (Trump) campaign,” the court documents said.
After it became public that three of his former campaign aides were indicted, Trump claimed on Twitter Monday morning that there was “no collusion.”
“Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus ????? ” Trump tweeted.
“Also, there is NO COLLUSION!” the president announced.
Manafort was indicted on charges that he funneled millions of dollars through overseas shell companies and used the money to buy luxury cars, real estate, antiques and expensive suits, according to the NYT report.
“Manafort used his hidden overseas wealth to enjoy a lavish lifestyle in the United States without paying taxes on that income,” the indictment reads.
The authorities said Manafort laundered more than $18 million, while Gates is accused of transferring more than $3 million from offshore accounts. The two are also charged with making false statements.
“As part of the scheme, Manafort and Gates repeatedly provided false information to financial bookkeepers, tax accountants and legal counsel, among others,” the indictment read.
A federal grand jury on Friday filed first charges in Mueller's investigation, which Trump has repeatedly called “a witch hunt.”
Trump has vigorously denied allegations of collusion between his campaign and Moscow during the elections. The Russian government has also repeatedly dismissed seeking to influence the US elections.
Mueller, the retired FBI director, was appointed in May as Special Counsel in charge of the Russia probe. His prosecutors have been presenting evidence before a federal grand jury in Washington.