Twist in Russia probe
The breakdown of a plea deal with Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and an explosive British news report about alleged contacts he may have had with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have thrown a new element of uncertainty into the Trump-Russia investigation.
A day after prosecutors accused Manafort of repeatedly lying to them, trashing his agreement to tell all in return for a lighter sentence, he adamantly denied a report in The Guardian that he had met secretly with Assange in March 2016 – the same month Manafort joined the Trump campaign, and Russian hackers began an effort to penetrate the email accounts of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.
The developments thrust Manafort back into the investigation spotlight, raising new questions about what he knows and what prosecutors say he might be attempting to conceal as they probe Russian election interference and any possible coordination with Trump associates in the campaign that sent the celebrity businessman to the White House.
All the while, Manafort’s lawyers have been briefing Trump’s attorneys on what their client has told investigators, a highly unusual arrangement that could give Trump ammunition in his feud against special counsel Robert Mueller. ‘‘They share with me the things that pertain to our part of the case,’’ said Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani.
Assange, whose organisation published thousands of emails stolen from Clinton’s campaign in 2016, is in the Ecuadorean embassy in London under a claim of asylum.
The Guardian cited unidentified sources as saying Manafort first met Assange at the embassy in 2013, a year after Assange took refuge there to avoid being extradited to Sweden over sex crime allegations.
The newspaper said Manafort returned in 2015 and 2016, and that its sources had ‘‘tentatively dated’’ the final visit to March. There was no detail on what might have been discussed.
Manafort called the story ‘‘totally false and deliberately libellous,’’ saying he had never met Assange or anyone close to him.
Besides denying he had ever met Assange, Manafort, who is currently in jail, said he had told Mueller’s prosecutors the truth during weeks of questioning.
WikiLeaks said Manafort had never met with Assange, offering to bet The Guardian ‘‘a million dollars and its editor’s head’’.
It is unclear what prosecutors contend Manafort lied about, though they
Manafort was an important witness present for key moments under investigation.
are expected to make a public filing ahead of his sentencing that could offer answers.
Dissolution of the plea deal is a potentially major setback for investigators, given that Manafort steered Trump’s campaign during a vital stretch of 2016, including a time when prosecutors say Russian intelligence was working to sway the election in Trump’s favour.
Manafort was an important witness present for key moments under investigation, including a Trump Tower meeting at which Trump’s oldest son expected to receive ‘‘dirt’’ about Clinton from a Kremlinconnected lawyer.
Trump tweeted yesterday that Mueller was doing ‘‘TREMENDOUS damage to our Criminal Justice system’’ and called the investigation ‘‘a total disgrace’’.