Secret Manafort op-ed said to have Russia tie
Prosecutors: Swaying public was goal
WASHINGTON — While facing several felony charges, Paul Manafort, the former campaign chairman for President Donald Trump, has been working on an oped essay with a longtime colleague “assessed to have ties” to a Russian intelligence service, according to court papers filed Monday by prosecutors working for special counsel Robert Mueller.
In a court filing, prosecutors say Manafort and the colleague sought to publish the op-ed under someone else’s name and intended for it to influence public opinion about his work in Ukraine. The op-ed was being drafted as late as last week, with Manafort currently under house arrest. Prosecutors did not name the colleague but noted that the person is based in Russia.
Manafort faces several felony charges involving allegations of money laundering and other financial crimes related to his political consulting work in Ukraine. He has been confined to his home while he works out a bond arrangement with the government.
Manafort has denied wrongdoing related to his work in Ukraine. A spokesman for Manafort declined comment on the op-ed described by prosecutors.
In the court filing, prosecutors say the op-ed appeared to violate an admonishment from the judge last
month to refrain from public statements.
“Even if the ghostwritten op-ed were entirely accurate, fair, and balanced, it would be a violation of this Court’s November 8 Order if it had been published,” the prosecutors wrote. “The editorial clearly was undertaken to influence the public’s opinion of defendant Manafort, or else there would be no reason to seek its publication (much less for Manafort and his long-time associate to ghostwrite it in another’s name).”
They added, “It compounds the problem that the proposed piece is not a dispassionate recitation of the facts.”
Prosecutors said that on Thursday they discovered the efforts to publish the op-ed and alerted Manafort’s attorney, who assured prosecutors that “steps would be taken to make sure it was no longer going to be published.”
At the time, Manafort was working to secure his release from home confinement by posting more than $10 million in bond, and according to court papers, he had reached a tentative agreement with the government. After discovering the op-ed, Mueller’s team is now opposing Manafort’s proposed bond agreement.
Prosecutors did not disclose the op-ed in court papers so as to prevent it from becoming public. They also did not disclose what name the ghostwritten op-ed would have been published under.
Manafort and his longtime business associate, Rick Gates, were indicted in October by a grand jury in Washington. They were among the first people to face charges brought by the special counsel’s office.
Manafort led the Trump campaign for several months, including during the Republican National Convention.
Gates also worked in a senior role in the campaign.
TRUMP BACKS FLYNN
As Mueller’s team looks at top officials from the campaign, Trump said Monday that the FBI ruined the life of his former national security adviser and that his Democratic opponent for president, Hillary Clinton, suffered no consequences after she lied “many times” to the bureau.
Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, pleaded guilty Friday to lying to the FBI when he was questioned early this year about his conversations with the Russian ambassador. He was the fourth person charged in the investigation by Mueller into Russia’s influence on the 2016 election and possible ties to Trump associates.
As he left for Utah on Monday, the president said he felt “very badly” for Flynn, who was forced to resign in February for lying to the vice president about the content of the conversations.
Trump’s comments Monday come at a time when the special counsel investigation is focusing intensely on the president’s inner circle. Trump once encouraged Flynn to seek an immunity deal. Presidents typically do not weigh in on federal investigations to avoid appearing to influence the outcome.
“I feel badly for Gen. Flynn,” Trump said Monday. “I feel very badly. He’s led a very strong life, and I feel very badly. Hillary Clinton lied many times to the FBI. Nothing happened to her. Flynn lied, and they destroyed his life.”
Trump did not cite specifically what Clinton said that he considered a lie.
Clinton gave a voluntary interview to the bureau in July 2016 during its investigation into whether she or her aides broke the law by corresponding through a private
email server set up for her use as secretary of state. A few days later, the FBI director at the time, James Comey, recommended that no charges be filed against her in the matter.
The Kremlin on Monday insisted that Flynn’s conversation with the Russian ambassador didn’t influence Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response to sanctions imposed by Trump’s predecessor.
Prosecutors say Flynn asked Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak last December to “not escalate the situation” after the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on Russia in retaliation for suspected election interference. Just days later, Putin opted not to retaliate.
Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that it was “absurd” to suggest that the phone conversation could have influenced Putin’s decision and added that “such requests couldn’t have been passed on” to him.
“The president makes his own decisions, guided solely by Russia’s national interests,” Peskov told reporters. “Flynn couldn’t have asked Sergey Ivanovich [Kislyak] about anything, and, what’s more, such requests couldn’t have been passed on to the Russian president.”
Russian officials have dismissed Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump administration and Moscow as an anti-Russia witch hunt.
Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the Federation Council’s information policy committee, tweeted Monday that “Mueller has nothing on Flynn.”
“Witch-hunters are going away empty-handed,” he said.
Information for this article was contributed by Chad Day, Eric Tucker and staff members of The Associated Press; and by Eileen Sullivan of The New York Times.