AP fact check: Trump ignores timeline of case

President Donald Trump misstated the reach of the indictment against his former campaign chairman Monday, claiming it deals with activities “years ago,” before he was running for president. Actually, some of the criminal behavior alleged in the charges is as recent as the early days of his presidency.

The White House went on defense with the unsealing of charges against Paul Manafort and his associate, as well as the revelation that a Trump campaign adviser had pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI. Trump and spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders tried to divert attention to Democrats’ attempts to dig up dirt on Trump while playing down the significance of criminal charges against ex-associates of the president.

A look at some of their statements:

TRUMP tweet: “Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign.”

THE FACTS: Not true, according to the indictment.

Manafort and his associate Rick Gates are charged with criminal activities that go back to 2006 but extend to February of this year. The charges do not refer to Manafort’s activities with the campaign but rather accuse him of laundering money and conspiratorial acts before, during and after he ran the campaign.

Manafort and Gates face 12 counts, which do deal largely with activities from 2006 to 2015, before Manafort joined the campaign in March 2016.

But both are charged with conspiring together and with others to knowingly and intentionally defraud and commit crimes against the U.S. from 2006 to this year.

And both are charged with conspiring together to make false statements and conceal crimes against the U.S., and to causing others to do so, from November 2016 to February 2017.

The indictment alleges that Manafort and Gates acted as unregistered agents of Ukraine’s former pro-Russia leader, government and party from 2006 to 2015. The indictment says that “from approximately 2006 through at least 2016, MANAFORT and GATES laundered the money through scores of United States and foreign corporations, partnerships and bank accounts.”

Manafort was hired in late March 2016 as the campaign’s manager for the Republican convention in July. He was promoted to campaign chairman in mid-May, after he had essentially assumed control, then pushed out Aug. 19 when questions intensified about his lobbying for Ukraine interests.

SANDERS: “Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the president, has nothing to do with the president’s campaign or campaign activity.” — Monday briefing

THE FACTS: It’s true that Trump himself isn’t wrapped up in the charges, but a campaign adviser is.

It was revealed Monday that George Papadopoulos, who advised the campaign on foreign policy, pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his contacts with a Russian professor who has close ties to the Russian government.

Papadopoulos had told the FBI that his interactions with the professor, who promised “dirt” on Trump’s presidential rival Hillary Clinton, came before he joined the campaign. In fact, Papadopoulos was already an adviser to the Trump campaign when he met the professor in midMarch 2016 and interacted with him after, according to the court statement unsealed Monday.

That was the first criminal count that cites interactions between someone attached to the Trump campaign and Russian intermediaries.