FBI searched former Trump campaign chairman’s home
From wire services
WASHINGTON — FBI agents looking for financial documents have searched one ofthe homes of President DonaldTrump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, whose past foreign political work has been swept into the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election. A Manafort spokesman confirmedthe search Wednesday.
Thesearch is a sign that the investigation into Mr. Manafort has broadened, and is the most significant public step investigators have taken since the special counsel leading the Russia inquiry, Robert Mueller, was appointed in May.
Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni said in a statement that FBI agents had obtained a warrant and searched one of Mr. Manafort’s homes, but he would not say when the search occurred or what it wasfor.
The Associated Press has learned the warrant for the search on July 26 at Mr. Manafort’s home in Alexandria, Va., sought information including tax documents and bankingrecords.
Mr. Manafort has been a subject of a longstanding FBI investigationinto his dealings in Ukraine and work for the country’s former president, Viktor Yanukovych. That investigation has been incorporated into the probe led by Mr. Mueller, who is also scrutinizing Mr. Manafort’s role in the Trump campaign as he looks into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and any possible collusion with Trump associates. Mr. Manafort, who led the Trump campaign for several months, has denied any wrongdoing. He also spoke behind closed doors to Senate investigators for an interview just one day before the search ofhis home.
Theuse of a search warrant indicates that law enforcement officials have convinced ajudge there is probable cause to believe a crime may have beencommitted.
Tone shifts on Obamacare
The Trump administration, thwarted in several attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, notably shifted tone Wednesday, opening the door for a bipartisan plan to “fix”the law.
The change came even as a fight escalated between Mr. Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, RKy., over who is to blame for the Republican Party’s failure torepeal Obamacare.
“Both folks in the House and the Senate, on both sides of the aisle frankly, have said thatObamacare doesn’t work, and it needs to be either repealed or fixed,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said on the Fox News program “Fox & Friends.” “So the onus is on Congress,”he said.
Transgender troops sue
Five transgender service members serving on active duty sued Mr. Trump on Wednesday over his directive to ban them from the U.S. military.
It is the first legal action against the president’s policy change, which he announced in a series of tweets on July 26. The unnamed service members are serving in the Air Force, Army and the Coast Guard.