Top Justice official authorized Mueller to investigate Manafort

Special counsel Robert Mueller was authorized by a top Justice Department official to investigate whether Paul Manafort, the onetime chairman of President Donald Trump’s campaign, illegally coordinated with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election, new court filings show.

Manafort, who was indicted last year on a series of felony charges related to his work in Ukraine before joining Trump’s campaign, has not been charged with any crimes connected to the presidential race. But a partially redacted memo included in court filings late Monday night revealed that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also gave Mueller clearance to pursue allegations that Manafort colluded with Russia in 2016.

The new filings show that Rosenstein specifically approved lines of investigation for the special counsel’s probe in an August 2017 memo. A version of the memo filed in court showed that Rosenstein signed off on an investigation into whether Manafort “committed a crime or crimes by colluding with Russian government officials,” as well as into Manafort’s work as an international political consultant in Ukraine before joining Trump’s campaign in 2016.

Additional sections of the two-and-half-page memo were blacked out by prosecutors, indicating that Rosenstein authorized other specific lines of investigation that remain a secret.