Probe escalates with raid on Manafort home
WASHINGTON — An FBI raid last month at a home of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort provides the clearest evidence so far that special prosecutor Robert Mueller is aggressively pursuing the investigation into the campaign’s dealings with Russia and that his inquiry includes possible financial wrongdoing by Manafort.
Agents served a warrant early July 26 at the Alexandria, Va., home of Manafort, a lobbyist with a long background of ties to pro-Russia politicians, according to Jason Maloni, a spokesman for Manafort.
“Mr. Manafort has consistently cooperated with law enforcement and other serious inquiries and did so on this occasion as well,” Maloni said in a statement about the raid, which was first reported Wednesday morning by The Washington Post.
The search, conducted by FBI agents working on the case supervised by Mueller, sought records related to foreign bank accounts and foreign registrations, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The federal Bank Secrecy Act requires Americans to file disclosure forms with the government if they have foreign bank accounts valued at more than certain amounts. Penalties for violation can run
as high as 10 years in prison if the offense is especially serious.
The search showed that Mueller, who is working with a grand jury in Washington, has amassed enough evidence to justify a warrant seeking records.
Unlike subpoenas, which a grand jury can issue on its own, a warrant requires prosecutors to persuade a judge that probable cause exists to believe that a crime has been committed.
Word of the raid is the latest revelation about Mueller’s investigation, which had been operating in relative secrecy compared with numerous congressional probes looking at the election. In recent days, it’s become clear the former FBI director is using a grand jury in Washington in addition to one in Virginia, where investigators also have been looking into former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn.
FBI agents have been asking witnesses since the spring about $530,000 worth of lobbying and investigative work carried out by Flynn’s firm, Flynn Intel Group, according to a person familiar with the investigation. That work sought the extradition of an exiled Turkish cleric living in the U.S. Through his attorney, Flynn has declined to comment on the investigation.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said FBI agents have also been asking about Flynn’s business partner, Bijan Kian, who served on the Trump presidential transition team. Kian has not responded to multiple attempts to contact him over several months.
The specific allegations that Mueller’s prosecutors are pursuing are not known. Manafort has not been charged with a crime.
The raid came on July 26, the day Manafort had been scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is also investigating the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election. That appearance was called off after Manafort agreed to provide the committee with records. The previous day, Manafort answered questions from staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee in private.
Manafort has continued to cooperate with the judiciary panel’s investigation, according to committee spokesman George Hartmann.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to answer questions about the search, referring questions to Manafort’s attorneys.
Manafort ran Trump’s campaign during a pivotal period leading up to the Republican convention last summer.