Investigative pressure mounts on Manafort

By Dan Freedman

WASHINGTON — New Britain’s Paul Manafort appears to be at a crossroads in the ongoing investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller into President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign connections to Russian intelligence, which were allegedly aimed at defeating Hillary Clinton.

Recent news reports suggest Mueller’s team has threatened Manafort, 68, with indictment, and that an FBI lock-picking raid on his home in Alexandria, Va., was an exercise in “shock and awe’’ — aimed at intimidating him and other potential players in Trump-Russia saga.

One unknown is whether Mueller is pressuring Manafort — whose family has a long history in New Britain Republican politics and is prominent in construction — to cooperate with prosecutors.

Or are they hammering him because so far he has proven uncooperative, declining to voluntarily turn over documents or make himself available for questioning?

“It could be both and may well be both, and possibly other objectives as well,’’ said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that is pursuing a parallel investigation of the TrumpRussia affair as part of its oversight of the Justice Department and FBI.

“At this still-early stage of the investigation, it may depend on what Manafort decides to do,’’ Blumenthal said. “He has been non-cooperative with the Judiciary Committee, not returning phone calls, providing some documents but probably not all.’’

Reports pile up

The fact that agents conducted a pre-dawn raid and hauled away binders, documents and other evidence shows Mueller has no confidence that Manafort will be forthcoming voluntarily, Blumenthal said.

Also, to obtain a search warrant, agents must prove to a judge there is probable cause that crimes have been committed, said Blumenthal, himself a former U.S. attorney and Connecticut attorney general.

For Manafort, the investigativejournalist hits just keep on coming.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that while serving as Trump’s campaign chairman in July 2016, Manafort offered a private briefing to a Russian oligarch linked to President Vladimir Putin.

The New York Times reported that although under a cloud of suspicion, Manafort continues to work for foreign clients including Kurdish separatists whose referendum on independence is opposed by the Trump administration.

The Times also is reporting that Mueller’s investigators are querying a New York law firm about work it did at Manafort’s behest to aid a client, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

Yanukovych, a Putin ally, was driven from power in 2014 amid evidence of wide-spread corruption.

“He was very deeply involved, paid millions for his work in Ukraine, and there are credible reports the money came from Russia because the former dictator and his party were puppets of the Russian government,’’ Blumenthal said.

Manafort is said to be under investigation for his shady business dealings with clients overseas and whether he illegally laundered money he received through New York real estate purchases. Investigators also are said to be focusing on whether Manafort avoided taxes and whether he failed to register as a foreign agent under U.S. law.

Trump’s denials

It remains an open question how much any of that intersects with Manafort’s brief tenure as Trump’s campaign chairman between May 2016 and August 2016, when he departed amid a rising cascade of news reports about his Ukraine and Russia connections.

Trump’s own strategy is to denounce the substance of the Trump-Russia allegation as a “hoax’’ and to suggest that if Manafort or anyone else in his orbit had dealings with Russia aimed at helping him defeat Clinton, he was not involved.

Mueller also is pursuing the question of whether Trump obstructed justice by asking then FBI Director James Comey to go easy on another investigative target, former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

After Comey demurred, Trump fired him in May. Trump at first sought to justify the firing by pointing to Comey making public his reasons for dropping the investigation last year of Clinton’s alleged improper handling of classified emails on her private server while secretary of state.

But Trump subsequently acknowledged in an interview that “this Russia thing’’ was a motivating factor in dismissing Comey.

Trump reportedly became enraged at Attorney General Jeff Sessions after Sessions recused himself in March from overseeing the investigation and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller.

Trump’s attempts to pressure the Justice Department and FBI put the entire Trump-Russia matter within the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee, Blumenthal said.

“The Judiciary Committee has a responsibility to assure the effectiveness and integrity of the Department of Justice and the FBI,’’ Blumenthal said. “So the possible obstruction of justice in the firing of Comey and other possible attempts to thwart a lawful investigation require us to do this work.’’

Manafort