Manafort Suspected of Serving as Back Channel to Russia, DOJ Says [View all]
Source: Bloomberg
*Prosecutors defend Mueller’s actions in pursuing Manafort
*Judge weighing whether Mueller exceeded his authority
Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s interest in former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort stemmed in part from his suspected role as a “back channel” between the campaign and Russians intent on meddling in the election, a Justice Department lawyer told a judge.
The disclosure by U.S. prosecutors came Thursday during a hearing on whether Mueller exceeded his authority in indicting Manafort on charges of laundering millions of dollars while acting as an unregistered agent of the Ukrainian government. Manafort’s lawyers say those alleged crimes have nothing to do with Mueller’s central mission -- to determine whether anyone in the Trump campaign had links to the Russian government.
Defense attorney Kevin Downing argued anew to U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington that even Mueller’s appointment order permitting him to probe “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation” wouldn’t cover the political consulting work that Manafort did in Ukraine for a decade.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/amp/news/articles/2018-04-19/manafort-probed-as-back-channel-to-russia-u-s-lawyer-says?__twitter_impression=true
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