President Trump’s former campaign manager signed a secret $10 million deal with a Russian billionaire that benefited Vladimir Putin, a bombshell new report revealed Wednesday.
Paul Manafort’s previously undisclosed work with Putin ally and aluminum magnate Oleg Deripaska comes despite denials from the Trump campaign and White House of links to the Russian government, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
In a 2005 memo to the Russian businessman, Manafort pitched his services as a way to help Deripaska, as well as Russian President Putin, whom Trump has praised.
“We are now of the belief that this model can greatly benefit the Putin government if employed at the correct levels with the appropriate commitment to success,” the longtime US political consultant wrote.
Manafort pitched his work as “a great service that can refocus, both internally and externally, the policies of the Putin government.”
He even at one point planned on opening a Moscow office, according to The Associated Press, which broke the story.
The revelation of Manafort’s ties to the Russian government comes the same week that FBI Director James Comey testified on Capitol Hill that feds were investigating Russia’s meddling in the US election and the Trump campaign’s links to that unprecedented interference.
House and Senate committees also are investigating Russian involvement.
Manafort’s work on behalf of the Russian billionaire — and Moscow’s political leaders — appeared to have taken place between 2006 and 2009.
Manafort admitted working for the aluminum magnate, but denied helping Putin.
“I worked with Oleg Deripaska almost a decade ago representing him on business and personal matters in countries where he had investments,” Manafort told the AP, saying he has been the subject of a “smear campaign.”
“My work for Mr. Deripaska did not involve representing Russian political interests,” added Manafort, who keeps an apartment in Trump Tower.
Manafort worked for the Trump campaign last year as its chairman for nearly six months, playing a critical role in the candidate’s successful bid to win the Republican nomination.
Trump asked Manafort to resign after the AP revealed that Manafort had orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation until 2014 on behalf of Ukraine’s ruling pro-Russia political party.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of Trump’s GOP critics in the Senate, called the disclosures about payments to Manafort from the Russian billionaire “very disturbing if true.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer scoffed at the idea that Trump could somehow be linked to Russia through Manafort’s machinations.
“He was a consultant, he had clients around the world. There was no suggestion he did anything improper, but to suggest that the president knew who his clients were from a decade ago is a bit insane,” Spicer said before charging that the Clintons had closer ties to Russia than Trump.
Meanwhile, CNN reported Wednesday that FBI has information that associates of Trump may have coordinated with Russian operatives during the campaign.
With Post wires