Report: Manafort Offered to Brief Russian Billionaire During 2016 Race
President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort offered to brief a Russian with Kremlin ties about the presidential campaign last year.
The Washington Post reported Wednesday that Manafort emailed with an intermediary overseas about offering to set up a meeting with Oleg Deripaska two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican presidential nomination last summer.
“If he needs private briefings we can accommodate,” Manafort wrote to Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked for Manafort’s consulting business in Kiev, on July 7,2016.
The Post reported that several of the emails — which it said were read to its reporters — were vague, potentially deliberately so, and never included Deripaska’s full name. In some cases Deripaska was referred to as “OVD,” his initials.
Manafort is one target of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia probe. It was reported earlier this week that the U. S. government electronically spied on Manafort last fall and into this year via a secret court order. He is being investigated for potential violations of IRS laws and other allegations regarding his consulting business and his potential ties to Russia.
Manafort may be indicted in the near future as part of Mueller’s Department of Justice probe, according to a New York Times report.
Manafort spokesman Jason Maloni reacted to Wednesday’s report by saying, “It is no secret Mr. Manafort was owed money by past clients after his work ended in 2014. This exchange is innocuous.”
