The FBI interviewed Paul Manafort two times when he worked as a consultant for a political party in Ukraine aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in March 2013 and July 2014–that's long before Manafort teamed up with Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Manafort stepped down as Trump’s campaign chairman in August 2016 after reports that he received “more than $12 million in off-the-books payments from Viktor Yanukovych’s political party.”
The Washington Post reports on what a set of newly filed court documents reveal about Manafort, who is now the subject of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Trump's dirty deeds.
The documents filed late Monday by prosecutors in the office of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential campaign, show that the FBI had interviewed Manafort in March 2013 and again in July 2014. Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates, who also held a top role with Trump’s campaign, was interviewed by the FBI in July 2014, the documents show.
The information raises fresh questions about how closely the Trump campaign vetted staff members and whether Manafort and Gates told officials about their interactions with the FBI.
